To think that childminders take the piss.

[perfectshadeofgrey]

I think that some childminders take an advantage of parents. The last childminder I saw demands 24 days of paid holiday + paid bank holidays + paid Christmas + 6 days paid sick leave. We would also need to provide the food, nappies, wipes, bus fares etc. WTF?
I don't agree with this. For a start, she's self employed so why should I pay for her holidays and when she's off sick.
AIBU to think that this is not right?

As an ex childminder I charged if I was available to work ( ie not my hols) but if the child was off at other times when I was available then I still charged. This was common where I am and you negotiated holiday dates with all the parents.

Banana87 i just wanted to correct you. the legal minimum holidays for employed staff is 28 days. This can include bank holidays - that is up to the employer so minimum of 4 weeks plus bank holidays if you were employed but the employer can choose to give you the 28 days plus bank holidays if they want. These rules do not apply to the self employed so they can choose how much if any holiday to take themselves.

A childminder is self employed so should price in days off plus bank holidays into hourly rate. Quite reasonable thought that she should charge when you are away though. Self employed people don't get sick leave either.

duchesse, I'm not a CM, but I have been in the past. Wages are the concern of the cm, in that they have to set their own hourly rate at a level that will enable the majority of people to pay for their service. If child care costs are too high, then people might find it doesn't actually pay them to go out to work in the first place. That seems to be the only reason a cm is interested in a parent's wage.

I don't need you to tell me what a wage is. My point is that although the cm is earning above minimum wage, she is doing 2/3/4 times the work in order to get it. Remember too, that she has insurance, tax, her business overheads to take out of that too. She is unlikely to be taking home £15 + per hour.

When I was a cm, I was very lucky. I worked term time only, which suited my clients (teachers). Given that I didn't work holidays, I didn't charge retainers as I felt that would be unfair. The family paid me if they were away for whatever reason, but not if I was away. It worked out well, but the level of responsibility and stress that you feel when looking after someone else's baby was extremely high. Given the low wage that cm generates, it really wasn't worth the level of stress, for me. I was glad to stop.

Why would childminder require bus fares?

Childminders work in their own homes and are self-employed.

Are you actually talking about a nanny, OP?

I guess the CM might take the children to places on the bus.

But if she drove, would she charge mileage to the parents? I suspect it would be offsettable against tax but not charged on to the parents. So why should the bus be any different?

alison, absolutely fair enough to charge even if the child is sick or not there for any other reason (eg being on holiday).

It would NOT have been fair enough to charge when you were away on holiday. That's the difference. Perfectly fair of you to have holidays, but good business sense to notify many months in advance when they are going to be. Not fair to charge any kind of retainer if you are not available. If CM is not available to work during school holidays, then that is her/him using his/her flexibility to work when s/he wants. You just don't expect to be paid for it.

I'm self-employed. I actually work as a translator, and charge mostly by volume (sometimes by the hour but not very often). If I am away, and can't do the work, I have nothing to invoice. Simple. I don't expect to be paid for work I haven't done because I wasn't available. A childminder's chargeable product is the x number of hours of childminding that you are expected to provide, whether or not the child is there.

Not sure why bus fare is being charged?? As a CM, if I do go on a bus (not often), the kids aren't charged and I put my bus expense down as a business expense for tax purposes. Nothing to do with the kids/parents.

I hope I don't come across as being strident but:

here is a woman, the CMer who is expressing what she thinks is adequate for doing her job

if you don't like it, don't engage her. End of.

People are arguing saying "my child minder doesn't do this, I'm a CMer I don't charge for that"...... blah blah.....its irrelevant. My mate gets a clothing allowance for her job, another mate gets a transport allowance for her job.......all cos of the specific job they do.

I don't argue everyone should be the same. All jobs are different.

If you were engaging an accountant to do your personal accounts you would decide if you thought their rate was fair then decide whether to engage them, or not. And I don't believe there would be a thread on here about it.

I would ask......"is the CM'er the right person to look after my child, and can you afford it? If not, move on.

I am finding this all a bit anti-flexible working to be honest. Women have traditionally done personal services...cleaning, child care, nursing...they have been stigmatised through the ages and employers have expected complete flexibilty, to the employees disadvantage.

Forgive me if I have misunderstood this thread but at the moment I think its one of of the most anti-feminist thread I have ever read here.

Indaba - hope you dont get a roasting too.

As ive said before to those who think childminders dont deserve the money
(as we all drink tea/watch telly all day and dont interact with the children )
we earn for looking after other proples precious children, try walking in our shoes for a while and see what we actually do do with those children, before slagging a childminder off.

Oh and by the way all my minded children are term time, after schoolers, just in case you wonder why Im on here MNing......