Aibu to ask what you earn as a childminder?

[Annie592]

Can find threads on this but they are all old, really interested to know what childminders earn in 2017? And also whether it's possible to do part time? Sorry this probably isn't strictly speaking an AIBU but have posted elsewhere and got no responses. Thank you!

[early30smum]

I am nota childminder but my DS went to one when I was working full time and she charged £85 a day for 8am-6pm! V expensive but we are in an expensive area of London so that partly explains it. I would say that's the v top end though!

[ChasedByBees]

I think childminders are self employed so you probably can set your working hours, but you would need to find clients that that worked for.

There are guidelines on how many children you are allowed to take. You can find out what the local rate is per hour, multiple it by how many children you can/want to take and your hours and that will help you calculate your maximum potential salary.

[givemushypeasachance]

It'll be extremely variable depending on the area, local demand, experience level and whether you have your own children. If you don't have any under 5's yourself and you can take a baby and a couple of pre-schoolers full time, then that can add up well. But if you have a baby and a 3yo of your own to look after, so can only take one additional pre-schooler as a "paying customer", or if the local parents only seem to want the odd day here and there or three hours on Monday and three hours on Friday, then you're a lot more limited.

[Prompto]

You're allowed to look after six children under the age of 8 at any one time, no more than three can be under the age of five and no more than one under the age of twelve months (there are exceptions though, which you can apply for, such as twins or continuity of care for siblings). Your own children count in these ratios. You can look after as many over 8s as you want provided that their care doesn't impact on the younger ones.

Rates vary by area so a good starting point would be to see what local minders are charging and go from there.

I charge £4 per child, per hour. That includes snacks, meals and playgroups. It's possible to do part time, you may need to flexible about days depending on what queries you get but most people do want fixed days/times to fit with their work hours. You can advertise 'part time places available'.

You'll need to do a tax return each year and you have annual fees to pay such as your Ofsted registration fee, insurance, etc. You'll also have larger fees to pay like first aid training every three years. All of these can be offset against profits though.

[Treaclex]

Really depends on your area. I charge £4.50ph fully inclusive of all snacks, meals and out and about charges.

[Annie592]

Thanks for all your replies, really useful 🙂

[FatOldBag]

£5 per hour per child here.

[Borntoflyinfirst]

£4.40 per hour here. I did well in Nov cash wise and earned about £1700 but it was bloody hard work! I've earned around £6-8k a year however I do have my own children so have never had as many paying children as I could if I didn't.

[longdiling]

The ratios quoted above are different in Wales (and possibly Scotland!) just in case you're not in England. I charge £29 a day so I have the potential to earn £87 a day. You have to take costs off that though and they do add up. I've been doing this 6 years and not earned enough to pay tax yet, and that's not because I'm a whizz at cooking the books, that's me literally putting my expenses/costs through.

[Prompto]

Yeah, profit margins are by no means massive but it's balanced by being able to do a job you enjoy, working from home and being there for your own DC. The money we save in childcare fees makes up for the low pay and as the DC get older and move out of my ratio allowances I'll be able to earn a bit more.

I know of one CM who regular earns £2k a month and anything up to £5k a month in the summer holidays however she had always has six under 8s and at least another six over 8s. At her last inspection it was flagged as a potential safeguarding issue due to lack of adequate supervision for the older children.

I make an average of around £80 to £100 a week, not counting holidays or sick, but then have expenses to deduct from that.

[hotdiggedy]

How can one childminder have 12 children at a time??

Anyway, a few years ago (maybe 5 or 6) I paid £7.50 an hour to a childminder. Prior to that I paid £5 an hour, I suppose that was around 8 years ago but I wasn't overly keen on her so I swapped. A friend of mine was charging £10 an hour last year.

[longdiling]

In England over 8s aren't regulated so you can, in theory, have as many as you want. Although as in this case, you can quite rightly get into bother with ofsted if you can't prove you are caring properly for such high numbers.

[Annie592]

Thanks all. I have one DD myself (under one) so could only take two more under fives- tbh I think I would struggle to know how to entertain wee ones and older ones at the same time- I guess that is my lack of experience though! Prompto- guessing at £100 a week is just part time for one child? Or am I working it out wrong? Was figuring if I took on two under 5s and charged £5 an hour, if average hours a day was 9 hours (half 8 til half 5), that would be £90/day, £450 a week, which seems quite good ( around 21K a yr)- but since that's only two children I think I must be working something out wrong somewhere, or over estimating hours maybe? I probably wouldn't want to do five days anyway, and would probably just take one child on, until I built up experience (also if I have a 2nd child myself at some point I guess I could only have one extra under 5 then anyway?). Do you think taking only one child (in addition to my DD) could put some parents off though- do you find parents want their child to be interacting with more children? Guess that one maybe depends on the parent. Will definitely look into further, thanks for the help!

[Treaclex]

Annie I think it's a case of your overestimating hours and not factoring in overheads, utilities, resources, training, insurance, advertising and so forth. You need to know what others in your area charge too as if your rate is above it may be harder to fill spaces unless you are offering something more than other minders in your area. It's not very common these days to get full time children on the books as most people tend to work flexible working hours or have help from family to reduce their childcare costs. For instance I've currently got 4 aged 3 and under, my own DD 3 full time and is included in my numbers even when she is at pre school then I have the 3 mindees which are all part time but in essence make up 2 full time spaces. I also have older children before and after school. It's a minefield if I'm honest and you can never fully rely on numbers and income.

[Weareboatsremember]

I pay £3.50 an hour to my childminder (midlands) but have to provide all meals, drinks and snacks. I'm a teacher, and my cm offers term time spaces, which is good for me as I pay nothing for 13 weeks a year, and good for her as she gets to spend those weeks with just her own children.

[Snap8TheCat]

Parents quoting how much they pay isn't all that useful. What I make as a cm is good money but overheads are quite high and so nothing like the fees parents are quoting in this thread.

Fees doesn't = profit.

I am full and work 4 days a week. I made £13,000 profit last year. Then I pay tax and ni on that too. So what I got to keep was a little over £11,000 for a 40 hour week all year.

[purpleladybird]

If what you want is to work a few days a week whilst also looking after your daughter, consider becoming a 'Nanny with own child'. Set up costs much much lower than a childminder.

[RedElephants]

£5pcph I have siblings, no others as Im in the process of winding down now.

I only do after school care, very rarely school holidays holidays.. I like it like that.

[glenthebattleostrich]

I invoice about 2k per month. Out of that there's -

Insurance
Registration
Food
Activities (toddlers, classes, soft play)
Days out
Craft material
Wear and tear on house (regular repainting, damage to furniture, broken plates etc)
Training
Business stationary (diaries, learning journals etc)
Membership to professional bodies, websites etc
Toys and additional resources.
Increased heating and electricity bills
Marketing (though most is word of mouth these days)

So I make an ok amount but by no means a fortune. I usually work 7 - 6 4 days per week then just before and after school on a Friday.

But I go to all school events, am at home for DD and can run the home too.

I do earn enough to have things like a cleaner and ironing lady.

The key to being successful is being flexible, reliable and (obviously!) good with the kids. I offer a variety of contracts and price accordingly. At the minute I have all part timers and I do term time only, holiday only and ad hoc care on my contacts. I also do a bit of babysitting if asked by clients (limited to once per month though). Things like building my holiday costs into my daily rate so parents don't see a charge when I'm off (IYSWIM) also help.

[glenthebattleostrich]

Meant to add, I started off part time when DD was small and slowly built as I got more experience.