Looking after a friend's child

[jodie84]

A mate of mine is going back to work and I'm going to look after her son. Someone at my daughter's school told me I have to register with the council even if it's a firends child. Is this true??

my friend has ms which does not affect her day to day life. she has offered to have my baby 1day (no payment)a week. i don’t have a mum she is like a mum to me. By law is she allowed

It's the payment that will cause a problem. If you are being paid for more than 2 hours per day then legally that is not allowed. However, I know many parents that take turns at looking after each others kids so the payment is free childcare for their own kids. That appears to be the only way to do it without having to register. Can you look after the child in their house as a babysitter?

I foresee lots of these kind of arrangements happening with all the funded hours the government are bringing in. Where I live nurseries and childminders are like gold dust so if parents can't access proper childcare there will be more and more unregistered childcare happening.

@joshren, in your situation it's allowed as you are not paying her. Nothing wrong with a close friend/mum figure looking after your baby for free.

If you are not registered then you won't have public liability insurance- so,God forbid, if that child had a life changing accident in your care and they needed medical care for the rest of their life, then the child's Mum could absolutely take you to the cleaners to pay for it. And don't think she wouldn't because she would. You could lose everything.
Do you have a current Paediatric first aid certificate? Safeguarding training?
I know where you're coming from, I really do, but I would think long and hard about it. And if she's going to be looking after your children in her home for payment, she needs to be careful too.
The only way around it is if you care for her children in her house.