Becoming a nanny?

[Lmccrean]

I want to be a CM but my flat is too small (only allowed 1 child in addition to my own), although Im actively searching for house.

2 friends have asked me to look after their kids starting in oct, 2 kids (aged 1.5 and 3) 2 mornings a week, and the other friends 2 kids (3 mths and 20mths) at, as yet,unspecified times, as she is only considering going back to work p/t and hasnt started looking for work yet. (Obv I wouldnt even consider taking them all at the same time of day!)

Anyway, what are my options, if I wanted to make this official? Nanny/au pair? (what the difference??) Can I be a childminder but mind them in their own homes?

As you realise, you would have to care for them in their own homes, not yours. You would be a nanny, an EMPLOYEE of the parent, who would need to provide you with a payslip, deduct tax and NI and provide that to the Inland Revenue, and fulfil all the other requriements of employing someone. If you are likely to take on more than one job (i.e. working for the two families) I would strongly advise you to agree a gross salary with each set of parents so they are not impacted by how your tax allowance is divided up.

If I was a babysitter rather than a nanny, would it have to be so official? Gues thats unethical as it would be cash in hand, not paying tax etc... I dont know what to do!

I think under certain circumstances you can be a self-employed Nanny, in their own home. You would have to ring the tax offices and explain that you may be doing 2 different jobs, maybe occasionally 3, and they may let you be self-employed and do own taxes. I say to say 3 because it makes it seem more complicated so they may prefer you to do your own.
Dood luck

There is however a 6 month rule, so if you work for a family for 6 months or more in a one year period, the family must be your Employer. Nannies can rarely be self-employed, it tends to be Maternity Nurses and Temp-Nannies who are highly unlikely to spend more than a few months working for any one employer.

LMCcrean, given your situation I feel you are best to either nanny directly for each family, if the days do not overlap, or arrange with the families to do what is known as a Nanny Share, where you could spend 2 or 3 days at one house, and the other days at the other house. This would work if the days overlapped, so say Family A wanted Mon, Tue, Wed and Family B wanted Wed, Thur, Fri, in Week 1 you could be based at Family A's house on a Wednesday, and Week 2 be based at Family B's house on a Wednesday. As a nanny you could have all the children at the same time... if you wanted!

Don't even consider being an Au-Pair, that scheme was really designed for foreign students to visit the UK.

A few years back you could have been a Childminder caring for the children at a different location. I don't believe this is still possible to do, you may want to check with Ofsted/Care Commission (which country do you live in?). I think this option however got removed when the Home Childcarer scheme became the Childcare Approval Scheme (which will soon become Ofsted Childcare Register) - nice how it keep changing