martyn Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Does anyone know whether there is a legal minimum age a person can pick up a child from Nursery, we have recently had an older sibling who is 16 come to pick up her younger brother, this was a one off and all the relevant checks were carried out. Any advice would be gratefully received as i don't seem to be able to find much information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 I would have thought 16 was acceptable. My first thoughts were 14 but I don't know if there is a legal minimum age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 there's no law to say how old a babysitter needs to be...but we have 16 years in our policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 There isn't a legal minimum age and some children under sixteen can also be parents.I would have and record a conversation with the parents regarding whether the child is safe with someone younger than 16 so that I could show Ofsted that I had taken reasonable steps towards safeguarding the child I was handing over.I would treat over sixteens as adults. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martyn Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 Thank you all for your help. We in the past have had a parent whose child attended the setting who was under sixteen, this was what made me wonder. Think its a discussion we need to have with our parents/carers and write into our policies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargrower Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Yesterday I was asked if a 10 year old could collect a three year old! They are both Looked After Children! You can guess what my answer was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollypiper Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 We always say 16 as well but have never had an issue with anyone picking up. In a pharmacy you can pick up an adults prescription for them if you are over 16 so it must be a common cut off point and a general age that most policies are comfortable with. However I guess there can be a level of discretion for a slightly younger teenager if it felt they are responsible and the parents are happy with it. As Upsy Daisy said perhaps a record of conversation to cover yourself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 ours is 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SazzJ Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 What about if the parent is under 18 though? (Not an issue at present but was something me and colleague were thinking about a few weeks back) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidW Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 We have a parent who is under 16. We amended our policy wording to say a child may only be collected by an adult (over 18) or by a parent / legal guardian. We think that covers the situation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emra Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Our policy says nobody under the age of 16. Obviously if a Parent of a child was under 16 that would be acceptable, it's a good idea to write it into the policy as a child may only be picked up by someone over the age of .... or by a parent/carer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 do schools have a policy about this? i've seen loads of siblings pick up from our local one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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