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So the £50 offered will have to be paid to the employing firm, who would have to pay VAT on it, leaving £41.67. The firm pays NI at £5.75, the employee pays NI of £5 and tax of £8.33. This leaves the net sum to the staff member of £22.59.

If you can employ childcare at say £10 per hour then provided you are done in 2.25 hours you can break even, so that you are not working those extra hours at a loss - just for free. Of course you still miss out on actually seeing your family before bedtime but why should that matter?