Full fees if parents holiday,half fees for mine. Does that sound fair

Gah - would be as an employee.

Our childminder used to charge half fees for holidays, whether they were hers or ours. I never quite understood why, as I'd budgeted to pay the same monthly fee throughout the year and actually expected to pay full fees. I'd be a pretty ineffective employee if I never took any holidays, and the last person I'd want caring for my child is someone who is exhausted. Charge what you can to allow yourself time off, childminders!

One of the downsides of being SE is that you don't traditionally get paid holiday so let's just be clear you're not 'entitled' to anything in the same way you would 've as an employee.

You can choose to put in your contract that you'll charge for holidays. It'll fly with some parents but not others.

You can announce well in advance what your holiday dates are and then do nifty calculations so parents pay you monthly 12 times taking your holiday into account.

You can carry on as you are and inform them when you're taking holiday.

Really it's up to you but honestly working 52 weeks of the year isn't healthy!

What do you currently do for Bank Holidays?

I know where you're coming from. One year I couldn't afford to take any holiday - just couldn't lose a weeks income. I was looking after children from 2 families and their holidays never overlapped so I didn't get any time off. One of the mum's would regularly have days off from work and send her children to me while she went out shopping/to lunch and it did used to (unreasonably I know) grate a bit.

As others have said you need to set your fees to include taking a few weeks off a year - so you look at your monthly/yearly income and don't see it as a week with no money.

Money aside, we all need a bit of time off every now and then to recharge our batteries.

My childminder charges full rates for 4 weeks holiday a year, pro-rata (so I only send DS 2 days a week, so I only pay for 8 days holiday. Parents who use her full time pay four full weeks).

I'm happy to pay for that because she ONLY takes those 4 weeks. I prefer that, rather than someone who takes more time off but doesn't charge for it - the reliability is more important IYSWIM.

But I think it totally depends on where you are and what the demand is like. Round our way good childminders are like golddust and can charge what they like - most charge full rate for holidays PLUS full rate for bank holidays. That's the norm, so people pay it. If it's not usually in your neck of the woods, you may struggle.

You are self employed. You are not "entitled" to holiday pay, but you can charge it, or whatever you like really, as long as you are upfront about it all to the people who use your service.

If I wanted to find a childminder, I would add up the costs over the course of a year (including paying for alternative childcare when the CM was on holiday), and take that into account when making my decision. You should probably do the same really. And don't rely on your customers not wanting to use your services in order to have a holiday.

Oh and not all parents get tax credits towards their childcare.

I wouldn't want to pay you if you were not available to work, but am happy to pay if I choose not to send my child in.

If you want to take Christmas week off just give parents plenty of notice that you are not working that week and they can't send their child.

HUH?

They don't get 100% childcare from the Gov - it's 80% at best & they only get that if on a very low income

Lots of childminders charge for their holidays - I don't

Charge more for the weeks you do earn & put some of that money away for holidays

Why don't you take holiday and not charge for it? Just take your week off. Or two if you prefer.

You will get every answer under the sun as everyone does what suits them. I'm term time only and charge full fees to parents for their holiday and none for mine as that is what works for me, but I charge more per hour than other local childminders.