Should I be paying my childminder

And as for (presumably her) excuse for paying the same year round as it's easier - utter tosh!! It's fairly standard practise & really not difficult to still pay a regular amount each month but take into account lower term time fees.

It really does vary area to area but in my fairly affluent part of Kent it's £5-£6/hr, my sister in outer London/Kent borders pays £6hr and a friend in W1 (so prime prime London) charges £7/hr. We all have food, snacks included but again that does vary. For your eldest you might find a minimum charge before & after school but again for comparative purposes: I charge £21/day which is also what my sister pays for wraparound & my friend in w1 charges £10 before & £21.75 after school or £30 for both.

So taking the most expensive that's £58 for baby + £30 wraparound = £88 a day in one of the most expensive parts of London. So now you can see why we're all

I don't know where you are but £55 a day per child sounds quite plausible. So that's probably what you should expect to pay for the baby, give or take. For your older child perhaps a slightly higher hourly rate, but only for before and after school hours, and full days in the school holidays or any extra days.

i would charge you £4 an hour for baby and the same for your biggun....only before and after school of course. (and hols) But i would only charge for what you need eg you need 8-3 then you pay 8-3.

I have had a run of illness (norovirus- i can identify which little one gave it to me) and my husband has has quite a bit of treatment for bowel tumours over the last 6 months so i have had odd days off (i try to give as much notice as i can). I dont charge for my off time whatever the cause. I charge for any holidays they take.

I am very flexible....i dont charge inflated amounts if parents are late and i have been contacted- i know what its like to get stuck in work/in traffic etc. and i would rather parents drove safely and get here than drive like maniacs and have an accident. As long as they dont take the piss then i am cool with it.

Sock she may be lovely but charging you full fee for a full age child under 8 is dubious practise but for a secondary age child is bordering on extortion!! I reckon if you took £20 a day off your current bill & offered it to a couple of local CM's they'd bite your arm off.

If you decide to go down the nanny route, I think it's important to mention your son's additional needs in the initial nanny advert, along with ages, hours and pay.

Far from putting nannies off, it will likely attract a nanny who has an interest or experience with children with ASD.

If you have been happy with a childminder you could also mention you would be happy with a nanny who has her own child?

I wouldn't charge a) if I was not available due to my own illness, my children's or personal reasons or b) to hold a place for a child of secondary school age - the latter because OFSTED are not interested in over 8's, they don't count in our registration numbers and so having an older child occasionally or even every day would not stop me having my normal number of babies or younger children. Charging for a child whilst at school is definitely not the norm.

The only caveat I would mention is that I would charge all day for a school age child if I was permanently on call (for example if health or behaviour issues meant they frequently had to miss school or be collected from school), and what I said above about not affecting the number of younger children I could care for might be untrue if the older child's health or behaviour demanded more attention than usual, so would in effect limit the number of other children I could safely care for

Agree with Stix, a part time Nanny would be a much better solution. Would certainly be cheaper!

Hang on a minute - didn't you say 1 of your DC is 13 so presumably at school from 9? That is extortionate if that is the case!!!

I don't pay my childminder when she is unavailable for work no matter what the reason. I do pay her in full when we are unavailable to attend no matter what the reason.

5 weeks of holiday is not somethign I would sign up to, but I expect it is in your contract.

You don't really pay £110 for an 8 hour day, do you? If you are, I think I would make the move to a nanny /nannyshare.

Good lord! She is taking the mick! TBH I feel that CMs should include holiday in their rates too, as it's much clearer all round if you pay for what you use (so to speak)

My CM would never charge me for a day she couldn't work, and the angel she is, even if I have to cancel for some reason she'll just defer the day for some other time rather than charge me for it.

I agree with FightlikeaGirl - this really isn't like all the CMs I've ever met, who seem to have the constitution of an ox
It's just no use to a working parent to have childcare that is regularly unavailable.

If you'd rather stay with her & get this sorted, you need to have that chat. I would blame your work - tell her your boss has had words about the amount of time off, spell it out ie 10 full days out of 40 worked plus with the other early finishes etc you're getting on for half of your working days being lost or cut short. Ask if there's any on-going health issues you need to be aware that might affect her being able to offer reliable care for your DC & if she has a back-up childminder for these circumstances. I would add that you have to take these days off sick & don't get sick pay so simply can't afford this number of days off going forward but mainly are genuinely worried about losing your job over poor attendance. I would ask outright - no hard feelings but would I better off looking elsewhere so she has a way out.

If she is suitably apologetic / embarrassed (as I'm pretty sure most honest hard working people would be!) then I would give her a last go before looking elsewhere.

I agree you need a copy of your contract. If it's a standard NCMA one then there should be a suggested contract review date, which would be the ideal opportunity.

I certainly don't charge if I'm unable to work because of illness, and on the occasions I have had to go to the doctor I've either taken my mindee with me (with parental permission) or has been left with my DH (who has to take time off to look after our two) - again with parental permission.

When you get your contract ... if it says you don't pay if she's not available (as mine do), ask for your money back. If you want to stay with her, ask for an immediate review.

Def find a new one, you do know for that amount actually less you could have a nanny come to you, yes you would need to register as an employer and sort out the tax and ni paying but with the £53 a week you would be saving (paying a nanny £10.24 gross a hour) (£167 including employers ni a week) you would soon cover the cost of getting a payroll company to do that for you (about £150 a year). And they would have your children when sick and do nursery duties like children's washing and ironing too.

Hope you get it sorted soon

It sounds like you'd prefer to stick with her and get some reliability. You do need to find a workable alternative and that's probably what you'll have to go with but you could ask her if she thinks her reliability is likely to dramatically improve soon as you want to stay with her but will be forced to move if she's not in a position to give you the arrangements you need.

Don't let this scare you off childminders. Most of us are professional and very reliable and would do anything to avoid having to let our parents down and on the rare occasion we're not available we definitely dont charge!

Socket - nurseries around me take babies from 3 months (daily rate around £56), and most schools have after school clubs for the grand price of sth. like £9 per afternoon? That would be a lot cheaper than your CM.

And I live/work in one of the more expensive areas in the country - albeit outside London.