can family/friends look after your child?

[bessie26]

I was chatting to a lady at baby swimming today & she mentioned that her SIL would be looking after her DD when she returned to work.... it made me think that there was some rule about non-registered childminders only being able to look after your DC for a few hours a week? (wasn't there some hoo-haa about 2 police women looking after each other's DC?)

Does anyone know what I'm taking about? I did try to look on the ofsted site, but couldn't find anything useful. (Perhaps I dreamt the whole thing up?)

Depends if she's being paid and where she's doing it. If she's in the child's own home then it is fine. If it is paid for and in the SIL's home for more than 2 hours per day, she should be registered.

I think it was going to be at the SIL's house (she has 2 kids of her own) & it would definately be for more than 2hrs.

Any idea of what I can google to find something official about this? I tried looking at the childcare act, but couldn't find anything straightforward.

The family situation complicates things so it is not as black and white as I thought. I don't know if s SIL is close enough family.... This is what i found ofsted

4 yo thread, but looks like right forum to get quality answers.

The issue of pay is key. If its unpaid or IB return for childcare it's fine, if it's paid money it isn't (and there are issues re tax declaration there too.

As to whether registration is required for a SIL it's a grey area. As a blood relative she would need to be registered and caring for other children in order to use childcare vouchers or tax credits.

You aren't dreaming, there are rules but they're complicated.

Won't the woman be the child's aunt?

Ofsted states that you don't have to register if you only care for a child or children aged under eight whom you are related to. A relative means a grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister of a child (or half-brother or sister) or someone you are related to through marriage or civil partnership.

a-ha! I was looking under the "parents" area of the site - under the "childminder" area that runoutofideas linked to I found this document which states when registration is not required where is states exactly what malovitt said (along with another 16 exceptions)

Thanks for your help!

Were you worried about her not abiding by the law?

Not really! I was more worried that her or her SIL would get in trouble at a later date about money changing hands or acting as an unregistered CM.

I was also curious, because I wondered if there was a limit to how many hours my parents & ILs could care for our DC.

:). I'm just defensive because I chose to have a friend look after my baby for a few months. All was fine. It was the BEST thing for all of us.