Ofsted Registration for Grandparents

[kitkat2507]

Hi Everyone.

Does anyone know how easy/difficult it would be for my mother in law to register with ofsted to look after my 2 children? does she have to do courses etc if she is only going to have mine? I want to be able to pay her which is why im pushing her to register, I pay my current childminder but simply cannot afford the holidays she charges (5 weeks a year) when i have to pay someone else at the same time. any advice would be greatly appreciated x

She will have to carry out the full registration proceedure even if she is only looking after your child (doesnt make any difference if its a relative or not). So she will have to start with the following (England)

Contact local authority - they usually have a couple of sessions where you pop along for info.

If she still wants to go ahead then their is a pre-reg course which is usually one evening a week for about 6 wks.

Complete Ofsted registration applications, have CRB check done, medical by her GP.

This info goes into Ofsted with the application and they check suitability, if thats ok then they will call out for an initial safety visit to check the house out and ask her questions about how she plans to work / look after mindees.

The application process can be quite lengthy so if you are wanting to switch over I think you should get going asap some can take upto 5mths.

She will also have to do certain courses as standard Paediatric 1st aid (12 hr one), Safeguarding L1 (minimum) L2 is also good to have. EYFS training as she will have to follow the curriculum and carry out observations / planning / assessments onm your child. She will also have to register as a food business with environmental Health who pop around to have a look.

Also will be required to do Risk Assessments for just about everything you can think of and a bit more, policys and proceedures relating to business practice and care of the child. Register as Self Employed with HMRC and keep accounts pay own tax / ni cons.

She will also need public liability and extra car / home Ins.

Childminding isn't for the faint hearted and I would'nt register for only one child but she could start looking after others as well if she wanted.

She will also have a full inspection within 6mnths and then every 3 yrs thereafter.

Should add if your DC's are over 8 their are certain circumstances where registration is not required. But if you get help with vouchers or tax credits you will need a fully registered provider to do this. Also I would imagine that your MIL will still want to have some time off, if she is happy to take her holidays at the same time as you then great but IME this won't always be the case so you will quite probably still need extra to cover time off.

If you do get help with Tax Credits did you factor into your claim the extra payments needed for overlap holiday care? Or have you thought about finding another CM who doesn't charge over holidays, I tend to find CM's are 50/50 split on this.

How will you be paying? If not needing to use Childcare Vouchers or Tax Credits, then I don't think she would need to register.

She could come to yours as a nanny and be unregulated. And if you did want to use vouchers she can go on the voluntary register which is much, much easier.

It certainly does make a difference if she is a relative:

Childcare Act 2006 S18
...
(4) ?Childcare? does not include care provided for a child by?
...
(c) a relative of the child;
...

(8) In this section?
...
(c) ?relative?, in relation to a child, means a grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister, whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership.

So as long as your MIL fits that, she would not need to register.

I am a CM and in July and Aug will become a grandma.
I intend to care for both babies, I am registered for 2 under 1 already.
Both my DS and my DD will need help ie Child tax credits and I will also continue with present mindies if possible.

Would Ofsted frown upon me caring for 2 grandchildren do you think?

BradfordMum - as you are already a registered CM you need to comply with Ofsted regulations with regard to number of children you care for, so if you will care for both your under1 grandchildren at the same time, then they will take up both your under1 places.

what about the ofsted voluntary registration? does this apply to grandparents

Grandparents are exempt from registration. So the only reason I can see for them to register is for tax credits purposes. If the grandparent cares for children over age 8 then voluntary register could be used I suppose. If the grandparent cared for the child, at the child's home, then voluntary could be used. However there is no need except for tax credits purposes.

Grandparents only need to register with Ofsted if you wish to claim tax credits. However, bear in mind, to stop tax credits abuse they would have to be Ofsted registered, registered as self employed and also have other mindees that are of no relation in order to qualify.

They do not need to have other mindees. I have spoken to the tax credits and all they are really interested in is the registration, she would be classed as self employed officially Tax credits actually have no way on there system of knowing which children is looked after by which CM they cannot put the CMs name in and come up with a list of children looked after by them if that makes sense, they dont regulate who the CM looks after. Im still researching but voluntary registration with ofsted looks like the option, they would still do the checks they are bound to do with CMs butmy MIL would be inviting them voluntarily sort of thing if that makes sense

I was a support childminder for five years, and one of the new childminders I supported had registered to look after her grandchildren. This was about 3-4 years ago. I don't know if this still applies; but the HMRC were not interested in whether she minded other children, with regard to tax credits. However Ofsted were. They said that she had a certain length of time to take on other mindees, and if she didn't then she would be de-registered.

I think you need to speak to tax credits again if you will need to rely on them and not get an overpayment - it quite clearly states

"Care provided by a registered childminder who is related to the child, is not considered qualifying care for the purposes of tax credits if this is provided in the child's own home. Registered childminders should inform Ofsted of changes in their childminding status, for example if they no longer look after non-related children.

If the childcare provider is approved under the CAS and provides care to a related child outside of the child’s own home, for example in other domestic premises, it is not qualifying childcare unless the childcare provider is also looking after non-related children."

If they didn't have to have other children, grandparents would simply register in order that parents could claim and the system would be wide open to abuse.

she will be looking after in her home, and will be fully checked as everyone else, my previous childcare provider was my aunt who was also a registered childminder, ofsted were aware she looked after the girls and so were tax credits, she ha the for 6 years in total, will it make a difference that although she is my mother in law she is not the girls paternal grandma, she is not a blood relative as the girls have a different dad to my current husband

The term 'Relative' is defined in law. Childcare Act 2006 defines it as:

?relative?, in relation to a child, means a grandparent, aunt, uncle,
brother or sister, whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership.

The Guide to Registration on the Early Years Register: Childminder says on bottom of page 7
"you may not apply to register to care for a child if you are the child's parents, grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister (whether of full blood or half blood, or by marriage or civil partnership), or step parent."

Guidance for Inspecting Childminder and Childcare Settings with No Children on Roll - the following looks to be most relevant:

For the decision about eligibility for transfer, we counted a registered childminder as having children on roll if they had cared for any child under the age of eight who was
not a member of their own family for reward. We did not set a time limit on this, so for example the care could be for only an hour. However, we did not count care for children who were aged eight or over or children who were a close relative, for example a grandchild, as the person was not acting as a registered childminder when caring for these children.
If a provider was not eligible to transfer but wished to be on the voluntary part of the Childcare Register, as they cared for children aged eight and over, we asked the person to submit a new Childcare Register application and pay the fee. However providers cannot join the voluntary part of the Childcare Register to look after close relatives.
~~~ End Quote ~~~

Thus I agree with <strong>onadayliketoday</strong> that Ofsted won't like it and will pick up on it eventually.

I looked into this exact question for a friend. She wanted her mother to look after her two children, her mother would give up work to do so and my friend wanted to pay her using tax credits instead of paying a CM.

She did indeed need to be a registered CM AND she would have to have at least 1 other non related mindee. Definitely - that was recently too.

but sometimes childminders sit with no children for ages so what would happen if she got no phone calls or if some1 started them left is that her back to square 1 and has to quickly find a replacement. would taking maybe a friend/neighbours child for 1 afternoon a week count

I agree.
I could be caring for my grandchildren and another child, who then leaves
Whilst I am actively seeking to fill that vacancy, advertising it, surely Ofsted wouldn't have a problem.

You can't just pull passing kiddies off the street!

IYKWIM!

exactly, how can you guarantee you will have another child at the same time? what if the "non relative" leaves what position does that then put the CM in with ofsted?

I suspect it only comes up as an issue at an Ofsted inspection. So if at the time of inspection it can be shown that a non-related child had previously been cared for and that advertising was underway to fill place, then I expect Ofsted leave it for a while, maybe checking again in 6 months.

so its ofsted that have the problem/concerns i thought it would have been tax credits as they are the ones paying the money. im in scotland and i dont think care commission would be to bothered infact if you didnt mention to them it was your grandchild they wouldnt know.

I am considering retiring from teaching after 30 plus years to look after my daughters baby, will I have to jump through any OSTED hoops if I help her out with looking after my grandson?

Blake07 - No, you do not need to be registered to care for your own grandchildren. Your daughter cannot use Government schemes (so not Tax-Free Childcare, Working Tax Credit/Universal Credit and not childcare vouchers) to pay you if you are not a registered provider who is providing care for non-related children in addition to those related to you.