to think £5 an hour for a childminder in the suburbs is a bit steep?

[HidinginaHardHat]

We were interviewing several childminders today and the average price was around £5 per hour, i'm more used to paying around £3 an hour.

I appreciate they have to earn a living like the rest of us but when their hourly rate is nearly the same as mine is that really fair?

I probably am BU really aren't I.

And you are pregnant reality??

I didn't complain they're earning more per hour than other people, i'm saying the ones in our area have made themselves prohibitively expensive. Yes it is a VERY important job and only want the right person doing it. But I can't afford to work if the childcare works out at more than my take home salary!

OP YABU.

A long while ago, bearing in mind mine are now 14 and nearly 12, when they were about 2 and 4 I needed to use a childminder for a couple of days as DH was in hospital, it cost me £40 a day 9 till about 5.30 and DS1 would have been at nursey both mornings too.

They offer a service, if you need that service then they can charge what they like.

And as with Shakirasma my £3ph childminders in the past have provided nothing but superb care and as with Shakirasma i also couldn't have paid more for a childminder if i had wanted to. £3 was the going rate.

blimey, my child is my most treasured "possession"

if someone wanted to do it on the cheap, i would be very

on the other hand, i wouldnt let a stranger look after mine under any circumstances anyway because they are so precious

A childminder or nurseryworker or nanny or au pair is NOT a stranger (well at first they are) I cannot roll my eyes enough at that comment.

Sounded like you resented the fact that they might take home more than you do. Which as Reality pointed out would most likely not be the case. The problem here is not what the CM gets but what you get, maybe you need a job that pays more?
Some people do end up paying the same or slightly more than they earn for the few years their dc are in full time childcare, it's just one of those things...

I paid £1.50 an hour 20 years ago.

I would expect to pay £5 an hour minimum.

Those in corporate jobs earn in excess of £25 an hour.

If you had a nanny though, you'd be responsible for sorting her tax, she'd want to use your car, not her own and you'd be providing all the equipment and paying for all the activities your child does. I think you'd find a nanny much more expensive in the end.

The fact is that you are trusting this person with the most important person in your life and you want to pay less than you'd pay a cleaner or the person sitting on the till in a supermarket. Back in the old days a CM was pretty much a babysitter and what they did on a day to day basis was up to them. Now a CM has to provide a really high standard of care and education. The level of responsibility a person feels when they are looking after someone else's child is enormous. If it turns out not to be profitable, a CM has little incentive to carry on.

To those who say that a CM can charge £3 per child and have 3 children are ignoring that 3 children are 3X the work.

Personally, I think if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

I think "going rate" is the key phrase here, you have accidentally moved to an expensive area, but as has been pointed out it's not the most expensive area there is so count yourself lucky

Reality and other cms, I take my hat off, I really do. I've been a nanny for 4 children but the mother was around and that was hard enough. Looking after dd on her own now wears me out. Childminding must be a knackering job and I didn't realise it was for so little gain. Am truly shocked.

I'm assuming reality you do as my previous childminder has done and all the ones i've interviewed do and do your job akin to a nursery sharing minding duties with other minders in the area and frequenting pre-school groups, parks and activities where you can let the children do as they wish?

I doff my hardhat to you I really do, I honestly have nothing but admiration for childcare providers but, I do feel annoyed that the ones in this area are, to my mind, taking the pee a bit.

IF it's because of the early years provision and record keeping then surely the school run kids should be cheaper? Just as a musing :)

Yabu because £5 is really very reasonable for doing the very important task of looking after your child. However, I can see your point, that it is very frustrating when you pay childcare and have hardly anything left over. And most cm's seem to do it when they have a child of their own at home- so yes, in Many cases they will have more take home pay in real terms than the mothers of their mindees- they can easily have a couple of kids plus of course they are doing jus about the only job where you can earn while saving a few hundred a month by not paying childcare yourself.

And tazmin- do fuck off. If you can't get a job, no need to snipe at women who can!

CM's pay insurance, toys, nappies, food, etc. So they don't get what you pay them.

Nannies don't have to pay any of this. And if you employ a nanny legally you also have to pay employers tax and national insurance and most experienced nannies will expect you to provide a budget for outings.

When DS1 went to a childminder 10 years ago the going rate was £80 a week. That was full time, 8-6, 5 days a week.

The 'going rate' now is upwards of £200 a week.

Thankfully mine are too old now (DS2 goes, but only after school).

There are a lot of good, nice CMs who are worth the cost. DS2's current one is lovely. However there are plenty more who are plainly just in it for the money - and you can earn a lot certainly during school hols - our ex-CM used to mind 8 children a day in the summer, all paying over £175 a week. I'd like to say she did lots with them, but she didn't. They played in the garden or walked to the park and played there, no cost involved.

And of course they will charge the going rate. If everyone doing your job where you live got £7 an hour, you wouldn't want to take a job giving £5 an hour.

Just to be controversial. In that case a primary school teacher gets about 70p and hour then per child!
Seriously, I'd have thought about £4.50 per hour maybe. It's only below NMW if they choose to have just one mindee.

I am a childminder and charge the extortionate fee of £6 per hour

this includes all food, snacks, drinks, formula, nappies, wipes, trips out and all of the groups we do as well as the toys, books and crafts stuff that I buy on a regular basis.

All of the childminders local to me charge a similar amount.

oooh lovely we haven't had a Bash-a-Childminder thread for aaaaaaaaages

[sarcastic face]

I paid £3.00 - £3.50 an hour in deepest Berkshire in 1988. I think the rate may have gone up a tad since then!

Well I pay £7 ph. and happy to do so, as I know my LO is well cared for and having fun.

I pay £5.50/hour (London 'burbs/outskirts) & get excellent value, thanks.
(PS Why is it 'not fair' their rate is less than yours? Apart from the fact that - generally - pay isn't totally 'fair' , why do you think her work is worth less than yours?)

This isn't a "bash a childminder" thread. Childminders are invaluable and, if you are lucky to get a good one, which I have in the past,they are worth more than their weight in gold. But as several others have pointed out some are blatantly in it just for the money and having experience the other end of the spectrum too some of them shouldn't even be parents imo but thats a whole other rant and whinge!