Becoming a childminder with a friend?

[Clareydavis]

Hello, I am new to this Forum and new to Childminding. Myself and my Friend would like a few questions answered and would like advice on numbers, Qualifications and Tax and NI.

We are wanting to start childminding and are not sure whether or not we can both be registered under one address and how many children we can look after in the one setting.

We live in Scotland
I have one child who is 1yo.
My friend has a 1yo, 3yo and a 5yo. The 5yo with be in ft education and the 3 yo pt.

It will be in a three bedroom house.
We have both got Qualifications Mine is CASHE Certificate and my friends is CASHE Diploma in Childcare and Education.

Would we pay tax per person or could we register it as a joint business?

Thanks for any advice...

[scottishlass]

Hi not sure about doing it jointly but for 1 childminder in Scotland it's usually 6 kids including your own of which no more than 3 can be under 5 and of those 3 only one can be under 12 months. Sorry don't know about the tax side for working in a partnership xx

[Rachael's stars]

Me and my sister are registering together at the moment too,
Basically we are both registering as seperate childminders in our own wright but sharing the setting and buisness,
When applying we sent all our forms together and stated on them that we intend to co-mind, ul need individual insurence, first aid, ect as ul both be registered, the ratios are 6 per adult as mentioned bellow but that said you wont always get the full 12 between you as it depends on the size of your house i think ( dont hold me to this lol) that children need about 3.5m2 free floor space each so that dosnt include walk ways like hallways or kitchen,

Hopefully someone can be more helpfull, good luck and ill let you no how i get on in about 4 weeks when i get my pre reg as i live in a three bed also x

[chriss]

How are you planning to work out the extra expenses you will incur such as increased household bills ? And will you take holidays at the same time ? Just the niggly questions when you are first setting up :)

[Rachael's stars]

Once bills come through im going to work out how much extra it is and we will pay half the extra part of the bill each, same for the shopping ect , we plan on taking our holidays at the same time as much as possible, my sister wont be able to claim expences like bills and food ect she can only claim what she gives me towards things as expences, were sharing the work load equally so same the income, luckily were really close and will work well together ul need to think about how you will work together if you fall out or dissagree with each other or what will you do if your co minder leaves everything for you too do?

[Chatterbox Childcare]

There are two ways of looking at this from my point of view:

1. If you work as one business and split the profit and then you would need to register as a partnership with the HMRC and split the profit and then use this to complete your individual tax returns

2. You could both work from one premises and one pays the other expenses for rent/rates etc....

One word of warning though - either way if you work together you need to have your certificates noted/changed (speak to Ofsted) to reflect this and co workers if one has a complaint it will go on both records.

Hope that helps :)

[chriss]

Do you calculate the number of hours you have both worked, then work out (somehow) the cost of the energy used in those hours ? Regardless of whether you would have been at home before childmindeing together, the cost you incur during working hours should be calculated iycwim. How do others working together work out the expenses so its fair to both ?

[lynncjt]

You need to contact the Care Inspectorate to discuss this and get their response in writing if possible

When I was on my induction course (Scotland as well), two people there wanted to do this and were being told different things by different people at the CI.

Also if you are both being registered at the same addresses you will need to check with your council where you need planning permission for change of use. In Aberdeenshire I was told if I had over 6 children regularly I would need to get change of use. This costs extra money.

Could you register separately but worked together a lot...