Childminder Nannying for 10 weeks before being fully registered

[Jammybean]

I'm just looking for opinions and advice really.

My childminder isn't fully registered but will be by mid summer at the latest. So for the first 10 weeks or so she will be coming to my house with both her children to look after my 20 month old. After she has completed her registration with ofsted, I will be taking Dd to her. I just wanted to find out the best way to do this. As I understand it I have to be her employer and register with HMRC.

Is there anything that I should be aware of? I need to look at liability insurance. Would that be my responsibility or hers? Or is there an easier way of doing this? It seems like a lot of organising for just 10 weeks. TIA

No problem as far as I can see except for the regulator doing a pre-reg inspection visit - if that has already happened then its fine, if not, then how are they going to be present at their home if they are at your home?

Yes, you are the employer, they are the employee.

You need to have a contract with them. Examples can be found on Nannyjob.co.uk
You need to provide statutory holiday entitlement. Gov.uk has a calculator for that once you know the start and end dates involved. If holiday is not taken during the period of employment, it can be paid on contract termination in this case.
Employers liability insurance is often part of your home contents policy, check the wording.

No easier way to my knowledge.

Are you paying less than £473 per month? For the hours they work are you paying at least National Minimum Wage? [[
www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates NMW rates]]

Why 10 weeks, what if it takes many months for them to become registered? Whilst Ofsted have targets for processing registrations, not all applications will be processed in that timescale, certainly they were not when I worked there!

She will be working 3 days a week. 8 hrs a day at £5ph.

Its 10 weeks because that is what she has estimated.

£5ph is below minimum wage,

What about agency nannys are they employed by the agency or how does that work. I assume I pay a fee direct to the agency and they deal with all the relevant paper work, HMRC, NI etc.?

£5 is what she has said. It's the standard rate for a childminder around here.

Yeah, but she isn't going to be a self-employed childminder for those 10 weeks is she? She's going to an employed nanny and employees must be paid minimum wage. Thems the rules.

Tbh I'd be happy to pay more if she was self employed. She stated that amount as that what she will be charging once qualified. The other point to make is that she would effectively be a nanny share as she will be bringing her two little ones to my house.

I don't disagree with you Jammy, I'm just telling you the law. Law is employees are paid minimum wage. I don't think her bringing her DC's will change that, although I could be wrong.

A NWOC is not the same as a nanny share though.

There are different types of agency. Vast majority of nanny agencies in my view are an Introduction Agency, they do not employ the nanny. You pay them a fee to find a nanny, then you employ the nanny.
A few agencies may be an Employment Business, where they provide temporary staff for a fee which includes the persons salary, taxes, admin fees. Asquith Nannies is an example of such a service, though in their case I think it uses the nursery some of the time.

Childminder rate is different to nanny cost.

NMW. Ok that's been noted. Anything else that you think I should be aware of? There are very few good childcare options here and I don't want to lose my childminder before I've started.

Thanks nannynick! It's exactly the type of thing I'm after. Shame I've just mover from London.

I would wonder if using a nursery for a while may be an option. Not ideal for you I realise and may not be cheaper (once you take account of notice period) but it may be an option. Other childminders perhaps also worth considering.

Whilst this person thinks they will be registered in 10 weeks, it may take longer than that, though it may be less. You simply do not know. May be useful to have a backup anyway, some nurseries do pay-as-you-go rather than long term contract, so could be used if childminder is unavailable for a day/week due to their or their children illness, holiday etc.

Having looked at the costs there is no real benefit for being an employer apart from the obvious. The costs and paperwork are prohibitive. So I think I may have to look at other options In the short term. Although I really didn't want to move dd once I had her settled somewhere. Thanks again everyone.

Jammybean - you don't have to give up on this. Depending on where she is with her registration, it could be quicker than she thinks. I began registering in Feb 12 and was fully registered by APril 12. I did exactly what you are suggesting for my first family. They wanted me to start in the March. I cared for the children based from their home, occasionally at mine but for less than 2 hours per day so not breaking any rules. I charged £5 per hour per child as a self employed childcarer. HMRC had no issue with this because it was a temporary arrangement. As I was able to turn down hours if I chose and was acting as though I was running my own business just from a different location I wasn't deemed an employee. The situation only lasted a month anyway.