IS THIS LEGAL???

[jammalayo]

Hi guys, I’ve got a 1 year old son and I find that I have to leave him with my mum and dad to avoid having him in nursery all the time. A friend of mine, whose parents doesn't live in this country, asked me if I wouldn’t mind dropping his kids of my parents.

At first I didn’t think anything of it, but then I started to realise the opportunity for my parents to essentially take on more kids for a small fee, well below nursery fees.

Would you be comfortable leaving your kids with someone older?

Are there any other grandparents that would consider doing this ?

Or do you try to have as little kids around ?

Just curious about it, thanks guys.

Your parents would need to register as childminders to charge somebody so I don’t think it is legal. Especially if they do it cash in hand and don’t declare the income.

I have no issues with people of whatever age providing childcare as long as they have had the appropriate training and insurances if things go wrong.

But that would be childminding. And child minders have to be registered and ofsted inspected....

It is not legal. Childminders have to be qualified and registered.
If they are not both the child's parents and the illegal minders face a fine of up to £10,000 each.
That is without getting into the not declaring it to the taxman and if there was any sort of accident the child's parents could get done for neglect and if on their property the kids parents may be able to sue them for thousands.

No it’s not legal. It would make them childminders and as such need to be registered and inspected.

Are you in the UK?

If it is a regular arrangement for which they are being paid they need to register as childminders. There are specific requirements to look after unrelated children in your own home, and limits for each group.

No, it’s not legal!

Ummm...do your parents have a say in this? Would they want to become childminders?? If they do they would absolutely have to go down the legally registered Ofsted inspected route with insurance etc. What if a child has an accident in their home!!

They’d also invalidate their home insurance.

In the UK your parents can care for their grandchild, no problem there. They cannot care for children unrelated to them, that is where the line is drawn.
There is a 2 hour per day limit in legislation, so care for a short period of time could be done but do they really want to be caring for other children?

If they care for someone else's child regularly for more than 2 hours and get paid for it, they need to become registered childminders. If they are not registered childminders, then doing as you suggest would be illegal.

What everyone else said but mostly you haven't said your parents would be happy with this.
Also the friend is cheeky to assume this would be ok. It isn't. Imagine if something happened to the child in the grandparents care. You'd need to be properly insured (and to be properly insured you'd need to be a registered CM I think).

What do your parents think about this? Do they want to become childcarers for non related dc? It’s one thing looking after your grandchildren, but quite another thing taking in your children’s friends dc. Childcare is exhausting if you are doing it right. It’s not about just putting the tv on and leaving them to it! And yes, they would need to be registered with Ofsted, do a few qualifications and courses (which all need to be paid for), have proper insurance for work/home/car and provide enough resources and equipment to keep everyone entertained, learning and safe for the time the dc are with them.

& you have to do tax which if they are retired or collecting other benefits they could be affected -

What a cheeky friend

And as others said it’s not legal and your parents would need to register as cm and have appropriate insurance and checks