I have decided to employ an assistant and have a few questions if somebody can help.

My assistant has her own under 5 year old who she would bring with her. If I employ her then I'll have to charge her for her son (though probably at a discount). Is anybody else in this situation? It makes sense that his key worker is his mum because obviously if she was ill he wouldn't come - but at the same time that seems a bit of an odd situation! I have my own 2 year old but as I'm not childminding her I don't follow the EYFS with her! If I could take her on on a self employed basis we would simply agree an hourly rate which took in to account that he was taking up a space but I'm still rather confused as to whether I can do that! This takes me on to the next question ...

If I take the assistant on as an employee can I (and do others) do so on a zero hours contract? I may not always need her and the hours may vary depending on which children I have and when - in the first instance I wouldn't need her at all and she would only be there for emergencies!

Thank you