Childminder - pay, holiday & sick leave questions...

I've never offered a sibling discount although I know a couple of cms who do.

I've never had a sibling discount, nor would expect one - they are taking up a complete place after all.

As ever with CM contracts, you need to look at the full price over the year

• is everything included or do you have to pay extra for anything?
• some people charge full price for 52 weeks, but their hourly rate is lower than those who may charge holidays at 50% fee

• do they get out and about every day?
• is the food good?
• is the environment stimulating?

and also convenience

• is it near home, or convenient on route to work?
• is the CM always ready when you arrive?
• is she flexible (if you need that)

I'm also really surprised at the sick leave - I know an unexpected accident can happen to everyone, but I've used a few CMs over the years for different dc, and none has ever taken a day off, except one who had an operation for which I had about 2 months notice. IME CMs very, very, very rarely take anytime off sick. (As in, talking to other people, not just the ones I've used)

Some cm offer sibling discounts but many (me included) don't as the sibling is taking a place that frankly I'd rather get full fee from a non-sibling especially if it's a baby as you can only care for 1 under 1. Siblings also pose a greater risk to our income as if you leave it's 2 places to fill instead of just one and of course our expenses don't reduce just because 2 children are related. Not trying to be negative just explain why many CM's don't offer sibling discount .

In your position I would at the very least be looking to review the sick pay situation & ensure you have adequate notice of holidays so you can plan ahead and where possible try & coincide dates.

Well, our cm takes 8 weeks holiday a year, but it's unpaid. However, her hourly rate is high so it probably balances out. She's increased her holiday since we first started with her (from 5 weeks to 8) but she gave us lots of warning so we could have bailed if we'd wanted to. As it is, we love her so we made it work...

She doesn't charge for days she has to close though (eg if she or her children are ill). That wouldn't have been something I'd sign up for, I don't think...

As they are self employed, they can obviously choose what to put in the contract, and you can choose to use them, or go elsewhere, but, for comparison, I think that's a HUGE amount of holiday, if I've read it right that she's not counting the Christmas period, nor the Bank Holidays in the holiday entitlement?
Presumably, if you attend 4 days a week, it's not going to be all 25 out of your days ? (ie, I'd assume if she goes away for a week then only 4 of those days would affect you).
How much notice does she give for holidays?
Could you not tie your holidays in to be away when she's not available?

Every CM I've used wouldn't charge me if she was sick. They would only charge if the place were available, but my dc were ill / not coming for another reason.

I'm not sure why you haven't noticed this before, how have you managed to cover those 50 days? Did you not read and discuss the implications of the contract before you signed it?

There is no rule on holiday some take paid holiday others don't with regard to that you would need to calculate your annual cost and then work out if its comparable to others or worth the trade off for quality, satisfaction fro service etc.

Most parents do book time off and holidays to coincide with child-minders even if the child-minder is not paid.

As your already away for Christmas I'm not sure what problem that gives you as its not unusual to pay childcare when your off.

The sick pay is rare in my experience.

I would ask for a contract review saying that there are some things that are causing you difficulty then go with a list of things that you need to discuss bearing in mind what you are happy to compromise on...maximum number of sick days, minimum notice periods for her holidays so you can book your time off to etc. If you wish to continue with her make sure she knows your happy with her care and really want to find an answer that solves your problem.
If you feel you cant work with it then consider your alternatives I guess your 4 weeks notice wont make much difference as there are no holidays booked so it probably the best time if that's what you want to do. Childcare does come to an end and your child-minder will I'm sure continue to behave professionally should you decide a compromise cant be reached.

I charged for 2 weeks holiday, not the other 2 weeks and bank holidays. I didn't get any sick pay, if I didn't work I didn't get paid-I don't think you can pay indefinitely so I would raise that. I did however give out my holiday dates in January so parents could take their hols at the same time.

I agree with strawberry, and I have never heard of sick pay for a childminder.

One of my friends takes a similar amount of holiday. She specialises in children with autism and other additional needs, and she does a lot of respite care and fostering.

She needs that time off to recharge her batteries. Her parents are fine about it - they're informed up front and they have no problem working around her time off.

The amount of holiday isn't an issue. It's that the Op is finding that the contract isn't working for her. The first step is to talk to the childminder and see if it can be renegotiated.

It sounds like an enormous amount of holiday if that is 25 days taken out of the 4 days/week - plus the 3 days between Xmas and New Year. Is it really that?!

That ends up being a full-time equivalent of 42 days (when the statutory minimum - which a lot of employers give - is 28). When you add the 8 sick days, that makes 50 days off (full time equivalent) - almost twice what most parents will get!

In fact, assuming both parents get the normal amount, and no other childcare, then in order to cover the childminder's days off the parents would need to take almost all their leave separately. They could only have 6 days (including bank holidays) together as a family.

In fact, it's a good thing you're part-time and you have Mondays off, since if you were full time then you wouldn't even be able to do all 8 bank holidays with both of you off - and not all companies allow you to work a bank holiday.

How on earth have you managed it? Are you able to take lots of unpaid time off, or do you have other childcare available to cover it?

It may be that your childminder charges a significantly lower fee, or has some other advantage that balances out her holiday and sickness policies.

However, if the contract isn't working well for you, is it worth asking your childminder to renegotiate the contract? You must be due for a contract review if you've been with her for a year.
I'd be horrified if any of my parents felt locked into a contract that wasn't working - she may think everything is fine if you don't tell her.

Can your child attend on Bank Holidays, or during the Christmas period if you want them to?

There is no 'norm', so you will get a variety of answers. I know several CMs who charge for holiday and bank holidays. I don't charge when I'm unavailable, but my hourly rate is higher, so over a year, about the same. Does the Christmas/New Year period just mean the bank holidays (which are already mentioned) or the three days in between as well (making the holidays paid 28 days)? I would charge if a parent is away over Christmas, but not if I'm away.

I don't personally know any CMs who are paid for sickness.

You could ask for a contract review if you are not happy, but you might find your has been advised on contract terms by some of the other local CMs, or your LA, so you might meet the same terms at some other settings.