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Paid childcare

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Original poster

Tricky situation wrt before & after school care - possibly this should be in freelancers/self-employed

28 replies

Katymac · 21/10/2009 20:59

In the next village over the before & after school club is closing at (very imo) short notice - less than 3 weeks.

I have been asked if I can help - so I am off to a meeting tomorrow evening to meet the parents who have been let down (I also have a fair amount of sympathy for the staff who have been dropped & to some extent the company who have 'apparently' gone bust)

There are staff available to employ
There are children available to care for & transport

I do not want to make any empty promises but neither can I commit to anything tomorrow evening.

My problem is I can envisage either employing a new member of staff (or 2) & ending up with not enough children as parents make alternative arrangements OR having loads of children but no employee to ferry them about

I can't expect people to wait for me to sort it all out & neither can I ask for guarantees (or money) if I might not be able to provide care

I don't really know where to start

OP posts:
Danthe4th · 21/10/2009 21:26

Do you employ anyone at the moment as you stert to get in to the realms of employers paye etc and employers insurance. Is it worth the hassle if the brake even point is a bit close.

Original poster
Katymac · 21/10/2009 21:21

That is what worries me

No - I will be doing this as a childminder

Ideally I would employ someone & they would do the school run - however due to the time scale the new person would stay at mine with DH & do breakfast, my current employee would do my school run & I would do the new one

I have a smaller car which would do my school run & a people carrier to do the new school run - but a minibus might have to be considered (it is already under discussion tbh)

The problem is the brake even pint is awfully close to the max no of children I can take

OP posts:
Danthe4th · 21/10/2009 21:13

I would ask if you can see any figures before the meeting, at least get the chance to see if you can make it pay. Is the school going to employ you directly or expect you to run this as a childminder bearing in mind the employers costs etc. You mention transporting the children is there a vehicle available already. Sounds like you aren't going to be able to make any decisions tommorrow.