What is the normal arrangement if minder on holiday?

should say, at moment, parents pay if they are off, I charge nothing if i am off.

I agree, we do not earn enough. if we were all full to the brim we would do quite well, depending on the area (im lucky, can get 5.00 full time and 6 before after school) but after school clubs are starting to take alot of cm work and in a couple of years i think we will all be really strugling to find the work.

I know loads of cms locally who charge 4 weeks full paid holiday. I have been thinking about charging 2 weeks full pay at xmas when my kids need me and i cant really aford to be off. After reading this thread I really dont know what to do now.

I charge half fee if they go away and nothing if I do. Last year was my first year of business and I made £6.50!!! After all expenses etc mind you only worked for 2 months of last tax year and had lots of start up costs. I think next year I will earn at least a tenner!

I made about £6,500 last year (gross after expenses)

& I'm really busy

I'd love to earn more

andie pandie - you're leaving a £20k job to go into childminding - and you have a pre-schooler so presumably you'll only be able to take 2 mindees during school time/hours on my rates thats only £6 p/h how much per annum do you think you'll earn? sorry just being nosey really

As shown in this threat there is no normal arrangement for childminders and holidays.

As we are all self employed we set our own terms as stated in the contact you signed, but of course it is up to parents to agree to the terms of the contract.You can always look elsewhere if not happy with any of it.

I charge for four weeks holiday on full pay, none of my parents have a problem with this.

I think she is out of order taking on your child and not telling you she was pregnant, unless she didn't know at the time.

My CM has 4 weeks hols at half fees and I am entitled to 4 weeks hols at hlaf fees. They never co-incide because the CM takes 3 of her weeks during termtime and I do not wish to take DS out of school to take my holidays then. But it is easier for me to make alternative arrangements etc during term time than during the hols. I also take extra odd days during the holidays or DS gets invited for tea or whatever and I pay in full for these days.

As a currently full-time working parent who gets no tax credits and has two children - one of which is pre-school - I do not agree that childminders get paid significantly less than other professional people. This is probably controversial but I'm leaving my £20K a year job to go into childminding because after tax - my childminder has more of my wage and consequently earns more than me every month. And that is just from my children - she looks after another 4 children on top - she also takes holidays out of term-time which leaves me with no annual leave left to take my own holidays with the family. I have therefore registered as a childminder as I also work in the field of child care.
So to charge me for her holidays aswell is taking the .

(sorry i missed some of your name out maximummummy)

maximummy. agreed. we don't get paid enough.

i used to charge nothing for my holidays, but then my families who were claiming tax credits for childcare costs would take the same weeks off as me and pocket the cash as their own spending money. if they are claiming the money to pay us, surely it is our money????

and like you said other self-employed people can charge loads for their work, so can afford to go unpaid for a few weeks. i just had work done on my house and was paying one of the builders £1000 per week until the job was finished... and he was only doing 3 days per week. did a lovely job converting the loft, but in 3 days, as a childminder i currently earn £81.

i think personally that if it is worked out so that parents and childminders have their holidays at the same time then the childminders should get paid leave. it is now common practice where i live to be paid for your 4 weeks. in fact i only know one childminder who only charges half for holidays but its because she is well off and does it only for the love. if only it could be like that for all of us.

but mogs most other self-employed people charge a helluva lot more per hour than us and only have short term/one off jobs with their clients

before i was a childminder i was a working single mother i got my childcare paid for - all year round - when i started living with my partner we got help with the childcare costs - all year round .

so it doesn't really make sense to say if parents are on low income they can't afford to pay for holiday as surely they get help with childcare costs ?

I charge full fee for mindees hols and nothing for my time off.

I don't quite understand why NCMA recommend CMs take 4 weeks paid holiday. I don't know any other self employed people who get paid holidays but hey I guess that's a whole other debate!!

Glad you got it sorted! Did you get a copy of your contract for future reference?

Our new childminder charged us full price when we went on holiday (although for one week she was also away) and also when she went on holiday. Unfortunately the contract was a bit ambiguous, but I expected to pay half rate. We do feel taken advantage of to be honest, because she took time out during the school term (she has school aged children as do we) and so I had to take time off to look after my children but still pay her as well. We are looking to give her notice before the school holiday because we can't afford to pay her for six weeks when half of the time they won't even be with her. We'll have to find something else in September, but having thoguht that the childminder route would be cheaper and more flexible I am thinking about going back to having a nanny.

You are right andipandi if the agreement is seen as fair from both sides you are going to get on better.

It is difficult enough to leave your small child, but if I felt that someone was making money out of the situation unfairly it would make the relationship difficult.

I am from stafford too !! I would agree that no charge for childminder holidays (or a nominal fee) and either half fees for parent holidays is reasonable .... however alot of childminders are advised to charge for both - I don't think this is good for parent childminder working relationships as it can cause parents to feel taken advantage of !

I am from Stafford

My childminder is going to charge me half fees for while I am on holiday (maximum 20 days a year) and wont charge me if she is on holiday.

I think that is fair.

I'm a registered childminder and have also had 2 different childminders for my children when I was office working. Neither charged for their holidays but - 1 charged half fees when I was off and the other charged full fees.

Personally I would charge half fees for a parent holiday as a retainer for the place. For my (childminder) holidays it is a nominal fee of £20 just to cover any cost I incur ie groceries bill for month, insurance, registration fees etc.

andrea

I wouldn't charge as I am not available and the parents tend to arrange hols the same time as my own so they have no childminding problems.

I know NCMA say charge but if the parents are on very low wages and some do not get paid 4 weeks if they are not in full-time, they cannot afford to pay me for my hols.

As for the contract copies, you should have had them at the end of your meeting so you can refer to them in case of any difficulty. I sign the contract and give the parents a copy straightaway for this reason.

Good Luck - where are you can we find you a MN minder?