Can I be a registered childminder and get paid for looking after my grandchildren?

[Sneezecakesmum]

One day a week in their home. That's it really!

Wouldn't that be classed as a nanny?

Yes as far as I know you can but bear in mind it costs you to register with ofsted and you pay each year I think for a renewed certificate. Plus you'd have to do your tax returns etc.

I'm not sure why you would want to be 'registered' as it's your grand kids you are caring for so you shouldn't need to prove to them the quality of your care.

No.

As care is in their home, not your home, then you would not be classed as a childminder.

In theory you could register as a childminder who uses a premises which is not their own, care for children from several families, some of whom are related to you and some who are not. However this would not be practical to do, imposes burdens on the home owner.

Rethink things - what is it that you are actually trying to achieve?
Nothing to stop a child paying their parent to care for their grandchild. You could be your child's employee. What could not be used would be things like Tax Credits, Childcare Vouchers, and the new Tax Free Childcare scheme (if/when that starts).

Unless you are considering the child are vouchers or free care element. In which case the care if being provided by a relative must not be at the child's own home, must be registered and also must be open to other kids not just the family kids.

No- as has been said, you are not a childminder if you care for a child in his/her own home.

What are you hoping to achieve?

You would in effect be a babysitter.

You could register with Ofsted as a nanny & be employed by your DD/DS if they want to use childcare vouchers otherwise I can see no benefit to formally registering & you might as well just file a tax return to declare any income.

I was just looking at some payment as it's hard work for me as one of the GCs is disabled and my DD and DSIL don't get any kind of childcare voucher or payment for childcare, despite low income. I would actually give the money back to DD for DGSs additional therapies.

It just doesn't seem fair to me that similar parents are paid vouchers or whatever (no clue!) while so many GPs provide free childcare and save the government so much money.

You can't use childcare vouchers if the care is provided by a family member in the childs own home, therefore you would have to take the kids to your house.

You must also be available to provide care to other children.

From HMRC:

Childcare provided by a relative
Qualifying childcare does not include care provided by a relative of the child in the child's own home. This includes relatives who are registered or approved childcare providers. For these purposes a relative means a:
•
parent
•
stepparent
•
foster parent
•
grandparent
•
aunt or uncle
•
brother or sister
whether by blood, half blood, marriage or civil partnership.

Childcare provided by relatives can be qualifying childcare if all
the following circumstances apply:
•
the relative is a registered or approved childcare provider
•
the care is provided away from the child's own home
•
the care is provided to nonrelated children in addition to the related child or children.

If you were to give the money back to DD then surely it is better not to be paid at all so HMRC do not deduct their share.

Nanny. If they paid me (or DD to pay me) and Hmrc deducted tax we would still have money to pay for DGSs additional non NHS therapies.

Dd would be getting additional money to pay for childcare which she doesn't get at the moment, so it would still be beneficial.

I wonder where the government/country would be if the army of unpaid carers of children and the disabled and elderly all downed tools and refused to work for zero?

And before anyone says grandparents and relatives do it out of duty and love. Yes, they do but not every grandparent or relative does the same so the government finds the money for paid child carers. Just a bit peed off that my time and devotion counts for nothing.

Childcare vouchers aren't free childcare, they come out of your wages, you just don't pay tax on them.

Dd would be getting additional money to pay for childcare which she doesn't get at the moment, so it would still be beneficial.

Where would that additional money be coming from? Do you mean from Tax Credits? Or perhaps from Direct Payments if the local authority agrees that the child needs additional services. Perhaps post on Special Needs:Children board for more about Direct Payments.

For any money that comes from Government, it has to be used for Approved or Registered care. As a grandparent, you won't be considered as Approved or Registered care, least not if you are only caring for your grandchild.

Yes you are right to be peed off but Governement has to draw the line somewhere. They have defined what is considered to be a Relative and have decided that care by a relative does not count as approved/registered childcare.

Are you referring to childcare vouchers when you talk about 'additional money'? Because they aren't additional money as such. They are just money which is allowed to be deducted from your salary and given to you tax free (within certain limits, thresholds and tax bandings depending on date commenced). It is a saving, but by allowing you to pay childcare out of gross money not net. The face value of the voucher is not its value to you.

Unfortunately, the government (of the day - I'm not making a party political point here, it applied equally to Labour) is in a difficult situation with family childcare. The vast majority of grandparents choose to give childcare free of payment (save out of pocket expenses). You can imagine that, if you could make a tax saving by paying grandparents and them passing it back to you under the table (which is, I'm afraid and understanding your good intentions, what you would be doing) then the potential for abuse would be huge. And, of course, depending on how your tax status stacks up against theirs, you might not actually gain that much once you had paid income tax on the money (and employer and employee NI for a nanny).

Yes, you are right to be peed off that you can't be paid as a nanny to your grandchild in as tax efficient a manner as a 'normal' nanny, but I can also see that it's a big and quite complex issue to resolve.

Thanks for the info.

I would be looking after the DGSs no matter what but help with some of the additional therapies would have been lovely.

DH and I are going to pay £80 a month for some additional speech and language therapy for the foreseeable future plus the £50 I put away each month for equipment.

SN equipment is phenomenally expensive. £2.5K (yes K!) for a car seat luckily funded by a charity, for instance.

Sometimes I feel I am paying to look after DGS, but it's my choice and I know DD and DSIL are also working their socks off for their boys

It must be incredibly hard. I can't even imagine. Maybe you could get some support on the special needs boards?

OP are you looking ahead to the new system the government has proposed when your dd/sil would get the funding? ATM if they are not getting the vouchers , I don't see how it would make a difference

Cheers. We are already SN boarding it

Not really sure what we are looking at in a financial way as regards to childcare. But it looks like childminding and nannying is out.

Was just curious to see if there was a bit of financial help available apart from the DLA. I also do a lot of cooking for the DGS, high cal, good quality stuff as DD is busy enough, plus the car journeys to their house every day. Still you do it for love don't you

Even though the little horrors give me endless germs for my trouble haha!

Hi All,

I’m moving to a new city where my child’s grandparent lives. There are currently no nursery spaces anywhere! Her grandmother has offered to do some childcare but I am struggling fro understand how to go about it so she can get paid through the government too.

Here are some facts about the situation:

• child is 2
• I work 40 hours per week over 5 days
• based on current conditions, UC pay back £500 pcm towards her nursery costs (I couldn’t afford nursery without this)

I just wondered if and how grandmother might get paid and be able to get by :)

You should have started your own thread rather than dragging up a 10 year old one..

But anyway, there is no provision for a grandparent to be paid by the government to care for their grandchild.

You'll get 15 funded hours from April which can be used in a nursery or childminder setting.

Yeah unfortunately that's not a thing here. A grandparent can register as a legitimate childminder but they then must be shown to look after other people's children too. They need to fully register. They won't be able to claim the new funded hours tho as they're related.