Assistant breaks?

[Kellyann36]

I am about to possibly take somebody on as an apprentice to be my assistant. I understand that I have to have employer liability insurance and pay holiday pay etc. Im just wondering what people do about breaks? Isn't it a legal requirement they have a break during the day? So what happens if you have extra children surely she couldn't have a break?

Thanks in advance
Kellyann

[bindy]

My assistant is self employed but normally when the kids go to sleep all 6, she takes her lunch break. She is happy to stay in the house.

[pinklady756]

Same here, my assistant will have have her break when some of the little one's are sleeping. She knows she will not be able to leave the premises. I have a separate lounge so she can shut herself away.

Breaks must be paid, as they are not able to leave the premises and are technically on call.

[Kellyann36]

Ok thankyou!! Can you think of anything else I new to considor?
I have contacted PACEY about how I activate my employer insurance and they gave me a number to call and said its an extra £5 fee to activate it.
I need to register her as an assistant and get checks done
I need to register myself as an employer
I need to ensure all policies and procedures are in place (change them where needed due to having an assistant)
I need to sort contracts, wages, payslips?

What else is there! I'm
New to all this and it's quite a bit decision to make as I registered in January, I currently full for my under fives and things have been going well so far so good. So I was scared about taking somebody on because so far I've only had to rely on myself to make sure everything is perfect

Thanks for your help x

[pinklady756]

Ok thankyou!! Can you think of anything else I new to considor?
I have contacted PACEY about how I activate my employer insurance and they gave me a number to call and said its an extra £5 fee to activate it.
I need to register her as an assistant and get checks done
I need to register myself as an employer
I need to ensure all policies and procedures are in place (change them where needed due to having an assistant)
I need to sort contracts, wages, payslips?

What else is there! I'm
New to all this and it's quite a bit decision to make as I registered in January, I currently full for my under fives and things have been going well so far so good. So I was scared about taking somebody on because so far I've only had to rely on myself to make sure everything is perfect

Thanks for your help x

Your public liability insurance covers you working with assistants, so just need the employer's liability, it was £5 and certificate arrived a couple of days later.

Ofsted told me to allow 10-12 weeks to register an assistant, so I would recommend getting the EY2 off asap. She doesn't have to start immediately but at least you would have everything in place. For my assistant (who is starting next week) it took 8 weeks from Ofsted receiving the EY2 to getting the suitability letter. The DBS check can take 4-8 weeks.

Policies and procedures, most were left as they are, I amended safeguarding, health and safety, whistle-blowing and added a basic assistant policy.

You only need to register as any employer if you pay over the lower earnings level £109 a week. Is it an apprentice you're taking on?? The apprentice wage falls below this if you are. If it is less then you don't need to register, or pay NI/tax or do PAYE which is great as I didn't want even more work to do!! Obviously they still need pay slips, hubby is going to create a simple one for me to print off and use.

Contract, or written statement of employment particulars.

You will need records of supervision, training, induction etc. Forms that assistant signs to confirm understanding and agreement to policies, and the induction training covered.

Training - First Aid (requirement if you want your assistant to be able to have sole care of children for up to 2 hours) and Food hygiene if assistant will help preparing/serving meals/snacks.

[Kellyann36]

Your public liability insurance covers you working with assistants, so just need the employer's liability, it was £5 and certificate arrived a couple of days later.

Ofsted told me to allow 10-12 weeks to register an assistant, so I would recommend getting the EY2 off asap. She doesn't have to start immediately but at least you would have everything in place. For my assistant (who is starting next week) it took 8 weeks from Ofsted receiving the EY2 to getting the suitability letter. The DBS check can take 4-8 weeks.

Policies and procedures, most were left as they are, I amended safeguarding, health and safety, whistle-blowing and added a basic assistant policy.

You only need to register as any employer if you pay over the lower earnings level £109 a week. Is it an apprentice you're taking on?? The apprentice wage falls below this if you are. If it is less then you don't need to register, or pay NI/tax or do PAYE which is great as I didn't want even more work to do!! Obviously they still need pay slips, hubby is going to create a simple one for me to print off and use.

Contract, or written statement of employment particulars.

You will need records of supervision, training, induction etc. Forms that assistant signs to confirm understanding and agreement to policies, and the induction training covered.

Training - First Aid (requirement if you want your assistant to be able to have sole care of children for up to 2 hours) and Food hygiene if assistant will help preparing/serving meals/snacks.

Fantastic info, thnkyou!! So, is she allowed to start working for me before checks are complete providing she is never left unattended?
She is going to be an apprentice, we have talked about wages and I have said £3 per hour and doing 30 hours per week. so £90 per week. So its as simple as transfer the money over to her and give her a wage slip, and then put it through my books? Did you write your contracts yourself?
What did your induction cover? today she came round for about an hour, played with the children and had a read through my policies. I guess its a case of showing her where everything is, practising a fire drill and explaining what is expected of her?
Sorry for all of the questions - got so many things running through my head at the moment just want to make sure i get it right

[pinklady756]

I would suggest asking Ofsted about starting her before the checks, I didn't want to until I had the official letter and all the checks done. My worry was what if something happened. I'm sure you can't increase your numbers until after the checks though.

As far as wages go, that's pretty much the same as me, and yes a simple case of wage slip and payment, obviously keeping records for your accounts. Nothing else. That's what HMRC told me (as long as they don't already have a job!!!)

I used the ACAS statement of employment to base my contract on, just added a bit more info where needed and took out anything that wasn't relevant.

My induction will cover all aspects of her role/responsibilities, all policies and procedures, detailed health and safety (assistants' as well as children) and safeguarding, emergency evacuation, manual handling, etc Do's and don'ts and lots of info for her to read. Obviously EYFS, learning journeys and paperwork too. It will cover supervision, training and on-going support.

[bindy]

I would suggest asking Ofsted about starting her before the checks, I didn't want to until I had the official letter and all the checks done. My worry was what if something happened. I'm sure you can't increase your numbers until after the checks though.

As far as wages go, that's pretty much the same as me, and yes a simple case of wage slip and payment, obviously keeping records for your accounts. Nothing else. That's what HMRC told me (as long as they don't already have a job!!!)

I used the ACAS statement of employment to base my contract on, just added a bit more info where needed and took out anything that wasn't relevant.

My induction will cover all aspects of her role/responsibilities, all policies and procedures, detailed health and safety (assistants' as well as children) and safeguarding, emergency evacuation, manual handling, etc Do's and don'ts and lots of info for her to read. Obviously EYFS, learning journeys and paperwork too. It will cover supervision, training and on-going support.

That's a good idea to ask Ofsted , like I did and was told yes it was ok. It was also Ok to have 6 under 5. They also sent back the reference stating not needed. What letter did you get? I have received no letter official from Ofsted to say its OK to have an assistant, even though they know I have one??
The only thing they told me, not to leave the kids alone unless my assistant had an up dated First Aid certificate and permission from parents.

[pinklady756]

It's the suitability decision letter. Says they are pleased to tell me that .......... is suitable to work with children as a child minding assistant at ............my address.

I thought it was Ofsted but maybe it was my Childcare Advisor that said I couldn't increase numbers until checks and crb. But my assistant only just turned 17 a few weeks ago so that may be a factor.

Like always, what one person at Ofsted says differs from others!!