Contracts & e-signatures
Build a childcare contract step by step, send it to the parents, and collect their signature and yours. Every signature is timestamped and saved as a PDF you can hand over.
Childminders & nurseries, England
Contracts, consents and registers, done on your phone
Send a childcare contract for signing, collect the permission forms you would otherwise chase on paper, and keep a register you can hand an inspector. Built for English settings.
- GDPR-ready
- UK & EU data residency
- EYFS-aligned
What you are responsible for, kept in order
- Built around the EYFS
- Records an inspector can read
- eIDAS e-signatures
- UK GDPR, data in the UK and EU
- Statutory consents, tracked
- No paper forms
What you get
One place for the whole childcare day
Contracts, statutory consents, the daily register, the diary and the learning journal. The paperwork an English setting has to keep, in one place instead of four.
Consents and permission forms
The permission forms you would otherwise chase on paper: photos, outings, medicine, data sharing. A parent signs from their phone, can withdraw at any time, and the record shows who agreed to what and when.
Daily register
One-tap sign in and out keeps an accurate, Ofsted-ready attendance record for every child.
Learning journal
Share photos and observations tagged to EYFS areas of learning. Parents see their child’s day as it happens and can reply with a tap.
Parent messaging
Secure chat that keeps conversations with families in one place. It arrives with the parent app. Today families sign and respond from an emailed link, with nothing to install.
Daily diary
Log meals, naps and nappies in seconds. Parents see their child’s rhythm in real time.
GDPR & UK data
Every record is held in the UK or the EU, on servers we control, and it is yours to ask for at any time.
How it works
We set you up, then it is yours to run
We build your setting with you on a short call, then you add children and send your first contract. Most childminders are signing families up the same week.
01
Set up your hive
Add your children and guardians, then build your first childcare contract with a guided wizard. Capture statutory consents along the way.
- 7-step contract builder
- Statutory + custom consents
- Signed PDFs saved automatically
02
Run the day
Sign children in and out with a tap, and log meals, naps and nappies as they happen. Your attendance record stays accurate and Ofsted-ready.
- One-tap daily register
- Live attendance summary
- Meals, naps & nappies diary
03
Keep families in the loop
Share photos tagged to EYFS areas and keep every conversation in one place, so a parent at work still knows how the morning went.
- EYFS learning journal
- Secure parent messaging
- Real-time updates
A peek inside
Every screen, as it actually looks
The screens as they ship today. Drag sideways to move through them.
Providers and parents
One record, two sides of the same day
You record it once. Parents see the part that concerns their child, and nobody has to retype anything into a group chat.
For childminders & nurseries
Run your whole setting from your pocket.
- Replace paper contracts, consent forms and registers
- Stay Ofsted-ready with accurate, timestamped records
- Share learning moments without a second app
- Spend the evening with your family instead of the paperwork
For parents
Stay close to your child’s day, wherever you are.
- See who’s in care and your child’s day at a glance
- Get photo moments and EYFS observations as they happen
- Sign contracts and manage consents from your phone
- Message your provider securely, any time
Your provider invites you, and it is free for families
Pricing
From £20 a month, cancel whenever
Fourteen days free, and we set you up ourselves rather than leaving you with a blank account. Free for every parent you invite, permanently.
Childminder
A solo childminder, getting the paperwork off the kitchen table.
£20/month
or £200 a year, save £40
Up to 12 children
- Contracts and e-signatures
- The six statutory EYFS consents
- Daily register and diary
- Learning journal and Learning Journey PDFs
Setting
A small nursery, or a childminder working with an assistant.
£39/month
or £390 a year, save £78
Up to 30 children
- Everything in Childminder, plus
- Staff accounts, when they ship
- Invoicing, when it ships
- Priority support
Nursery
An established nursery with rooms and a manager.
£59/month
or £590 a year, save £118
Up to 60 children
- Everything in Setting, plus
- We move your records in with you
- A named person for support
Multi-site
A group running several settings under one roof.
Let’s talk
Priced around the group
No child limit
- Everything in Nursery, plus
- A data agreement written around your group
- A named person for support
Pay yearly and get two months free. No VAT charged. Cancel any time, and ask us for a copy of your records whenever you want one.
Billing
Invoices that arrive without you chasing them
Your subscription invoice is numbered, dated and emailed to you each period, so it goes straight to your accountant or your shoebox.
A proper invoice, every time
Numbered, dated and itemised, so your accountant can file it without asking you what it was for.
Emailed as a PDF
It arrives in your inbox with the PDF attached, so it is already filed by the time you think about it. No portal to log into.
No VAT, no surprises
The price you see is the price you pay. BeehiveKin is not VAT-registered, so nothing is added on top.
No contract, no notice games
Cancel any time and take your data with you. We are not going to tie you in for twelve months to keep you.
Invoicing your own parents is on the way. This covers your BeehiveKin subscription. See the plans
The rules, explained by somebody who keeps the records
Written by Iram Tahir, who runs her own setting on BeehiveKin, and sourced to the GOV.UK pages so you can check anything before you act on it.
Inspection
The Ofsted report card for childminders: seven areas, five grades, and what to have ready
Inspections under the November 2025 framework drop the single overall grade and report seven evaluation areas instead. Here is what each one asks of a childminder working alone, and the records worth having to hand before the planning call.
· 9 min read
Money and records
Making Tax Digital for childminders: your date, your records, and the 10% that goes
Qualifying income is turnover, not profit, which brings in more childminders than most expect. This sets out which April applies to you, what a digital record has to contain, and what replaces the flat 10% wear and tear deduction.
· 8 min read
FAQ
Questions, answered
Is BeehiveKin right for solo childminders?
Yes. Most of the settings we work with are one person. Separate staff logins are coming; for now a setting runs on the owner account, which is enough for a childminder working alone.
Where is my data stored?
Every record is held in the UK or the EU and never leaves. We are the data processor and you are the controller, which means you decide what happens to it and you can ask us for a copy or a deletion at any time.
Are the digital signatures legally valid?
Yes. We use eIDAS simple electronic signatures with a full timestamped audit trail, which are accepted for UK childcare contracts. A signed PDF is saved automatically for your records.
Do parents have to pay?
No, and right now they do not even need an account. You send a contract or a consent and it opens in their browser from the link in their email, on any phone. Free for families, always.
Will it help with Ofsted and the EYFS?
Your registers, consents and contracts are kept accurate and timestamped so your records stay Ofsted-ready, and learning-journal moments are tagged to EYFS areas of learning. (BeehiveKin is a software tool, not an Ofsted-registered Childminder Agency.)
Does it cover the September 2026 EYFS changes?
The framework that applies from 1 September 2026 changes the wording around safer sleep, adds a duty to have regard to screen use, and moves safeguarding language from an allegation of serious harm to an allegation of harm. BeehiveKin keeps the records those duties rest on: dated consents, a register you can produce on request, and an audit trail on every signature. It does not write your policies for you.
Is this for the whole UK?
England, for now. The consent pack follows the EYFS and the setup asks for an Ofsted URN, so it fits an English childminder or nursery. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different regulators and different statutory frameworks, and we would rather say not yet than sell you a pack citing the wrong one.
What devices does it work on?
You can run your whole setting from the web today, on a laptop or a phone browser. The iPhone and Android apps are on their way. Parents need nothing installed, contracts and consents open from the link you send them.
Set up with you · 14 days free
Talk to us about your setting
Tell us about your setting and we will set it up with you, usually the same day. No card, no setup fee.
- Coming soon toApp Store
- Coming soon toGoogle Play
iPhone & Android · childminders can also use the web app today