Assistant with own child?

**Mummits** · 05-06-2009, 11:35 AM

Does anyone employ an assistant with her own child please? I'm considering this but don't know what I should do about pay, contracts etc. Do I pay her less to take into account that her childcare will be provided, or do I pay her a higher amount but have a normal childcare contract and charge her for the care of her own child? Or is either possible, and if so, which is better (for me or for her)? She would be self employed - don't know if that makes a difference either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

**Ben10mad** · 05-06-2009, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by Mummits

Does anyone employ an assistant with her own child please? I'm considering this but don't know what I should do about pay, contracts etc. Do I pay her less to take into account that her childcare will be provided, or do I pay her a higher amount but have a normal childcare contract and charge her for the care of her own child? Or is either possible, and if so, which is better (for me or for her)? She would be self employed - don't know if that makes a difference either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hiya. I havent got an assistant yet but am in the progress off having one. You will be allowed to leave your own child with him/her as thats your child. Im sure if your assistant has first aid you are allowed to leave minded children with assistants for a short amount of time.
Get an assistant who is self employed as they then will be in charge of there national insurance and tax. I am offering £4.00 per hour and have had meny people contact me about the job. as for contract if you have him/her self employed which is best for yourself, you need his/hers UtL number that means they have registered as self employed if they dont register as self employed and they have told you they have you will have to explain all this to the tax man at the end of the year, which im sure you wouldn't want.

Farrah xxxx

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 05-06-2009, 03:42 PM

I think I understand what you are saying:

You want to work with an assistant who has their own child. Is it worth it?

If your numbers are doubled, which is not always the case, you could have 3 more under 5's, 1 space taken up by her child. If you then pay her £4 an hour you might gain £3 an hour on the other two. On top of that you have all the expenses and paperwork, including EYFS.

**Mummits** · 08-06-2009, 01:17 PM

I wasn't thinking of all the time - only the odd hour or two here and there if I have an issue with timing clashes - say one parent wants 8 till 2 and another wants 12 till six. Then I think it would make sense to get someone to help out for the lunchtime rather than not be able to take both children.

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 08-06-2009, 01:31 PM

I think you would get an overlap for that time and wouldn't need an assistant.

**Mummits** · 08-06-2009, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by DebbieS26

I think you would get an overlap for that time and wouldn't need an assistant.

Please forgive my ignorance - I'm not sure what that means! Do you mean I could apply for a varaition, or is an overlap something else? I haven't heard of it before.

**huggableshelly** · 08-06-2009, 04:35 PM

Debbie would mean a variation.

**loocyloo** · 09-06-2009, 12:23 PM

my assistant has 2 children of her own !!

when i was looking into it, i spoke to ofsted, who said they would double my numbers when my assistant was working, but obviously her children have to be included in the numbers. i only have her one afternoon a week and not every week, just to help with being one over my numbers, but its worth it for me, as otherwise, i would have lost a fulltime contract

she is self employed, she invoices me each month for the hours she works, and i pay her the minimum wage and give her children tea !!! LOL !!!

it works for us, and her children fit in with all the minded ones (plus we see her a fair bit, as she is also my neighbour!) but i could see it might be a problem, if the children didn't fit in!

good luck,
xxx

**Mummits** · 13-06-2009, 05:34 AM

Originally Posted by loocyloo

my assistant has 2 children of her own !!

when i was looking into it, i spoke to ofsted, who said they would double my numbers when my assistant was working, but obviously her children have to be included in the numbers. i only have her one afternoon a week and not every week, just to help with being one over my numbers, but its worth it for me, as otherwise, i would have lost a fulltime contract

she is self employed, she invoices me each month for the hours she works, and i pay her the minimum wage and give her children tea !!! LOL !!!

it works for us, and her children fit in with all the minded ones (plus we see her a fair bit, as she is also my neighbour!) but i could see it might be a problem, if the children didn't fit in!

good luck,
xxx

Thanks Loocyloo. That's the way I was thinking - not really about making loads of money by having an assistant, but having more flexibility and maybe getting customers I would otherwise lose.

I seem to be getting lots of tentative enquiries at the moment from mums thinking of returning to work, but who still have to negotiate part time job hours or job share arrangements with employers, so they may not come to anything, or if they do, they will probably all want the same sessions!

**loocyloo** · 14-06-2009, 08:12 PM

i would go for it!

i also find it really useful to be able to give her a call and say "are you around tomorrow or friday/whenever ?" so that i am covered if i need to be.

i then registered my mum ( i 'think' it was a good idea ) so that i had a back up, just in case!

it doesn't cost anything to fill out the forms/crb etc, and i also have my assistant listed as one of my emergency covers!

x