Advice appreciated - childminding rates

In addition to the warnings in previous posts....

As an unlawful child 'carer' you won’t be able to create a binding contract. So she could walk away from your agreement at a moment’s notice, leaving you up the creek. She could also look after as many children as she fancied, without you even knowing. You can’t use any of the money saving schemes, such as tax free childcare (saving you 20%) which a registered childcare provider could offer.

If none of that troubles you, then perhaps this will. She is not a registered provider so she cannot take legal responsibility for your child. That mean you remain solely responsible for anything that happens to your child whilst in her 'care'. In other words, if anything goes wrong or there’s an accident or she has to seek medical assistance, then social services open a case on you. In f@ct, simply leaving a child with such a person could be reported to children’s social care department.

Also consider the fact that she doesn’t want to get found out. So if your child gets hurt, she’s going to think twice before seeking medical assistance.

Taking out all the queries about the rates in general, you are right that is your SIL is having 2 children by her and you 1, you need to pay 33.3% and her 66.6% of the £20.

You need to clarify several things:

If she is a nanny, she works from the child's home and gets an hourly rate regardless of the number of children but an agreed number. Usually one family, sometimes a state. She must be employed by BOTH families and you also pay her NI , pension and employers tax. She must have a contract , holiday, sickness pay and cannot take on or work for anyone else when she is looking after your children.

If she is a childminder, she must, by law, be ofsted registered, have done a childminding course, be registered with the council, have insurance, dbs, first aid training. She must work from her ow home which has been inspected. She can take on up to 8 children or so, legal ratios. She does not need your agreement. She is paid per hour or session per child. She is self employed and sets her own rates. She pays her own tax and ni.

You don't get to mishmash between the two. An unregistered childminder is illegal. A nanny without a contract and not registered as your employee is also illegal.

She needs to decide what she is.

If she is not a registered childminder you are on very dodgy grounds indeed. If she gets reported to Ofsted or is found out by Ofsted she will be closed with immediate effect and you and your SIL will be without childcare with no notice.

If she is not registered she will not be qualified, will not be DBS checked, will not have insurance. Do you really want to put your child in that position? I would seriously think about what you are doing here.

For an unregistered childminder the feed are quite high

In your area child minder rates are between £6-£8 an hour or £50-£60 a day.

You would be wise to consider a registered childminder as you may also be entitled to childcare cost support.

Have you used childcare.co.uk to have a look?

She had to work in hey own house to be a childminder. And she could look after two other children all day as well as yours so it's not comparable to nanny rates.

Is she a registered childminder?

All the childminders I know charge a flat hourly rate per child. This arrangement sounds odd.

I pay a childminder, in the South East (Kent). Its £5.50 an hour including all nappies, food, milk, activities and trips out.

If the childminder only had my child, I don't pay Nanny rates because she's a childminder and not a nanny.

NB some people claim to be “self-employed nannies” - this is unlikely to be legally valid, they’re almost always really employees in which case you’re liable for their tax, pension etc whatever they claim about being self-employed.

If she works at your SILs then she is a nanny.

If she works at her house then she is a childminder and must be registered with ofsted as a childminder.

Which is it? Or is it both, working as a childminder in the day and a nanny after school?

If she’s a childminder in the day then will she be allowed to look after other children as well as your son? If so £12 seems high.

And if she’s a nanny then £20 an hour for looking after 3 children would be high for london.

I think your first step is to ask her to clarify - is she a self-employed childminder and if so how can she work at your SILs?

Our childminder charges a flat rate, regardless of how many children she has.
We're in Lincolnshire, and we pay £3.60 per hour.
It sounds like a bit of an odd arrangement and what would happen if she then has other children to look after? Would your rate go down?

And if she's working at your SILs house she is not a CM but a nanny. CMs work from their own home/setting and are inspected by Ofsted based on an inspection of their own home/setting. Is she even registered?

She's a childminder not a nanny so she can't be charging you nanny rates as nannys tend to get paid a set amount for multiple children whereas a childminder charges per child.

Why is your SIL only paying £5 per hour when CM wants you to pay £20 per hour? That is not on and most CMs I know do not charge extra for babies or different rates for different families/children.

I would be wary sharing the same CM as your SIL in these circumstances as it could potentially cause resentment between you and SIL.

£20 an hour is very high, even for London.