The Welsh Government in consultation with Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) and PACEY (Professional Advice for Childcare and Early Years) Cymru, has produced a useful guidance document: Fire safety: guidance for childminding premises.

The guide provides information on how best to reduce fire risk in your home and covers escape routes, fire escape plans, smoke alarms, sleeping accommodation and other general precautions. The actions you should take will depend on the particular circumstances of your home, its occupants and the children you look after. As a childminder, you should try to protect anyone on your premises from harm caused by fire. Carrying out a fire risk assessment is a crucial part of the overall fire safety of your property.  Accompanying the document is a easy to use fire risk assessment template designed specifically for childminders and their homes that can be edited to suit your needs.

The Care Inspectorate Wales expects you to undertake a fire safety risk assessment to comply with the requirements relating to fire precautions in the Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2010, as amended and the National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare for children up to the age of 12 years. This applies equally to both new registrations and existing services.

The three Welsh Fire and Rescue Services fully support this guidance and encourage anybody who is a childminder to download the documents.

Go to https://gov.wales/fire-safety-guidance-childminding-premises-html to download a FREE copy of the guidance document and the accompanying fire risk assessment template.