Childcare in my home

[buffysummers4]

Hi, I'm looking into doing a bit of work while on maternity leave. Baby will be approx 5 months to start with. I would be working from home, mainly non-live work but there would be some phone calls and skype calls which need to be not interrupted except in emergencies. Initially very much part-time and for a defined temporary period of time though could well be ongoing. Not hugely well paid so I can't throw money recklessly at childcare. No local family to help regularly.
I hadn't intended to go back quite so soon so hadn't really thought about childcare options - ideal would be childminder a couple of mornings a week but as I will be working from home I thought another option might be a non-qualified 'babysitter' type person who would entertain baby, feed him once weaned, push him (indoors) in the pram to get him to sleep for naps etc but I would still be at home if they needed anything and could still breastfeed baby when necessary.
Then as baby got older and/or when I've had more time to make a plan/spaces become available I can look for a nursery or childminder.
I'm quite rural so any London or city-based app/network is not going to help me.

a) Has anyone done this and if so how did you find your person?
b) Are there any rules around this other than them declaring the income for tax?
c) Any other ideas for this sort of childcare?

I really want to be happy with any person/nursery I'm leaving baby with but this work suggestion has come up as a bit of a surprise so I don't have a lot of time to sort something out.

I can be flexible about when I do the work so it could be that initially I do it at the weekends and husband is in charge of baby while I look for childcare. (And use the money to pay for a cleaner so I get a break during the week!)
I would like to make this work as it's part time and mostly working from home so ideal for combining with children longer term but I am just wondering whether it's going to work for me....

You could advertise for what used to be called a mothers help who would do a bit of housework as well as childcare. The complication going forward would be baby growing older and playing you and childcare off against each other so childcare has no authority which could put nannys off.

a) Has anyone done this and if so how did you find your person?

I do a one day a week job with a baby. Parents are not at home though so bit different from what you are considering and baby is quite a bit younger than yours, so the parents wanted someone experienced.

b) Are there any rules around this other than them declaring the income for tax?

If it was an ad-hoc arrangement then perhaps they could do it via running their own business (do they already run their own business?).
Otherwise if you want consistency and want them to be obligated to work, then you need to be their employer. You would need to do payroll - though due to the hours being quite low it may not have any Employers National Insurance due, so your costs will be fairly low.
If subcontracting the payroll admin, that can be around £240 a year including the pension admin (will need have a pension scheme, even though the employee probably would not earn enough to be enrolled in it).

c) Any other ideas for this sort of childcare?

Part-time mothers help, part-time nanny. NannyJob.co.uk and Childcare.co.uk plus advertise locally. Rural locations can sometimes have a popular convenience store which has postcard ads (reminds me of the old days when that was the main method of recruiting anyone local).

Thank you both, some really helpful suggestions there. I think a mother's help might be the way to go. (Sounds so old-fashioned but it's the right idea!).
Thanks :)