Childminder policies and procedures: first drafts from how you actually work, not a copied template

Policies copied from a template and never read are worse than none, because you can't explain them to an inspector or a parent. A draft based on how you really run your home, checked against your regulator's requirements, is one you can explain and stand behind.

A free AI chat tool, then Word or Google Docs

Steps

1. Check what your regulator requires. The EYFS framework for childminders sets what you must have if you look after early years children (from birth to the 31 August after their 5th birthday). The compulsory Childcare Register guidance, for childminders on that register, requires a written safeguarding policy and a written complaints policy. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own requirements. Childminders registered only on the Early Years Register are not required to have written policies and procedures, but must be able to explain them to parents and inspectors (EYFS 3.6); childminders on the compulsory register must have written safeguarding and complaints policies.
2. For each policy (for example medicines, illness, outings, pets, safer sleep, screen use), write a few lines in your own words: what you do, who is responsible, when you tell parents. If you have a pets policy: from 1 September 2026 banned dog breeds (including the XL Bully type) must not be kept or present on childcare premises, so check the 2026 EYFS and Ofsted pages. If you look after children under 2, the EYFS has safer-sleep requirements (EYFS 3.86): children are placed down on their back in their own separate sleep space, babies aged 12 months and under only sleep in a cot, cots hold no extra items such as toys, pillows or bumpers, babies under six months always have an adult in the same room for every sleep, and all children are always within sight and hearing when sleeping. Write your sleep policy from your real routine and check it against the framework and the NHS and Lullaby Trust advice it names, not from the AI. Childminders must also have regard to the DfE screen-use guidance (EYFS 3.93), which says screen use should be avoided for under 2s and limited to up to an hour a day for children aged 2 to 5.
3. Paste those lines into the prompt below to get a clear one-page policy.
4. Compare each policy with the framework, with your local authority's or safeguarding partnership's model policies, and with what you really do. Change anything that isn't true.
5. Share the policies with parents, as the requirements say, and review them each year.
6. For safeguarding, always use your local safeguarding partnership's procedures and contact details, not text produced by the AI.

The exact prompt

I'm a childminder in England writing a [medicines / illness and infectious diseases / outings / pets / safer sleep / screen use] policy. How I work, in my words: [what I do, step by step; who is responsible; when and how I tell parents; what I record].
Write a clear one-page policy for parents and an inspector, using ONLY what I've told you. Use simple headings. Don't add any rule, procedure or legal requirement I haven't given, don't refer to any law or Ofsted requirement, and don't give medical advice. If something important seems missing from my description, list it separately as a question for me.