‘Two mothers had been told it was illegal to look after each others’ children without being registered.’
‘Ms Shepherd said: “A lady came to the front door and she identified herself as being from Ofsted. She said a complaint had been made that I was illegally childminding.
“I was just shocked - I thought they were a bit confused about the arrangement between us.
“So I invited her in and told her situation - the arrangement between Lucy and I - and I was shocked when she told me I was breaking the law.” ‘
‘Under the complex childcare rules, it is illegal for an unregistered parent to collect someone else’s child from school and look after them for more than two hours, if this is a reciprocal arrangement and so providing a “reward”.
This would mean that after-school play-dates - where families helped each other by taking home each others’ children on different days - would not be permissible without registration and inspections.’
Via The Register.
See also The BBC’s Q&A Childcare Swaps:
”But if a couple of parents agree to share getting children from school…?
Such play-date arrangements, with friends going back to each others’ houses after school, offering a “reward” for both families, taking place in day time and on a regular basis, would be illegal under Ofsted’s interpretation of the law.
Ofsted would not be likely or able to pursue such arrangements, but nevertheless, as the two policewomen discovered, that is what the law sets out.’
Bloody ludicrous
