assistants

[bigisbeatifulwasoldandfat]

if my assistants are registered (as in done cm2 forms and have full crb checks) am i allowed to leave them with children, ie for school runs etc.

as long as you have written permission from the parents then the assistant can be left in sole charge.Thats what it says on my certificate.

this is all so confusing. how do my assistants go from asistants (cm2 form and crb) to cms. is there another form? or just the indroduction to childminding. Ofsted are useless. so so useless

To be a C/mer they would have to do a CM1 form an ICP and a 1st aid - they will be independantly inspected by OFSTED at your house

If you have written permission from the parents an assistant can have sole charge for short periods of time (eg school run etc)

CAT me if you want more info
hth

ofsted telling me under no circumstances assistants to be left with mindees.

Try ringing again - different people say different things

Remember you don't need to be a registered C/Mer if you look after children for less than 2 hrs a day - so they could look after children in thier own right for that long

My dh hasn't done any training and he's an assistant. Can't increase numbers or anything but he's done school pick ups for me in the past.

I have written permission from each parent for this and at inspection, Ofsted lady told me just needed to write to them 'telling' them that this was the case so it was on file. I didn't need to 'ask'.

HTH :)

Sorry to hijack bigisbeautifulwasoldandfat!

Katymac; If you have time at all in the near future, would you mind answering a few questions that I have regarding Assistants?

I may take on an Assistant in the near future - a friend, who is already registered as a childminder in her own right but to my address; I have only used her a few times when over my numbers in the past but am thinking to make it more often as I have the possibility of more work. Do you think it is more beneficial to me for her to be 'self employed' or for me to 'employ' her?

If I 'employ' her, when paying NI from her gross earnings, do I, as her employer, have to 'match' the NI contributions? I hope what I am asking is making sense?!!

In your view, are there any dissadavantages to 'employing' her as opposed to her being self-employed?

Do you think this is unreasonable:

not to offer sickness pay to her and
not to offer holiday pay

I do not ask parents to pay if I/we were to be off sick nor do I ask parents to pay when I am on holiday so cannot see how I could afford to pay an Assistant for sickness and holiday! I think friend will see this as unreasonable, what do you think?

Thanks T

Right - this is quite complicated

If she is S/E will she have her own children? Will she pay you rent? What happens if your children leave and you have no income?

You could say no sick pay - she could claim SSP

You do have to pay holiday pay it's illegal not to- but you do it by every X hrs she earns an hours holiday pay or by increasing her hourly rate to include holiday pay

I use a zero hrs contract so I'm not committed to paying them (apart from their "earnt" holiday)

CAT me if you want and we could discuss it

if i only had a brain, i am sure i would understand all this.