Helping a mum at school

[b123h123]

I need advice, I agreed to help a women who's child is in the same class as my daughter, the girls have been to each others homes but that is the limit of my involvement with the mother.
The women has started work and as she is a single parent she asked me if I could pick her youngest daughter aged 5 and my daughters friend aged 9 from school to her home where her older daughter aged 14/15 was to have them until she got home from work, I agreed to this as I wanted to help her out but I've since found out that the mother is not home from work until 8pm at night, I had been under the impression that the daughter was only looking after the younger children for half an hour after school.

I know that there is no age limit to looking after children in law, but the NCPCC endorse that no child under 16 ought to be looking after - and many after school places will not allow children under 16 to collect their siblings.

By collecting the children from school do I become responsible for these children? I feel very torn between wanted to help a women and family who are struggling to make ends meet (she has a minimum wage job and was pushed into employment, and travels to the other side of Manchester to do so) but I don't want to put myself in a situation where I become responsible for any unfortunate incident that may occur whilst the children are in the care of the oldest daughter (who seems to be, well behaved-polite-well mannered-mature)
Ultimately is the responsibility with the mother and not with me?

Personally I would not do the same,I have always either personally been responsible for my children or used my mother/mother in law as a child minder + school, but saying that I am not in her set of circumstances either.
Is this why I feel uncomfortable about leaving the children 4 hours without adult supervision?
Opinions and any law information would be very helpful. Thank you

you arent happy with this

you dont need to have others opinions or the law discussed, you know you dont want this to happen

so tell her

She wants to know whether she would be legally responsible for the children if something happened ssd. That is a law related question.

OP I don't know. I don't think you would be held responsible for their welfare after they'd been dropped off, but I'm not sure. Hopefully someone who knows for sure will be along soon.

FWIW I think this is ok. It's not ideal, but as long as the kids are well-behaved and sensible they're unlikely to come to any harm. Ultimately this mother knows her children best and I assume wouldn't leave them if she didn't feel they'd be safe?

So you are dropping two children to her home, one of whom is not her own? What does the other mother think about her daughter being looked after by a teenager? Are you sure that she is only 14/15 and not already 16?

I think both the children belong to this woman Unexpected. Three siblings a 14/15 year old, a 9 year old and a 5 year old. The 9 year old is friends/in the same class as the OP's daughter.

Ah yes, sorry. On the face of it, I don't have a problem with it, I think the older sibling is probably well capable of looking after them. However, I don't think it's sustainable on a long-term basis. It means that the older sibling will never be able to stay for an after-school club or, more importantly, for after-school revision sessions which may well be mandatory. It's also quite a bind for her to feel she always has to come straight home from school and will lead to resentment of her siblings.