Run a crèche or ECD centre properly, and get the subsidy.
Looking after other people’s children is the most regulated small business a person can run from home, and most of the rules are there for good reason. This page lists what a crèche, educare or childminding service actually needs, who issues each piece, and what turns a home crèche into a registered programme that parents trust and government funds.
What you need to operate legally
- Registration under the Children’s Act. Every ECD programme must register, through the Department of Basic Education’s eCares system, in three stages: Bronze on application, Silver as conditional registration, Gold as full registration. The ECD registration guide walks through all three with the document list.
- Child protection clearances for every adult. A Form 30 clearance against the National Child Protection Register for you and each staff member, including the cook, the driver and the gardener, or a police clearance for a foreign national. Get these first; they are the item most often missing.
- The four municipal clearances. Land use or zoning consent to run a facility on the property, approved building plans, a fire safety clearance, and the environmental health clearance or health certificate. Where you prepare meals, a food premises certificate as well.
- Qualified people. Silver needs an ECD qualification at NQF level 1 to 6, an accredited short course, or three years’ experience for the supervisor or a staff member; Gold needs it for the applicant.
NPO or company?
You can register an ECD programme as a sole proprietor, a non-profit organisation or a company. Most community crèches choose the NPO route because the subsidy process, provincial funding and donors ask for an NPO number and a constitution, and because it separates the crèche’s money from the family’s. A privately run educare charging full fees is often a company. Either way, founding documents count at Silver and Gold, and an NPO must file its annual report with the Department of Social Development to stay registered.
Employing practitioners and helpers
- A written contract for every practitioner, assistant and cook, with hours, pay and duties. Sectoral wage rules apply.
- UIF from the first employee, registered with the Fund and declared monthly.
- COIDA, because a lifting injury in a crèche is an injury on duty like any other.
- PAYE once anyone earns above the tax threshold, currently R99 000 a year.
- Payslips and leave records, which a Department of Employment and Labour inspector asks for as readily as the social worker asks for the menu.
The Employer Admin pack sets up the registrations, contracts and payslips together.
The money
- The subsidy. R24 per qualifying child per day at Silver and Gold programmes, with 40 percent for nutrition, claimed from the provincial education department. Bronze does not qualify.
- Fees and tax. Fee income is taxable. An NPO with public benefit organisation approval from SARS is exempt on its non-profit income; a sole proprietor declares the crèche on a personal return; a company files an ITR14. The turnover tax calculator shows whether the micro-business regime helps a small fee-paying crèche.
- Records. Attendance registers, fee receipts and the daily programme are what both the subsidy audit and the social worker want to see.
Frequently asked questions
I look after five children at home. Do I register?
If they attend for more than 16 hours a week, yes, as a childminder, which is a non-centre-based programme with lighter requirements. Under 16 hours a week you register as a playgroup. The Children’s Act does not have a category of care that is exempt because it is small.
Can I get the subsidy at Bronze?
No. The subsidy is for Silver and Gold registered programmes. Bronze lasts a year and is the step that gets you onto the system.
Do my staff need police clearances or Form 30?
South Africans need the Form 30 clearance against the National Child Protection Register. Foreign nationals need a police clearance instead, which comes from SAPS and takes weeks, so start early.
Do I need an NPO to register?
No. Registration is open to any operator. An NPO helps with funding and the subsidy, and it is what most community crèches use, but it is a choice, not a condition.
Set the crèche up as an NPO, constitution included
Non-profit registration prepared and submitted for R1 490, with the constitution, the founding resolutions and the Department of Social Development filing that funders and the subsidy process ask for.
Register the non-profitKeep exploring
Sources: the Department of Basic Education’s Bana Pele registration guide, May 2026, and eCares; Chapters 5 and 6 of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005; the City of Cape Town’s ECD registration service page; the 2025 and 2026 national budgets; the Budget 2026 tax guide for the tax threshold. Provincial requirements and certificate periods differ. This is information, not legal advice.