Babysitting for a friend

angelsmomma

laurenjs88 wrote: »

Maybe as i am assuming you are on IS she could give you £20 a week for babysitting as you are allowed to earn this much and if you look after her baby instead of giving you money she could get you your weekly grocceries instead? saving you that amount as spare income in the household and your not getting paid by her she's "gifting"

If she works 16 hours a week or more she could get upto 80% of her childcare through tax credits but it depends on how much her partner earns.

This is still agaist the law, it is payment in kind. You really don't want to be committitng fraud which is what this is, sorry.

Also she will only get help with registered childcare.

laurenjs88

Oh i didnt realise that would still be fraud... Don't do that then!!

sophisoph

LaLaLady wrote: »

I looked in to childminders around me and they were charging around £4 an hour.

Is there any reason why your friend wont be able to claim working/child tax credits as if she can i'm sure she could get help with her childcare costs.

Thanks everyone i never knew it was such a big deal i dont think ill bother then. shame that friends cant help each other out.

I dont know much about her benefits etc all i know is she is registering her partner as living with her so her jobseekers stops and she needs to do a few hours work to make up the difference so she can pay the rent etc. She will only be working part time so i dont think the help she would get would cover it to be honest and then she would just be working to pay for a childminder which is completly against the point

I suppose she didnt want to pay out stupid amounts for a childminder when a perfectly good, reliable FRIEND who is also a mother is living across the road with free time! Plus if i registered myself surely everything would be taxed and it would leave me with nothing in the end. she doesnt drive so it would cut out travel costs of dropping him off to me etc and...arrgghh lol

grrr im not getting angry with you guys just the stupid rules that are put into place. lol so does anyone know what IS allowed?

someone said its ok if i go to hers? does that mean i can be paid if im at hers? or a certain amount of hours? or...? ill look it up in a min. does anyone have any relevant UK sites?

Its all a bit tainted now and i think she will agree its best to sort something else out thats all above board

sophisoph

angelsmomma wrote: »

This is against the law, sorry to put a dampner on it. You really need to get advice from the childrens information service.
This is not babysitting it is childminding. The law is that anyone paid to look after a child for more than two hours should be registered. It means you can do it for free but not if you are paid.
Have you considered registering yourself?

see and if this is the law then its because theyre trying to make it hard for anyone to make a bit of extra money not because they care about the safety of a child. And to be honest i would be alot happier with a friend looking after my child than someone i dont know at all! Crb checks mean nothing these days

rao_2

phia2000 wrote: »

Plus if i registered myself surely everything would be taxed and it would leave me with nothing in the end.

Depends on your situation I think. You can earn up to a certain amount until you're worth it to be taxed. At the moment that seems to be up to £6,475
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/personal-allow.htm

However though you don't pay tax, you still have to register as self-employed and declare how much you earnt etc. at the end of the year just for the records. If its an on-going arrangement though it may be worth it to do this as there is a £100 fine otherwise for not declaring profits.

Also I don't know if you have another job that may peak over the £6,475 and how that would fit in with everything.

someone said its ok if i go to hers? does that mean i can be paid if im at hers? or a certain amount of hours? or...? ill look it up in a min. does anyone have any relevant UK sites?

I tried Googling but it seems rather hazy and a lot of 'hearsay' as it seems the law is changing a lot right now. Therefore the best advice I could give is to go to your local Citizens Advice Bureau http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ or see if your local or city library/council house/whatever has a free Legal Help clinic. I went to one once at my local library to help look over a contract for me and it was really freindly/helpful and down to earth.

I did find this thread which seems helpful but again I would seek legal advice from CAB or local voluntary clinic to be on the safe side:
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/childminders_nannies_au_pairs_etc/877168-What-is-39-babysitting-39-in-the-eyes-of-the

Its all a bit tainted now and i think she will agree its best to sort something else out thats all above board

Its unfortunate about the red tape but hope you and your friend can work something out. Best of luck.

a_confused_mum

rao wrote: »

Depends on your situation I think. You can earn up to a certain amount until you're worth it to be taxed. At the moment that seems to be up to £6,475
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/personal-allow.htm

However though you don't pay tax, you still have to register as self-employed and declare how much you earnt etc. at the end of the year just for the records. If its an on-going arrangement though it may be worth it to do this as there is a £100 fine otherwise for not declaring profits.

ALso you can claim your expenses such as gas and electric etc so a lot of childminders can earn a bit more and not pay tax due to expenses.

Homemade_2

beccas2006 wrote: »

Just to let you know that if you look after a child that is not yours in your house for a reward it is against the law!:mad: I would rather my child be in the care of a professional and she will gethelp form tax credits to pay for childcare with a registered person.

you can check on the ofsted site. by using a ofsted registered childminder you know that your child is in the best possible hands and is safe from harm, as they are all crb checked, first aid qualified and relevant qualifications.

These laws and rules are out there to protect people from all sorts, I know that but they take away a persons right to make their own choices.

I would rather my family or my friends were to look after my children rather than any so called expert where they are supposedly in the best care. I dont think they would be. But I am not allowed to have any thoughts on the matter.

The two ladies who got prosecuted for looking after each others children is a case in point and absolutely ridiculous.

Homemade_2

phia2000 wrote: »

see and if this is the law then its because theyre trying to make it hard for anyone to make a bit of extra money not because they care about the safety of a child. And to be honest i would be alot happier with a friend looking after my child than someone i dont know at all! Crb checks mean nothing these days

Exactly. All a CRB check says is "This person has not yet been caught and prosecuted".

DX2

phia2000 wrote: »

well i found out that it will be from half 10 till 5 3 days a week!!! longer than i thought. we both have no idea on what is a suitiable price lol

Has she thought about applying for working tax credits? She may well be entitled to childcare costs as long as she uses an approved childminder.

cleopatra4485

What about Grandparents looking after children? is that the same law? Sorry OP for the question on your thread, but it is relevent