Occupancy & Ratios: Maximising Your Capacity

Occupancy & Ratios: Maximising Your Capacity

Running a childminding business is a balancing act between maximising your income and staying strictly within Ofsted's legal ratio limits. The Occupancy Report takes the guesswork out of your schedule by automatically analysing your contracts and attendance logs.

Step 1: Viewing Your Capacity

Navigate to Tools > Reports & Analytics > Occupancy Report to view your dashboard.

1. Week vs. Month View: Toggle between a detailed weekly breakdown or a high-level monthly overview.
2. Average Occupancy: The dashboard instantly shows your average occupancy percentage. A higher percentage means you are operating closer to your maximum capacity.
3. Open Spots: KinderStart calculates exactly how many spaces you have available on average across the selected period.

Instantly see your capacity and average open spots at a glance

Step 2: Ratio Warnings & Compliance

The most critical feature of the Occupancy Report is its ability to flag potential legal breaches before they happen.

The report cross-references your registered capacity (e.g., 6 children) against the ages of the children booked in on any given day.

• Capacity Warnings: If a day shows a warning icon, tap the row. KinderStart will alert you if you are approaching your maximum limit.
• Ratio Issues: If you have accidentally booked too many Under 5s or Under 1s according to statutory ratios, the day will be flagged with a red error. Tapping the row will explain exactly which ratio rule has been breached (e.g., "Too many children under 1 year old").

Step 3: Planning for Growth

Use the "Open Spots" metric to plan your business growth.

• Targeted Marketing: If you notice consistent vacancies on Tuesdays and Thursdays, use the Vacancy Flyer tool to advertise specifically for those days.
• Assistant Planning: If you are constantly hitting capacity, the report provides the data you need to justify hiring an assistant to increase your ratios.