question for minders with assistants

**stardust** · 27-07-2011, 07:04 PM

Hi
I have a few questions about assistant I was hoping to get a little help with.
Firstly how does having an assistant work with ratios??
I thought you could only have one extra but was told recently by a childminder that with her assistant she can have 10 under 8's so I am now slightly confused.
My sister will be my assistant (school holidays and the days when she is not in college) as she is gaining experience alongside her qualification (i'm not really fussed about having extra children just wondering how it works) Obviously she will need to be CRB checked and i will need to go through the policies and procedures with her.

Secondly do I need to have employers insurance??

And how do I go about doing her pay and NI?

Is there anything else I will need to do??

Thanks in advance
Tara x

**funemnx** · 27-07-2011, 07:59 PM

You need to fill out an EY2 from, registering an assistant. She will need to have a CRB check and a 12 hour first aid course if you plan to leave the children alone with her. She can be self-employed which means you won't need to do NI and Tax etc. The numbers of children you will be allowed (you have to apply for this) will vary on how much floor space you have in your house.

**stardust** · 27-07-2011, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by funemnx

You need to fill out an EY2 from, registering an assistant. She will need to have a CRB check and a 12 hour first aid course if you plan to leave the children alone with her. She can be self-employed which means you won't need to do NI and Tax etc. The numbers of children you will be allowed (you have to apply for this) will vary on how much floor space you have in your house.

EY2- is that the same one for her CRB??
Can I speak to the person who does my pre-reg inspection and ask how many I will be able to have with her? As they will be able to give me a rough estimate in regards to my floor space.
Shes only just 16 so I wont be leaving her alone (but plan to put her through first aid training and safe guarding aswell).
Can she be self employed if shes under 18?

Thank you for your reply and sorry to bombard you with more questions.

**jaja** · 27-07-2011, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by tara_louise1990

EY2- is that the same one for her CRB??No its a different form you can get from ifsteds website
Can I speak to the person who does my pre-reg inspection and ask how many I will be able to have with her? As they will be able to give me a rough estimate in regards to my floor space.maybe,
Shes only just 16 so I wont be leaving her alone (but plan to put her through first aid training and safe guarding aswell). I would thought this would be good practice anyway, and if you have ofsteds written permission and the parents then if there was an emergency she could cover for you if you keep within the ratio for one minder
Can she be self employed if shes under 18? not sure, would need to speak to tax man, but i couldnt see why not

Thank you for your reply and sorry to bombard you with more questions.

Hope i have helped, i have two assistants, my hubby and my mum, xxx

**Konoko** · 28-07-2011, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by tara_louise1990

EY2- is that the same one for her CRB??
Can I speak to the person who does my pre-reg inspection and ask how many I will be able to have with her? As they will be able to give me a rough estimate in regards to my floor space.
Shes only just 16 so I wont be leaving her alone (but plan to put her through first aid training and safe guarding aswell).
Can she be self employed if shes under 18?

Thank you for your reply and sorry to bombard you with more questions.

hey
I had my inspection on tuesday, and I asked my inspector about having an assisstant and how it works, and I also asked her how many children we can have.
So ask her kindly about it.
What she told us, that after a month of being registered I should phone up OFSTED saying that I'd like to have xy as an assisstant.. xy should have a crb check (she has one) and should do a paed first aid (which we asked for but EY team refused her to do it

)
She said we could have around 10 kids, but she would advise just 8 because of floor space and if you have more than 10 children it would classify as a business like a nursery and you would go up to a higher tax bracket..
hope this helps

Konoko xx

**gazanne** · 28-07-2011, 05:19 PM

Did you tell her your sister was only 16 because my daughter is my assistant she is 17 but cannot be left with children at any time until she is 18. she has done her first aid ready for when she is 18.

**sandy64** · 28-07-2011, 05:28 PM

hi i have an assistant ofsted have allowed us to double our numbers in both ages ie 6 under 5 and 6 over 5 evan tho we dont want over 5's it was easier adding it at start. it depends on size of house. yes you do need employers insurance its not expensive and you can get it from ncma and morten mitchell.
my assistant is self employed so she will do her own tax and n.i. was so much easier when ;looked into and if shes on hol or ill doesnt get paid but its all on her contract. good luck im sure it will work out its best thing i ever did

**stardust** · 28-07-2011, 06:21 PM

thanks everyone you've been most helpful as i know she will be definatly working with me i want to get it all sorted at the start.
gazanne- I haven't had my visit yet

, i'm just getting some info before the inspector comes out so i have some idea what i'm talking about. I have no intention of leaving my sister on her own with the children even if she can be left. Simply because she is inexperienced, and i feel it would be unfair of me to put such a big responsibility on her at such a young age. Shes done work experience but there's a big difference between playing with children and maybe being in charge of a small group doing an activity and being left unattended and in full responsibility of a child(ren).

I however have full trust and know she is capable and would not think twice about allowing her to care for my son but other peoples children in a big difference. I probably feel like this because i was left unattended at 17 with 30 2-3 year old's in a nursery but as i had a nvq it was 'okay'.