Is it offensive to offer more

If they are doing a good job and you want to keep her, raise her wages.

Do what is right for you and her.

Ask her if she would prefer it as a raised hourly rate or as a bonus.

(TBH: I am totally astounded at some of the comments on here.....eg don't raise her wages in case her other clients can't. I can not imagine someone at Apple saying...."oh, we can not raise the wages of a great product developer in case the poor people at IBM can't match it. Your child minder is doing a job, she is not a charity....this is her job and livelihood).

If you are happy to pay the higher rate indefinitely, which I assume you are, I would tell her "cost of living has obviously gone up a lot and you do an excellent job, so we think it would be fair to increase your pay rate to £5 / hour." I imagine she will feel appreciated, not offended.

I'd give it to her as a cash bonus at the end of the year.

Or do as pp suggested and ask of she's planning on putting her rates up as she deserves it (although you then run the risk of her putting them up by more than 50p).

Most childminders are scared of increasing fees and worry if parents can afford it so often earn less than minimum wage......talk to her she won't be offended

Maybe ask if she's planning to up her rates as you believe she deserves it.
If she says no, save the difference somewhere and get some nice vouchers for Xmas instead.

The only problem with raising the rate, is that then it might make her think she could raise it for everyone else too. And then parents for whom that extra money could be unaffordable (especially now, with energy costs and NI going up) are penalised for your generosity.

I'd just give her a cash bonus on occasion. This won't potentially affect others. Her rate is the going rate in your area. Don't do anything that risks a rise in costs for all her clients. You can afford it, maybe they can't.

I would just tell her you've decided to increase the rate you pay her to £5. You don't need to feel awkward about it and I'm sure she'll be very happy.

Why would it offend her? Just say that you’re really pleased with her service and ask her to adjust the rate.

You could give her a monthly cash bonus for the difference.

I find our jobs are often massively undervalued. I love my job as a nanny but sometimes people are so unappreciative of us.

That is so kind and your childminder will be SO grateful. I'd say 'I'd like to up the hourly rate I pay you, would you like it in bonus form or are you able to amend my invoices'

I work in childcare and saw a post the other day where a childminder was putting her rates up from April by about 50p an hour I think. A parent came to her and said she's decided to back date it from January and went back and worked out all the extra. Such a lovely gesture.

I would just give her an envelope with some money for some anniversary (child has been 1 year with her), or her birthday, the holidays or Christmas... a token of your appreciation. It think it would be complicated for her to have two sets of rates, one for you, one for the other parents, especially if she is using some software for billing and it might make things awkward.