looking after friends baby

fawd1

fluffnutter wrote: »

I've read the link and I'm not sure that it prohibits your looking after your friend's children. The sentence below has 'ands' in it, not 'ors'. Therefore, provided you're not being paid, you can look after your friends' kids without having to register. This makes sense to me; why shouldn't you ask anyone you like to look after your kids? Provided it's not a 'job' it's no business of the authorities.



(My emphasis on the 'ands').

Sorry the No part was in regards to are there any rules and regulations

bkca1230

so just to confirm i can look after baby as long as i dont get paid and no favours are exchanged thanks.

[Deleted User]

Its ridiculous to say you can't exchange favours - friends do favours for each other all the time! What a sad society we've become if we're scared of doing favours for our friends in case its seen as payment.
When my children were young I looked after my friend's son for one day a week while she worked. Later on a friend of mine looked after my daughter 2 mornings a week while I worked. We were friends so we talked about holidays and sickness etc and had plans in place. There were no payments for childcare when my children were young (we didn't even get free nursery places - this was less than 20 years ago). My friends and I had no family around to look after our children - we relied on each other

go_cat

It's lovely you want to help your best friend but I hope you haven't forgotten how tiring looking after a new baby is and the effect it has in your routine .

What if you want to go out for the day?

Have you discussed how long this arrangement would be for? 6 months, 1 year , 5 years?

Just something else to consider

bkca1230

i thought it was me being ridiculous until someone mentioned to me about ofsted inspection etc. have just spoke to my friend and she didnt even realise . she pleased that i can offer to help out.

JimmyTheWig

bkca1230 wrote: »

so just to confirm i can look after baby as long as i dont get paid and no favours are exchanged thanks.

Yes, that's about it.
You can't be paid and you can't be paid in kind.

There was a case a while ago where two policewomen were doing a job-share and were looking after each other's children on the other's shifts. This was seen as payment in kind (i.e. they were only looking after the other's child because the other was looking after their child) and so this counted as childminding and Ofsted was brought in.
I think in the end that Ofsted decided that they didn't need to be involved, but the point is that it isn't just money changing hands that is relevant.

I think it is something that just needs to be judged on its merits. There's nothing wrong with her doing you the odd favour. But, for example, if she brings you a load of shopping each week and doesn't ask you for money that may be seen as payment for the childcare. Especially if when she doesn't bring yuo the shopping one week then you don't look after her child the next week until she brings you the expected shopping! That, to me, would have crossed the line between doing a friend a favour and paying a friend for something.


Though, OP, if you are happy and able to look after other people's children, have you considered registering as a childminder?
There's a bit of faff to get through, but it is all fairly cheap and simple. Then whatever happens with your friend's child you could earn money (this is MSE, after all) looking after others...

vegasvisitor

I was also thinking of the two policewomen. I'm wondering though is it a tax issue as well. Might not be but certainly worth checking to be sure it's ok.

claire16c

Its totally ridiculous that 2 friends cant do this for each other.

However if no one reports you then you could probably just do it anyway. And if youre not taking payment it doesnt count.

I know people who do this, they just pay each other in cash.