helping out a friend.

[little chickee]

A friend has asked if I can be the emergency contact for her schoolage son.

He has Crohns disease and sometimes needs to be sent home at short notice.
They have asked i could have him until his mum could finish work.

What i need to know is if i am doing this purely as a favour, no money changing hands would the boy have to count in my numbers?

If he did come here it would put me over my numbers but it might only be once a month or so. sometimes it could be several months apart.

I'd like to help them out. Im in scotland so no over 8's rule. would i need to let The Care Inspectorate know that i might occasionaly have this child?

[Twinkles]

I can only answer that in England he would count in your numbers whether or not money changed hands.

[Andrea08]

ok if i fell ill as a cm and in an emergency my cm friends could take my mindees even though it went over there numbers ...because its and emergency..

putting the child first i would say that i would do it

and its only until the parent can come collect not a full day could only be less than an hr b4 she gets to you to collect!!!

the child has to come first and is better with you than waiting at a school reception office

keep stumm imop

[blue bear]

I'm sure I read on here that ofsted don't allow you over numbers even in emergency, you need to ring for emergency variation.
Not sure about Scotland but would have thought if there are maximum numbers you can't go over them whatever the reason.

[rickysmiths]

ok if i fell ill as a cm and in an emergency my cm friends could take my mindees even though it went over there numbers ...because its and emergency..

putting the child first i would say that i would do it

and its only until the parent can come collect not a full day could only be less than an hr b4 she gets to you to collect!!!

the child has to come first and is better with you than waiting at a school reception office

keep stumm imop

If you are in England no you can't if you are ill your friends would have to get an emergency variation they are not allowed to go over numbers even if you are ill. If they do it without they are in breech of their Registration and so have no Public Liability Insurance Cover.

[rickysmiths]

A friend has asked if I can be the emergency contact for her schoolage son.

He has Crohns disease and sometimes needs to be sent home at short notice.
They have asked i could have him until his mum could finish work.

What i need to know is if i am doing this purely as a favour, no money changing hands would the boy have to count in my numbers?

If he did come here it would put me over my numbers but it might only be once a month or so. sometimes it could be several months apart.

I'd like to help them out. Im in scotland so no over 8's rule. would i need to let The Care Inspectorate know that i might occasionaly have this child?

In England you would not be able to go over numbers for any reason at all. If you do you are braking the terms of your Registration and therefore are not covered by you Public Liability insurance. However if in England my advise would be to apply for a variation on medical grounds to have the child if they were under 8yrs.

In Scotland the rules are different and I would advise that you ring the Care Inspectorate for advise on this unusual and specific circumstance.

[stardust]

In England you would not be able to go over numbers for any reason at all. If you do you are braking the terms of your Registration and therefore are not covered by you Public Liability insurance. However if in England my advise would be to apply for a variation on medical grounds to have the child if they were under 8yrs.

In Scotland the rules are different and I would advise that you ring the Care Inspectorate for advise on this unusual and specific circumstance.

I had this argument the other week with a childminder at my local group so I rang Ofsted and spoke to 3 different people.
The ONLY time you are allowed to go over your numbers would be if you are another childminder's EMERGENCY minder and that (and only that) childminder needs to take a mindee or herself to hospital immediately, then the emergency childminder would be allowed to go over his/her numbers for the MAX of 90mins.
This would only be to call the children's parents and get them to collect immediately.
In this 90 mins your insurance company will cover you. If you need to claim in this 90 min period for anything you will need to ring Ofsted, Explain the situation and they will send a cover note, for you to send to your insurer saying that as it was an emergency and a 1 off they will allow it.

Otherwise there is no reason to have an emergency childminder.

[sarah707]

I had this argument the other week with a childminder at my local group so I rang Ofsted and spoke to 3 different people.
The ONLY time you are allowed to go over your numbers would be if you are another childminder's EMERGENCY minder and that (and only that) childminder needs to take a mindee or herself to hospital immediately, then the emergency childminder would be allowed to go over his/her numbers for the MAX of 90mins.
This would only be to call the children's parents and get them to collect immediately.
In this 90 mins your insurance company will cover you. If you need to claim in this 90 min period for anything you will need to ring Ofsted, Explain the situation and they will send a cover note, for you to send to your insurer saying that as it was an emergency and a 1 off they will allow it.

Otherwise there is no reason to have an emergency childminder.

Thank you for clarifying Tara Louise I am sure it will help a lot of people to have that information :D

[Mouse]

Thanks Tara. I knew you could go over your numbers long enough to call the child's parents & get them to collect the child, but it's good to have it clearly explained.

[rickysmiths]

However would this be so with a non contracted child?

[Mouse]

However would this be so with a non contracted child?

Presumably not as you're not covering for the minded child of another childminder.

Going back to the OP, I think I'd try to get a variation for collecting the child, although it may be different in Scotland.

[Bear23]

I had this argument the other week with a childminder at my local group so I rang Ofsted and spoke to 3 different people.
The ONLY time you are allowed to go over your numbers would be if you are another childminder's EMERGENCY minder and that (and only that) childminder needs to take a mindee or herself to hospital immediately, then the emergency childminder would be allowed to go over his/her numbers for the MAX of 90mins.
This would only be to call the children's parents and get them to collect immediately.
In this 90 mins your insurance company will cover you. If you need to claim in this 90 min period for anything you will need to ring Ofsted, Explain the situation and they will send a cover note, for you to send to your insurer saying that as it was an emergency and a 1 off they will allow it.

Otherwise there is no reason to have an emergency childminder.

Thanks for that :thumbsup:

[stardust]

However would this be so with a non contracted child?

I was reply to clarify the 'under no circumstances can you go over numbers comment' as several people will read that and become confused and worried.

In reply to your above quoted comment:

The only children you can care for in this situation is the minded and personal children of the childminder you are an emergency childminder for.
All children cared for need to be contracted under the childminder.
However I did ask what about the childminders own children and was told that in this circumstance the same rules apply. Cover for up to 90 mins to contact his/her next of kin, if they did not have a next of kin you would need to send your own mindee's home as well as the childminders mindee's.

I was also told by the last lady I spoke to that their would be no leniency as this rule is not open to interpretation. If you are found to be over minding Ofsted have the right to remove your registration.
(I spoke to 3 people for clarification as half of them dont know their :censored: from their elbow and I wanted to be sure I had the correct information)

So in the op's case she would be better off getting a ad-hoc variation.

[rickysmiths]

I was reply to clarify the 'under no circumstances can you go over numbers comment' as several people will read that and become confused and worried.

In reply to your above quoted comment:

The only children you can care for in this situation is the minded and personal children of the childminder you are an emergency childminder for.
All children cared for need to be contracted under the childminder.
However I did ask what about the childminders own children and was told that in this circumstance the same rules apply. Cover for up to 90 mins to contact his/her next of kin, if they did not have a next of kin you would need to send your own mindee's home as well as the childminders mindee's.

I was also told by the last lady I spoke to that their would be no leniency as this rule is not open to interpretation. If you are found to be over minding Ofsted have the right to remove your registration.
(I spoke to 3 people for clarification as half of them dont know their :censored: from their elbow and I wanted to be sure I had the correct information)

So in the op's case she would be better off getting a ad-hoc variation.

But again she is unlikely to granted a Variation for a non Contracted child.

[The Juggler]

aside from the going over numbers issue, I'm not sure I would do it hon. firstly you would be taking in an ill child.

Secondly, might you have to go out when the babies/toddlers are being fed, sleeping, mid activity. Where are you going to put him if really ill, or how will you care for him whilst also caring for the littlies.

[stardust]

But again she is unlikely to granted a Variation for a non Contracted child.

Not necessarily I was granted one to take on a new child under 1 whilst my son is under 1.
I didn't think I would get it because it was for new work but its all about how much you waffle about how you will handle situations, juggle the additional child, having everything that you need to accommodate it ect

The only problem may be the fact that the child is ill but if there not actually sick, and its part of a condition then they may not have a problem with it. xx

[rickysmiths]

Not necessarily I was granted one to take on a new child under 1 whilst my son is under 1.
I didn't think I would get it because it was for new work but its all about how much you waffle about how you will handle situations, juggle the additional child, having everything that you need to accommodate it ect

The only problem may be the fact that the child is ill but if there not actually sick, and its part of a condition then they may not have a problem with it. xx

I have had variations for new children as well but this child will not be that because he will not have a contract with the childminder, he is a friends child and the cm would be helping on this basis and so no contract no paperwork.