Sector
Education & Training
Schools, universities, training providers, EdTech and educational services.
Start here
Get ready for Ofsted report cards
Report cards replace single-word judgements — for schools and training providers, not just childcare
Start a childcare business
Registration and set-up for a new childcare business
Childcare Ofsted compliance quick check
The Ofsted-readiness self-audit
Childcare funding entitlements quick reference
Funding entitlements, including the 30-hour expansion
Responding to an Ofsted inspection concern or inadequate rating
Inspection concern or inadequate rating? Start here
Who regulates you
See all 18Ofsted (opens in a new tab)
Inspects and regulates services providing education, training, and childcare in England. Inspects schools, colleges, initial teacher training, and children's social care. Registers and monitors …
Enforces 10 Acts this sector relies on.
Local Authority (opens in a new tab)
Local councils enforce food safety (via Environmental Health Officers), issue alcohol licences, grant planning permission, and regulate certain business activities at local level. Responsibilities …
Enforces 6 Acts this sector relies on.
DBS (opens in a new tab)
Provides criminal record checks (Basic, Standard, and Enhanced) for employers and organisations. Maintains the children's and adults' barred lists. Employers in regulated activity must …
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
FSA (opens in a new tab)
Food safety and hygiene regulation across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Enforces food law, provides guidance to food businesses, investigates incidents. Approves food businesses …
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
HSE (opens in a new tab)
Workplace health, safety, and welfare regulation across all industries. Enforces the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and related regulations. Investigates serious incidents …
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
Ofqual (opens in a new tab)
Regulates qualifications, examinations, and assessments in England. Approves and monitors awarding organisations. Maintains the Register of Regulated Qualifications.
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
Key legislation
See all 37General rules
Common requirements that apply across industries. Conditions such as employing people or operating premises are shown only after they are known.
Meet your business waste duty of care
Every business that produces, stores or disposes of waste has a duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and stays responsible after it hands the waste on. Use only registered waste carriers, complete waste transfer notes correctly, and follow the stricter rules for hazardous waste.
Applies across industries.
General ruleFile your confirmation statement
File a confirmation statement every 12 months, within 14 days after your review period ends. Filing late is a criminal offence for the company and its officers.
Applies across industries.
General ruleVerify your identity for Companies House as a director or PSC
Yes, if you are an individual director or PSC of a UK company, or an individual director of an overseas company registered in the UK. Corporate directors and officers of corporate PSCs are not yet required to verify. The transition for existing directors and PSCs ends on 17 November 2026.
Applies across industries.
General ruleCheck if you need to register for VAT
You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to pass the threshold within the next 30 days alone. Under the first test, register within 30 days of the end of the month. Late registration brings penalties and backdated VAT.
Applies across industries.
All guidance for education & training
Employment & HR
4
Register as a nanny
You do not have to register with Ofsted to work as a nanny in a family's home, but registering on the voluntary Childcare Register lets the families you work for pay you through Tax-Free Childcare. You need first aid training, childcare training, insurance and an enhanced DBS check.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Becoming an apprenticeship training provider
To deliver government-funded apprenticeship training in England, you must be on the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register, which needs at least 12 months' trading and a UK Provider Reference Number. Funding is paid 80% in monthly instalments and 20% on completion.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Recruit staff safely for a childcare setting
Before anyone starts work in a childcare setting, you must get a written reference, receive their enhanced DBS and barred list result, and check they are not disqualified. Record each check. Nobody unchecked may have unsupervised contact with children.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Safeguarding and Child Protection for Childcare Providers
Every childcare setting must have a written safeguarding policy, a designated safeguarding lead trained to Level 3, and staff who can recognise physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect. Record any concern immediately and report it to the lead the same day; providers also have a legal Prevent duty.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Compliance & Legal
4
Train students on live models for beauty treatments
Students can practise Botox only when a prescriber directs them, and in England only on adult models. A course does not change the licence a treatment needs.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Keep children's records and protect their data
Childcare providers in England must keep a record for each child, a daily attendance record, and written records of medicines, accidents, physical intervention and complaints, and handle them under UK GDPR. Tell Ofsted about serious incidents within 14 days.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Outdoor Learning and Forest School in Early Years
Requirements for outdoor learning and forest school provision in early years settings, including risk assessment, insurance, qualifications, and health and safety compliance.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Manage fire safety and risk in a childcare setting
Every registered childcare provider must have an emergency evacuation procedure, working fire detection and control equipment, and clear fire exits. Nurseries and other non-domestic premises also need a recorded fire risk assessment, and every provider must assess risks to children, including on outings.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Sector-Specific
8
Check if you need registration or a DBS check to tutor
No licence or register covers private tutoring in England, and no law requires a tutor to hold a DBS check. Registration applies only to full-time teaching or some childcare for under-8s. If your teaching is eligible, you can apply for your own Enhanced check through an umbrella body.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Register an independent school in Wales
You must register an independent school with the Welsh Ministers before you admit any pupil, and running an unregistered school is a criminal offence. Apply online to the Welsh Government, allow at least four months for Estyn's inspection and the decision, then send the initial return and annual census.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Support Children with SEND in Early Years Settings
Every Ofsted-registered early years provider must identify and support children with special educational needs and disabilities under the EYFS and the Children and Families Act 2014. Group settings should appoint a SENCO, use a graduated approach with parents, and can apply for extra inclusion funding.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Register an independent school in Scotland
You must register an independent school with the Scottish Ministers before it opens, because carrying on an unregistered school is a criminal offence. Apply in writing to the Registrar of Independent Schools with your plans and policies, prepare for HM Inspectors, then send an annual return every September.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Beauty course accreditation and regulated qualifications
You need no licence to teach. Only a recognised awarding organisation can award a regulated qualification, and you usually offer one as its approved centre.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Claim local authority funding for free childcare places
To be paid for funded childcare places in England, sign a provider agreement with the local authority, verify parents' eligibility codes before places start, and charge only for genuinely optional extras. From October 2026 a local authority must pay monthly if you ask.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Keep food safe in your childcare setting
If you give children meals, snacks or drinks, you are a food business: register with your local authority (childminders are registered through Ofsted), run a food safety system, manage allergens, and serve healthy, balanced food and fresh water under the EYFS nutrition guidance.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Meet the EYFS requirements for a childcare setting
All early years providers registered in England must follow the EYFS statutory framework, which sets the learning, assessment, staffing, safeguarding and premises requirements. Ratios apply across the whole provision, at least one paediatric first aider must be present, and each child needs a key person.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Show 3 more
Register Holiday Clubs and Out-of-School Care
Holiday, breakfast and after-school clubs in England caring for children aged 5 to 7 must register with Ofsted on the Compulsory Childcare Register, though some school-run clubs are exempt. Clubs for children aged 8 and over can register voluntarily, which lets parents use Tax-Free Childcare.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Insurance for Childcare Businesses
Insurance requirements and options for childcare providers including public liability, employer's liability, professional indemnity, and vehicle insurance for outings.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Prepare for an Ofsted Inspection
Ofsted inspects a childcare setting within 30 months of registration and then at least once in every 4-year window, and since 10 November 2025 it publishes a report card grading each area on a 5-point scale. The best preparation is good everyday practice, backed by self-evaluation and evidence.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
All journeys
Start a beauty or aesthetics training business
Learning path for people starting a business that runs courses for beauty therapists and aesthetics practitioners. Decide what …
Set up as a private tutor
Check whether tutoring needs registration or a DBS check, register as self-employed, agree terms with parents, decide what …
Get ready for Ofsted report cards
Understand Ofsted's renewed inspection framework and five-point report cards, map your provision to the evaluation areas, gather evidence, …
Set up an education or childcare business
Education and childcare businesses are regulated by what they do and who they serve. Early years and out-of-school …
Subsectors
SIC 2007 divisions covered by this sector.