Working with an assistant

[Chanelle]

Hello All

Im just after a little background information about working with an assistant.

I currenty have 6 children on a waiting list and 4 of these are siblings of current children I look after. I have a full time space in the daytime but cant take the first child on the list as I dont have space after school from 330 as I am full from that time onward ... I also have a parent who is expecting a child and another sibling who will be due to start school next September.

So I have decided that I may take on an assistant.

What I need to know is how things work employment wise, contracts, if they are entitled to holiday pay if term time only? Pay? etc ... I really have no experience on this and no fellow childminders I know employ assistants so would appreciate any advice.

Also she is a member of a union which has also flagged up concerns..

Thanks in advance

[sarah707]

It's quite a minefield as you are finding out.

Contracts should be drawn up with legal advice so if anything goes wrong you are both covered.

You should consider holiday pay, sick pay etc as part of the contracts and based on what you charge - you might find yourself out of pocket otherwise.

Now is a good time to tighten up any loopholes in your children's contracts / fees policy etc so that your income is as guaranteed as possible.

Hth :D

[shazza06]

i`m actually going through process of getting an assistant from sept .. be warned it can take a while according to OFSTED.. i`m not employing them , they`ll work as self employed and invoice me for the hours they work .. OFSTED have sent me a form to fill in for them to do checks on the potential assistant [up to 12 weeks theyve told me for that one] then I have to apply for variation for my mindee numbers/ratio to change [another 4 weeks]!!! hopefully everything will be in place for sept as have waiting list too which includes siblings! if it just entails these two forms it`ll be ok as long as OFSTED ok everything!!fingers crossed