Car Insurance question for Childminders

[DontlookatmeImshy]

On our registration course the EY people told us we needed Business Class 1 insurance. Now I keep seeing adverts for Motorminder who claim we need Business Class 3 otherwise not insured to transport mindees and breaking the law etc etc.

So anyone know if they are right? And has/does anyone have their insurance/had any dealings with them.

I spent a long time last year looking into this as it turned out my insurer who told me by email that they would cover me as a childminder actually don't cover childminders! Unfortunately I lost their original email Apparently different insurance providers include different things in the different business classes. So instead of asking for a particular business class, childminders have to specify they are a childminder and request a policy that will cover them for carrying other peoples children.

With Layton Blackham and Morten Michel the policy will most likely specify the business is a childminding one. But other insurance providers don't specify it so I recommend getting a letter or email from the company BEFORE you part with any money to confirm their policy will cover you. Don't rely on anyone telling you over the phone that you are covered. Be really specific - its not enough to say you're a childminder you have to also say you're carrying other peoples children (who are contracted to be in your care) in your car.

Sheilas wheels are happy to do this (I got both email and letter from them) and they have an online chat service which makes it easy to ask.

On our ICP course we have been told to apply for bussiness class 3.

Ofsted requires that appropriate car insurance is in place... they don't define what that actually means.

An insurer offering BU1, BU2 or BU3 may still refuse a claim, if they feel the policy didn't cover children in the car.

Until you have an accident you don't know how good the insurance cover is. With luck, in an accident situation no child will be badly injured, so a personal injury claim wouldn't be involved... but what if a child was badly injured, what if they died. Would the insurance company pay out... or would they look for loop holes to get out of settling a claim?

Morton Michele will put on your policy the following statement:
Social, Domestic and Pleasure Purposes and use for hire and reward in connection with childcare activities.

Layton Blackham I expect offer a policy with similar wording.

It is the "Hire and Reward" part that I think is needed, as you are being paid as part of your job to transport children in your care.

In March 2008, the Driver & Vehicle Agency issued an Enforcement Bulletin following an incident involving a mini bus operated by a day nursery. In the document it says:

A childminder who uses a private car to transport children under their care can do so legally if:
<ul><li>The service is provided free of charge; or</li><li>Reward is collected in advance of the journey and does not exceed the running costs of the vehicle for the distance travelled.</li></ul>
In other words, the child minder cannot receive payment for their time when driving the vehicle, but they can accept a contribution towards the actual running costs of the vehicle for the journey undertaken.
~~~ End Quote ~~~

I would suspect that most of us would want to be paid for our time, as well as a contribution towards the running cost. Thus, I suspect we may fall under the same rules that a Taxi does.
So do we licence ourselves as a taxi?
Do we have hire and reward insurance?

Aaahh - someone else that knows a bit about the 'hire and reward' aspect. I mentioned this on a thread with nannies the other day. It is surprising how many nannies do not realise/know about this.

As you say, it is worth having a letter or the document worded to show that it is something that you are difinetely covered for.