What changes in the EYFS on 1 September 2026
A new version of the childminder framework takes effect on 1 September 2026. Most of it will not change your day. Four things will, and one of them is a straight prohibition that could stop you minding at all.
In short
- Banned dog breeds. You cannot provide registered childcare from any premises where a banned breed is kept or present. No exceptions.
- Harm, not serious harm. The reporting threshold drops — allegations of harm now have to be reported.
- Safer sleep is now in the framework itself, rather than a separate document you were meant to know about.
- Screen use. You must have regard to the screen use guidance for early years settings.
- DBS for volunteers. Enhanced checks for all volunteers, including supervised ones, and no new employee starts before clearance comes back.
- Your day-to-day practice is probably already compliant. Your written policies may not be.
Read the framework itself before you act on this.
This is a plain-English summary written to help you work out what applies to you. It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for the statutory framework. Get the actual document from GOV.UK — EYFS statutory framework, and make sure you have the version for childminders, not the group and school-based one. They have been separate documents since January 2024 and the wrong one will mislead you.
Banned dog breeds — the one that could stop you trading
This is the change with the sharpest edge, so it goes first.
You cannot provide registered childcare from any premises where a banned breed is kept or is present. Not “kept separately”, not “shut in the kitchen during minded hours”. Present.
The breeds banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act have included the XL Bully since 2023 — which is the one most likely to catch a childminder out, because a great many were rehomed and registered as exemptions by ordinary families who had no idea it would ever intersect with their business.
If this might apply to you
Do not wait for an inspection to find out. Speak to your local authority early years team or your childminder agency now, and get the position in writing. If you have a dog you are unsure about, that uncertainty is itself the thing to resolve — the prohibition does not depend on the dog having ever done anything wrong.
Worth noting this also applies to anyone whose premises you use, not just your own home.
The harm reporting threshold has dropped
Previously, allegations of serious harm made against someone living, working, or looking after children at your premises had to be reported. From September, the threshold is harm.
That is a meaningful widening, and it removes a judgement call that childminders used to agonise over. You are no longer being asked to assess how serious an allegation is before deciding whether it crosses a line.
What this means in practice
If you had a mental rule of thumb along the lines of “I’d report that if it were serious”, retire it. The safe posture now is: an allegation of harm gets reported to Ofsted or your agency, and you do not sit on it while you decide how bad it was. Reporting is not the same as concluding someone did it.
Check your safeguarding policy for the words “serious harm” and change them.
Safer sleep moves into the framework
Safer sleep guidance is now written into the EYFS framework itself, rather than sitting in a separate document you were expected to find and follow.
For most childminders this changes nothing practical — if you already follow safer sleep practice, you already comply. What changes is that it is now unambiguously part of the statutory framework, which means it is squarely inspectable and there is no longer any room for “I hadn’t seen that document”.
Worth a ten-minute check
- Does your written sleep policy reflect current safer sleep practice, or was it written years ago and never revisited?
- Does it cover sleep in prams, car seats and bouncy chairs, not just cots?
- Do your sleep checks get recorded in a way you could show someone?
- Have parents actually seen the policy, or does it live in a folder nobody opens?
Screen use
You are now required to have regard to the screen use guidance for early years settings.
“Have regard to” is a specific and slightly slippery phrase. It does not mean the guidance is law and every line must be followed. It means you must genuinely take it into account, and be able to explain your reasoning if you depart from it. A blanket “we never use screens” is a defensible position. So is limited, purposeful use. What is not defensible is not having thought about it.
The realistic version
Write two or three sentences on screen use into your policies and mean them. Something like: what you use screens for, when you don’t, and how you talk to parents about it. If an inspector asks, you want a considered answer rather than a startled one. That is genuinely the whole requirement.
Volunteers, DBS and start dates
Two tightenings here:
- Enhanced criminal records checks are required for all volunteers — including supervised ones. If you have occasionally had a supervised helper without a check on the basis that they were never alone with children, that route is closed.
- New employees cannot start work until their check has come back clear. Not “started the application”. Back, and clear.
There are also revised requirements on what people must disclose about their suitability to work with children. If you employ an assistant, this is worth reading in the framework itself rather than relying on a summary.
If you were planning to take someone on
Build the DBS turnaround into your timeline, and do not agree a start date that assumes it will be quick. If someone is already working with you on the old understanding, resolve it now rather than at inspection.
What to actually do this week
Realistically, most childminders are already compliant in practice and out of date on paper. The work is mostly documents.
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Download the right framework
The childminder version, from GOV.UK, effective 1 September 2026. Not a summary, not one a Facebook group sent you, and not the group and school-based one.
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Search your safeguarding policy for “serious harm”
Change it to reflect the lower threshold. This is a five-minute edit and it is the change most likely to matter.
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Resolve any dog question — in writing
If there is any doubt at all about a dog on your premises, or on premises you use, get a written answer from your local authority or agency now.
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Add a screen use paragraph
Two or three honest sentences. Then actually do what it says.
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Check your sleep policy against current practice
Most were written once and never touched. Read yours as if you were an inspector.
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Check DBS status for anyone who helps you
Including volunteers you have always supervised.
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Tell parents what changed
A short message showing you are on top of a framework change does more for your standing with parents than almost anything else you could send them.
One reassurance
Framework updates land every so often and they always feel bigger from the announcement than they turn out to be from the practice. Nothing here changes how you actually look after children. It changes a handful of documents and one genuine prohibition. An afternoon, and you are done.