When does looking after a friend's child become childminding?

[Hulababy]

Just curious after something I have read really.

Can people really not just look after a friend's child for them for the day every so often? What about if it was, say, once a week for an afternoon perhaps? Does the age of the child make a difference?

i think it depends if they are being regularly paid or a one-off babysitting type of thing

of course they can. but if you want to pay them, you enter murky waters wrt insurance, liability etc. if you do it on a swapping basis, it's easier i think.

No payment involved.

Chances are the pther parent's would reciprocate at times too. All adhoc, nothing permentaly arranged.

I read that even reciprocated babysitting was considered payment.

Just found this on another thread:

You could both be in trouble whether you pay her or not unless:

• she is a close relative
• its less than 2 hours a day
• its less than 6 days a year or
• the childcare is in the child's home

So, looks like looking after a friend's child every so often could actually be illegal then! I am just a bit stunned TBH.

oh Hula I was just about to post that for you

I know that when i was on my pre-registration CM course there were 2 grandma there who needed to become registered in order to look after their grandchildren. The rules are very strict when it comes to childcare. I think the rules apply if the child is under 8 - afaik over 8's are different.

I think it's a bit sad really. That you can't help a friend out, unless it meets certain criteria.

I have been wondering about this myself. What about 8 yr olds who spend a lot of time round each others houses - at what point is is going round to a friend's and at what point is it "child-minding?"

6 days a year sounds a very low starting point IMHO

oh x post dustystar - you've answered my question

Depends what you mean though . I think casual playdates , for example , would n't count but having someone's child to "play" regularly for a day week or before/after school might, especially if it were reciprocated in some way. Isn't it as much from insurance/liability pov as legality.

OK, and an example of myself:

If I looked after a friend's 5yo and 2yo DDs in school holidays occasionally, and her DH did the same for my 5yo. The two 5yo are best friends. The 2y and my 5y wold also class themselves as good friends TBH too, but friendship thing probably not "allowed" due to age gap I guess.

Is this legal?

TellusMater - I agree with you. Just trying to get my head round it really as this just happened all the time when I was growing up, not sure some of our mums would have managed so well had it been "not allowed."

Isn't whether they are friends or not irrelevant. The level of care you would have to give a 2 yr would not really be on a playdate level imho

The rules were alot less strict then Hula. They are there for a good reason but sometimes they are not very practical.

another example

2 families each have a child who does swimming on Monday and football on Wednesday.

Mum A takes both children to swimming on Monday, Mum B takes both children to football on Wednesday.

It's a regular weekly reciprocal arrangement.

To me that's parents helping each other out in a practical fashion, not child-minding.

Or yes, the play date thing - how does that work.

Last year my DD went to her friend's house every Tuesday afternoon to play. I work later that day and instead of Dd going to after school club, she went to her friend's - mutual advantage to both us mums DD would be there up to 3 hours in the afternoon, depending on what time I arrive to collect. I would then look after DD's friend in school holidays the odd day whilst her mum worked - def more than 6 days a year.

Liz - I give this 2yo very little extra care than the two 5y - she disappears off upstairs with the two older ones the whole time. She'd hate it if I started wanting to interfer, lol.

Why did the GPs have top be regostered. My Ils take the children for us and it is sometimes for more than 2 hours and is def more than 6 times a year.

Thats different Iota as it is not caring for the child for more than 2 hours in your own home. I doubt OFSTED would involve themselves with the sort of arrangement Hulbaaby was talking about but I'm not sure where she stands from a strictly legal point of view.

dustystar - well I think it comes to over 2 hours in the other mum's care though not in the home - collect children from school 3.30, take home for a snack, go to football for 5 pm take home after football at 6pm.

It depends on the arrangement NAB. in both these cases the GPs were caring for the children every week while the Mum was at work. I know lots of families do this without going through the registration process but AFAIK legally if the child is not resident with a GP and they look after it regularly in the GP's home then they should be registered.

NAB - I also thought grandparents were exempt. DD was looked after once a week when I worked, before she was school age.

Thanks for all info BTW. Just something that has been on my mind, and meaning to ask about on MN.

I know Iota. The rules are strange. To look after a child in their home rather than yours isn't covered by the same laws. babysitters and nannys for example look after children in the child's home.

According to what I cut and paste from that other thread, a GP should not need to be registered as they would be a close relative.