CM-Increases fees by 22% and adds 3 extra days bank holidays

Ok £4 an hour is what I have always charged, I was going to increase but felt my rate was fair but I do not charge BHs or my holidays, I do term time contracts and do not charge a retainer. I think she is being foolish and unprofessional, check your contract to see when the review is due and read the small print as i'm sure she has to give you warning on any changes. Like you say she's got you and you sound like a good parent to work for so its her loss if you move.

I'm a CM and I think if CMs did seperate contracts for term-time and holiday times then there would be less messing around.
I'm term-time only but I am flexible and will cover a couple of days each holiday time BUT I don't work BHs and don't expect to be paid for them even if mindees were due that day.
I just expect to be paid on time and I will work for the hours required.

I must admit as a CM I am often told by my association that I'm too cheap, reasoning at the moment is that if minders offer their service at to cheap a rate it devalues what we do, I understand their point of view as we now have to provide education as part of our service, do a huge amount of paperwork and training which generally has to be carried out in our own time and we work awfully long hours a typical day for me is 7 - 6pm sometimes longer and we don't have a lunch break as we have to be with the mindees all the time, I often get up at 5 and can still be updating the childrens records, doing accounts, planning etc till gone 9/10 at night, I dread to think what my actual hourly rate would be if I factored every hour that I work into my rate's.

But, and I feel that this is the point your cm is missing it is not up to the association to set charges, they can suggest, advise and guide but a cm is self employed and ultimately is responsible for the running / financing of the business and I have to disagree with her that she is not entitled to bank holidays, I use a lot of s/emp tradespeople not one of them has insisted that I pay them for a bank holiday, and I wouldn't use them if they did.

I think that you now need to decide if your relationship with this cm will be amicable, it's sometimes hard to get over disputes like these and resentment can set in especially as it seems that you have been pretty fair in the past with regard to paying in advance as is a bonus at x'mas. You are right to consider your childs feelings, but from the other side of the fence I would find it hard to work with a parent if I knew as yours does that you were a very unhappy bunny, parent partnership with a minder is very important you should have mutual respect and understanding if you feel that you have lost some of that I would seriously consider changing.

Maybe she was charging too little in the past and has just realised it? You need to check with other local childminders.
Many don't charge for holidays as they do term-time only.
Each CM has their own business rates and methods and you just need to find the right one for you.

I think that llareggub might be spot on. I would check with the other parents to find out.

I do charge for BH but I'm available for work on these days if I was not, I wouldnt make them pay. They do not pay me for any day off I take. 22% is a massive increase, I wouldnt dare doing that in this climate !

It really does depend on what she was charging before. For instance if she was £2.50 an hour before then she would be £3.05 an hour now, which isn't out of the way, though I understand it would build up for you over the month.

The bank holidays seem very strange though.

I'd look at nurseries or other forms of childcare, 22% rise is OTT in this climate and cant possibly be justified.

However I wouldn't be paying for hols, BH's or sickness either as being S/E means you dont get the perks of employed people.

I do think that this is excessive, when most of us who are luck to be in job are facing zero or even negtive pay rises.
There may be other expanations if possibly she was newly set up and had been charging a low rate as an introductary rate, however she should have been upfront about it if this was the case. How do her rates compare to others in the area? If they are now in comparison with other then its only fair that she brings her rates up to a market rate.

With regards to bank holidays it does irk me that child minders expect to be paid for BH, and other holidays or absences when they are not employeees in any other regards. I have no problem with childminders charging a fair rate btw in order to earn a decent income.

In my view they should do what other self employed people do and charge a hourly rate high enough to cover these instances. Its then transparent to parents what they pay and when, so that if they need to find alternative childcare they have the money to do so.

22% rise is outrageous. I would definitely start talking to other parents and see if they were informed of the same hike.

What the CMA advises on the matter is neither here not there. You as a parent are not bound by the childminders professional/trade organisation. Id they want to advise childminders to take parents for a ride they can. But, that in no way obligates you to be taken for a ride. I think I'll start an organisation for parents who use childminders and encourage them all to ask for a 30% reduction in fees and refust pay any bank holidays, sick pay, CM holiday's etc. as these are perks reseverd for employees. And if the CM wants to be an employee then she should show at my house at 7:00 am and be prepared to organise her day as precribed by me. Oh, and I will tell her when she can or can't have holiday.

Seriously, industry standard and fair practise are somewhere in the middle. But a 22% hike is outrageous and I certainly would not pay it.

I don't work bank hoidays but I take them as holiday's out of the 3wks a year I have off, I only do before and after school anyway on Mondays during term time, but work mondays during holiday club to cover the older childrens needs, so its not been much of an issue with us. I dont charge parents when I am on holidays though anyway.

The way I work out fees is as follows, I plan a year in advance when I am off, I work out how many days a year I would have a particular child (not including bank / hols / my holidays or parents hols) add it together then ./. by 52 wks. This way parents pay for the care they actually recieve and its spread over the year so I still get something when I'm not working even though they don't pay me for holidays, which helps me budget and the cost is spread out more for parents so during holiday clubs the bill doesnt shoot up for them.

A 22% rise is pretty hefty and its a bit strange if all of the minders in the area are doing the same thing, I havn't put my prices up for 4yrs, I should but I know some of my parents are struggling as it is and have had shifts / wage cuts so I can't see the point of increasing atm, I'd rather get 100% of fees on time than 60% of fees late and have to chase around for payments. I do wonder though how my parents will feel when I do have to increase as it will probably be quite a change for some.

Can you ask the cm if she can provide childcare for an alternative day when it's bank hol's as you have paid anyway?

Ds's nursery wondered why they were finding the Mondays and Fridays hard to fill when they opened. I pointed out that it was maybe because they charged for days they were shut and these were much more likely to be a Monday or a Friday, and they opened just as all the bank holidays were likely to happen. Many of the mums worked in retail and so were unlikely to actually have the bank holiday off anyway and would have to pay twice for child care.

Ds was there when Christmas and New Year fell on his days both years - just unlucky!

I have put my teaching fees up when I wanted to reduce my evening teaching - and not lost anyone (though I have never gone above 6%!) so now if I want to reduce I just give them a term or two terms notice that I will not be teaching on a certain night.

How much was her rate and what has it risen to. The information on its own is meaningless it may be she was very cheap and has only just realised.How much warning did she give you as effectively she is in breach of her contract if she has not done this at an agreed contract review. and where do you live as I haven't heard of any extra bank holidays? You do not have to agree you can negotiate if she is not prepared too you have to decide if she is worth paying extra for, it depends how much you value her. Have you gone on the childcare local website and checked rates of the other minders, you could ask her who the other minders are that have these rates and all these extra bh

'I have just finished training to be a childminder and they suggested you either have paid holidays or build it into your daily rate.'

Well that might work if you use the childminder 5 days a week 52 weeks a year, but they really haven't thought that through have they.

What if you only use the childminder on Fridays, and the childminder likes long weekends so takes Friday off 10 times a year? What if you only use the childminder for three months and she takes two weeks of that off?

The only way that it works fairly is for the childminder to only charge for days she actually has your children: this might require the CM to do some sums to work out how many days a year she is not going to be paid for and adjust her rates accordingly, and it might require the NCMA to stop gazeing at their navels and consider how it should best help their members to provide a professional service.

Perhaps if they thought things through and presented reasoned, professional arguments they might not have been completely ignored by the Government over EYFS. Childminders, you need a better organisation than NCMA.

can I ask what she has raised the pirce to? I mean if she charged £1 before and is now charging £1.22 for eg. Also is she proposing to offer you more things in return for more money? Outings, better food

My childminder increased her rate significantly and in the end I decided it was because she no longer wished to look after my DS, so I gave notice. I can understand small increases but 22% is outrageous.

How much is she going to be charging? Surely it must be in line with everyone else, or she'll price herself out of the market?

I have just finished training to be a childminder and they suggested you either have paid holidays or build it into your daily rate.

Seems weird but I suppose if enough parents refused it then CMs couldn't do it. 22% is a lot, was she charging you a lot less than the going rate in the first instance?