Free peer to peer child care??

[Alexia99]

Hi - im thinking about setting up a network group using friends on Facebook and Mumsnet etc which would potentially offer people the opportunity to look after each other's children on a free favour basis.

There would obviously need to be security verification etc and people would want to meet each other first but i'd really welcome people's thoughts on whether you think this would work within local communities etc and save people on child care costs?

Thanks and look forward to hearing your thoughts guys!!

A X

I think you need to look at the legal aspects in terms of taxable services.
There was a case a while back where two police women (I think) agreed to swap childcare and the tax man tried to claim each was providing a service for benefit, and take his cut.
It was thrown out of court, but I suspect anything more organised might attract the attention of their lawyers

I looked into this too, and there are loads of legal issues which made it impossible. Basically- tax man wanted his cut!

Not sure about tax etc. I do this / similar with one friend. It works really well. I’d be uneasy entering into it with anyone that I didn’t know fairly well personally.

I wouldn't leave my children with anyone like this. A proper childcare setting would be fine, but strangers swapping babysitting? No. I think that even if people were comfortable with that aspect of it they need reliability if they're working surely?

The problem wasn’t so much the tax on the policewomen as the fact that Ofsted said they should both be regulated as child minders. Due to the uproar over that case, OFSTED were put firmly back in their box and told to get their noses out of small reciprocal childcare arrangements between friends. However for something larger like this, I assume that Ofsted would decide that it was very mich their business.

You’d need to take proper legal advice on this as it’s likely to be considered a childcare business so needs to be regulated by ofsted, taxes could be payable on the value of the service. You’d also want to be sure you wouldn’t be personally liable if anything bad happened.

It’s a nice idea but in practice probably unworkable.

I think it's a good idea in theory but in that kind of set up I'd only do it with people I actually know. A proffesional childminder comes with recomendations and official inspections, I wouldn't personally leave my child with someone just because they had a DBS check for example.

But what about if it’s was friends of friends so a personal recommendation and it was other people with kids?

That’s already uncomfortable for me tbh - I just don’t know them. And “friends of friends” is vague.

Unless I knew the person very well I don’t think I’d leave my child with them or be comfortable minding a strangers child.

At the risk of getting struck off, here's a summary from "the other place" (not the House of Lords)
www.netmums.com/life/childcare-swaps-the-rules
In theory it's not impossible - but it would be a minefield.

I don't know myself. There is probably a lot of people who would think it's great. I just think unless it's a friend your children know then it's hard. A childminder would be a stranger at first,but their house would have been vetted plus any adults also living their including their older teens etc.

It is a nice idea but I think it gets complicated legally. I've even considered me and a friend doing it in the past but there's silly stuff like even if you give them money for your child to go out or for food etc then money has changed hands so theres implications (don't quote me but I'm sure I've read that in the past.) And if it's regular hours etc. Obviously with a friend noone would even know if you did give them money here and there but in a network i think it would be more strict and if regularly providing care I bet OFSTED would want to know.

Ahhh there not their

Here's the actual amendment to the rules.
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/744/article/2/made#f00002
I'd say that this does not cover "friends of friends" so you'd be in dodgy territory.

Actually was just chatting to my mum about this thread and she reminded me that my parents were part of a “babysitting circle” in the 1980s where people from our local area all babysat for each other.

When you joined up you got two “babysitting tokens” which were worth a certain number of hours, then you got more tokens when you babysat then used those to pay for more.

Back then there was no regulation of it but there was an agreed set of rules.

The whole thing collapsed when one mum didn’t feel like babysitting so got her new boyfriend to do it instead and he invited some mates over and the 6 year old came downstairs to find a group of strange men smoking pot in her kitchen. Apparently it was a huge scandal in the area.

If it was a genuine "friend of a friend" then there's no need for it to be organised in any formal way because by definition it's a hat between friends. I.e. you don't need to be advertising or arranging or co-ordinating anything because I say to my friend "oooh I'm a bit stuck for childcare every 2nd Friday" and she says "oooh my mum is usually free, ask her". Sorted.

Admittedly I can see a new-comer to the area possibly not having that network to call on. But encourage friendships - it'll be easier than running a quasi-childminding club.

Once you start making it organised, formal then some or all of the aforementioned pieces of legislation come in to play.