Page 10 | To not pay childminder for Xmas day

emmagreen481 · 2018-12-17T13:51:47+00:00

My DS’s childminder wants me to pay her for Xmas day & Boxing Day when she’s not even open?? Is this normal

Cattenberg · 18/12/2018 21:58

I'm looking for a childminder/nursery at the moment and I've found that some charge for bank holidays and some don't.

There's a nursery very near my home that's been rated as outstanding by Ofsted. Its hourly rate is higher than average for this area, and it also charges for bank holidays, staff training days and any closures not covered by its business insurance! Its late pick up charges are also pretty steep - if you're delayed for 20 minutes, that's £20, please.

I won't be visiting this place. Some people might be happy to pay for days when the nursery's closed, but I'm not! It's scary enough that I'll have to pay for childcare when DD's ill and can't attend. If she picks up every bug I'll be in real trouble, because I'll have a whopping bill to pay, but won't be able to get in to work.

Schuyler · 18/12/2018 22:07

5fivestar do you charge £10 per hour?

Iusedtosleepbeforehavingkids · 18/12/2018 22:27

I pay mine for bank holidays. I don’t pay for her holidays though. It depends on your contract with her.
I get paid for bank holidays so why should she not.

Jenny17 · 18/12/2018 22:51

I get paid for bank holidays so why should she not.

CM can choose to pay herself for BH. You are not her employer so are not responsible. Do you also pay when they are too sick to work or has a medical appointment? Do you check that the right taxes are paid?

Self employed choose the rates and can adjust to rate to cover bank hols like they do with business insurance etc.

BlueJay1 · 18/12/2018 22:54

Yep. We had to pay our childminder 5 weeks holiday pay. Plus bank holidays!
That was what we agreed to by contract, unfortunately.

Neem · 18/12/2018 23:18

I think it’s crazy. Surely if I’m paying the CM should be at hand to mind my kids

EwItsAHooman · 18/12/2018 23:46

Surely if I’m paying the CM should be at hand to mind my kids

Nope.

You pay for the service and, if she charges for holidays/bank holidays, you're paying for your space to still be there when she reopens. You pay for bank holidays and closures regardless though as her rates will be set to account for them.

MandalaYogaTapestry · 19/12/2018 03:40

My DCs are past the childminding age but I used to use the services of 3 different ones. Never had to pay for their holidays and paid half for mine. Don't remember about BHs. It was pretty standard where i lived (an expensive town in Surrey). Their rates were average too for the market.

If i had to pay for the CM's holidays they would have worked out more expensive than nursery, so I would have sent my DCs to nursery instead which had longer opening hours and offered more stimulation for the kids in my view.

5fivestar · 19/12/2018 05:58

Schuyler - £6.60 an hour but they get s lot for that - homework done, STEM play, piano lessons if they want them, Spanish lessons. And I cook real food, spaghetti bologna, chicken Curry’s, roast dinners, nobody needs supper after they’ve left and often I’ll guve the parents a take away to have for their tea to save them cooking when they get home.

lotsoffreckles · 19/12/2018 06:41

I do and I don't pay for Christmas, I will explain.

My childminding bill is the same each month but this includes my childminders holidays. She takes 6 weeks off per year so my weekly childcare cost is x 46 weeks / 12 months (hope that makes sense) Makes things so much easier, we both know what money is coming in and out at all times and if ever she or one of her DC are sick she takes it as holiday rather than having to work out and arrange refunds.

I've been with her a year now and she hasn't taken that 6 weeks, one is clearly there for her emergency days if she would ever need it so I'm technically getting a weeks free childcare if you want to look at it that way.

She is my life saver though 😍

themoomoo · 19/12/2018 07:16

ronT
you clearly have no idea what a childminder is

QueenofmyPrinces · 19/12/2018 08:05

I haven a childminder and my children go two days a week - they aren’t set days and I just her know in advance what two days I need each week.

It works out well for BH as on the weeks they fall I just send my children in on another two days.

For the week she is having off around Christmas she is not charging me any costs. Over the two week Christmas/New Year period we are only charged for the days that our children are with her.

She has 4 weeks off a year and during those weeks we pay 50% of our normal fees and whenever we go away we pay 50% of the normal fees.

If she is unwell or can’t take the children on a specific day at short notice she will refund us the full cost of that day’s fees.

My childminder is brilliant and always goes out of our way to help us. She will allow us to change our days at very short notice and she will also take them for extra days at short notice too if we need her to.

jannier · 19/12/2018 08:11

5fivestar - wow so really no family life left for these kids if they must be in 5 days a week and are there late enough for their last meal of the day. Do the parents ever have to step up and do the role themselves. The parents must hardly know their own children or kitchens.

5fivestar · 19/12/2018 08:15

jannier - I really wouldn’t go that far, quite the opposite really if the children are fed and watered before they get home that leaves more time for bath, story and bed. Just takes away the moaning and carrying on during the car journey home if the children aren’t hungry. I thought very carefully about what I needed and couldn’t find as a professional working parent.

tryinganewname · 19/12/2018 08:17

@jannier thread has absolutely NOTHING to do with what parents choose to do with their own children.

Shock horror, mothers decide to work for a living rather than child rear. This is for a variety of reasons, some financial and some to improve mental health.

The amount of women (such as my mother) who are heading for retirement and don't have a pension plan is astronomical, because they felt it was their duty to stay at home with the kids. Do you think the state pension is going to be here forever? Even so, it's barely enough to live off.

What do you suppose weekends are for? Ah yes, family time.. and cooking in the kitchen apparently

QueenofmyPrinces · 19/12/2018 08:20

Meant to say that our childminder charges £4 an hour and we have to provide all food and snacks etc.

My youngest child goes 10 hours twice a week so is £40 a day = £80 a week.

My other child is in school and is with her two hours before school and two hours after school so we pay for fours hours a day, so £16 a day. She also charges £1.50 a
day on top of that because of the school run effort/petrol costs etc etc. So that child costs me £17.50 a day = £35 a week.

My two children combined cost me £115 a week so monthly childcare usually falls between the £450-£500 bracket depending on how many weeks there are in the month.

Satsumaeater · 19/12/2018 08:23

My childminder charged for some bank holidays but not Christmas or Easter etc. She charged for eg the May bank holiday when she was working the rest of the week.

Personally I don't think they should charge for days when they have no intention of working but she compromised. For example, we didn't have to pay anything when she was on holiday. If we were on holiday when she wasn't we did pay. Fair enough.

Madeline88 · 19/12/2018 08:30

Our nursery is closed for two weeks and we have to pay full fees, I’m really annoyed as I am due back at work before they reopen. Silly me for not reading the contract properly though.

EwItsAHooman · 19/12/2018 08:31

wow so really no family life left for these kids if they must be in 5 days a week and are there late enough for their last meal of the day. Do the parents ever have to step up and do the role themselves. The parents must hardly know their own children or kitchens.

That's absolute crap and you know it. There's still plenty of time for family life after collection and on weekends/holidays. In addition to that, part of the reason people choose a childminder is because it's a family environment. I was working from my own home and mindees were cared for alongside my own children, lots of people like that sort of domestic setting (and others prefer nursery which is equally as good). When I was childminding I was not the parent of those children, I loved them and I cared for them but absolutely no one can replace their parents and the love the kids have for their parents (and visa versa) has always been clear to see - nothing makes you feel warm and fuzzy like a little ones face lighting up at the sight of their mum/dad arriving or the pride they take in producing pictures/crafts to give to them.

Nice effort to shoehorn in a dig at working mums and childcare though

haloumi · 19/12/2018 08:47

I Think this is unusual. Any other time, I think we have to suck it up. But Xmas and Boxing day, you would think would be the exception.

As others have suggested . Take the kids along and get your moneys worth ...

In fact.... Fill them up with sugar, THEN take them... CF's

HSMMaCM · 19/12/2018 09:31

One of my parents was surprised not to be charged for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. They had no intention of bringing their children of course. I pointed out that I have £0.00 for Bank Holiday fees on their contract.

A friend of mine paid for her children to have tea at nursery, because she said it meant they could just spend time together when they got home, or go to the park on the way home, instead of her heading straight for the kitchen when they got home. Different things work for different families.

Willow2017 · 19/12/2018 09:32

Love to.see everyone rock up at nursery on xmas day with thier kids!
Or is it just because cm are not seen as professional child carers and sit around all day watching kids play that people think its ok to take the p?

What stupid suggestions.

ItIsChristmasTime · 19/12/2018 09:43

In fact.... Fill them up with sugar, THEN take them... CF's

Yeah, because that will work when you then have to take them home with you in a hyper mood. What a stupid suggestion.

EwItsAHooman · 19/12/2018 09:59

Or is it just because cm are not seen as professional child carers and sit around all day watching kids play that people think its ok to take the p?

Exactly that.

Someone queries nursery charges and the general consensus will be "they're running a business not a charity/they've got overheads to cover/staff to pay/that's what you signed up to".

Someone queries a childminder's charges and there'll be a queue of people ready to proclaim "what a cheeky bitch! She's joking isn't she!?/she's self-employed, she has no right to expect decent pay/you should , that'll teach her!/I once saw a CM take a sip of water and say hello to another mum while at playgroup, proof that all childminders are neglectful!"

Double standards all the way.

Nursery = professional organisation and a proper job.

Childminder = SAHM earning a bit of pocket money for doing what she would be doing for free anyway.

ChocolateWombat · 19/12/2018 10:01

There is no right or wrong and there should be no dispute or confusion about it, because every childminder and parent willingly enters into a contract between each other and any terms and conditions which they both agree to are permissible.
There are a wide range of contracts and terms because CMs like to work differently and parents do too. Seeing as no-one is forced into a CM contract, why would anyone with reptrospect decide the system is unfair? Quite simply, if you don't want to pay for bank holidays, don't sign a contract that says this is part of the deal. If you have signed one which says this, get on and pay as you agreed.

I always remain astonished by the number of threads about things related to CM payments and hours. Why don't people read their contracts first or insist they have one? Bearing in mind we are talking about a service related to our most precious children, the fact that some parents are willing to leave themselves open to a situation with a lack of childcare or guarantees in place, surprises me. And likewise, that some CM would open themselves up to the cheeky parents who will skip off without giving giving notice or paying in full amazes me too. Quite simply, use contracts which cover all the key issues (and there are loads online so it's not difficult to see which areas should be included if you're new to it as a parent or CM) and make sure both parties discuss it and understand the terms and both sign. And then stick to it and don't moan or renege.