What structure should my childcare business use?

It depends on your plans and scale. We advise sole trader, limited company or a not-for-profit like a CIC on your actual situation, weighing tax, liability and funding, rather than defaulting to one.

Will you build a realistic forecast?

Yes, and it is the point of the service. We build the plan on how childcare really works, the funded-to-private income mix and the VAT you cannot reclaim, so the numbers reflect reality rather than a generic template.

Do you handle the registrations?

We handle registering the business and you with HMRC and set up the bookkeeping and payroll. Registering to provide childcare itself is done with Ofsted or the relevant regulator, which we point you through.

What does set-up cost?

A fixed fee scaled to the scale of the set-up, agreed before we start, with the ongoing accounts priced separately. Tell us your plans and we will quote it.

Setting Up a Childcare Business

Written and reviewed by the Childcare Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 29 July 2026.

This is the start-up service, for a new nursery, a new childminding business, or a childcare setting taking on staff. We get the structure, the registrations and the numbers right at the start, so the business is on a sound footing from day one.

Fixed fee, agreed before we begin, scaled to how much set-up you need.

What We Handle

Choosing the right structure, sole trader, limited company or a not-for-profit, for your plans, registering the business and you with HMRC, and building a forecast that reflects the childcare reality: the funding mix and the irrecoverable VAT on your set-up.

We then set up the bookkeeping so it can handle funded and private income from the start, get the payroll ready for any staff, and flag the business-rates position for your premises.

Where Start-Ups Get It Wrong

New childcare businesses most often go wrong by using a generic business plan that assumes VAT is reclaimable and every hour is a private fee. Both are false in childcare, and a forecast built on them flatters the numbers and leads to a nasty surprise.

We build the plan on how childcare actually works, so the structure, the cash flow and the margin are realistic from the outset, not a hopeful guess.

How It Runs

You tell us your plans, the setting, the places or hours, the staff, and we advise the structure, handle the registrations, and build the forecast and the bookkeeping and payroll setup. Identity checks first. From there you can move onto the ongoing accounts and tax service.

You start trading with the right structure, a realistic plan, and the records and payroll ready to run.

What It Costs

A fixed fee for the set-up, agreed before we start, scaled to whether it is a childminder starting out or a nursery with premises and staff. The ongoing accounts are priced separately and clearly.

To get going, tell us your plans and we will set out how it would run and what it would cost.