To not pay childminder for Xmas day

[emmagreen481]

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

I don't suppose she will open on xmas day and boxing day, so that's her choice ,not yours. so if she's not opening she is breaking the contract not you

What rot. Op doesnt have a contract but if she did and it stated that bh are charged for whether tbe cm works or not then op would be breaking the contract by not paying.
Cm could take her to small claims to recover it and her insurance would pay the costs.
Cm could also give her notice for breach of contract.

We paid the best part of 1.2k a month for 2 girls. There were 3 other kids there. Not difficult to hit a K a week

I'm a childminder and earn over 1 thousand a week. I don't know any childminder in rl who isn't earning well. Is this a regional thing?

Of course it is.

Round here its £3.50 p/h.
Take away expenses, food, insurances, registration, prof fees, utilities, supplies, paperwork, toys etc travel in cars, paperwork after hours, attending training miles away, etc its not well paid at all. Especially when you are bending over backwards sometimes to accomodate parents.
Add late payers, parents picking up late and being surprised you will charge extra for it as its only a 'hobby' etc its sometimes a thankless underpaid job.

Many people do not understand what you have to do to become a registered professional cm and the costs involved as evidenced by many on this thread.

My CM shuts during school hols so I don't pay her- part of the reason why I chose her.

My childminder is worth her weight in gold. I just pay a monthly fee. worked out by average of days per week etc. I never quibble about bank hols and she never quibbles when I'm 15 mins late for pick ups....

Our CM charges for all holidays at the full rate - she takes 30 days holiday a year for which we pay. As much as I couldn’t get my head around this to start with she’s so fabulous we really don’t mind. We’re just about to start our 2nd two week holiday of the year in to the new year. I get paid for holidays so that’s what I have to remember x

I charge 85 pounds a day / 3 children a day - 3 meals included, nappies and all outings. I do not charge for my time but do charge for BH. I think the people who can't understand that are just jealous! We are self employed and we set our own terms ! Suck it up ! And I earn extremely well, I'm always full because I take great care of my little ones, follow the eyfs, cook the best of food ! Did I mention I was earning well ?? Did I also mention the 3 holidays abroad a year ? 😁 I work 11 hours, 5 days a week and I work very hard ! I do not feel guilty for charging BH.

I do not charge for my time but do charge for BH. I think the people who can't understand that are just jealous!

No not jealous. Paying for a service you don't and cannot receive is always going to be alien. You could just increase you daily/weekly rate. I suspect if challenged at court it may be deemed unfair contract terms.

*Childminders aren't low paid, certainly not in London.

Not everyone is in London. Going rate here is £3-£4 per child per hour with siblings charged around 50p-£1 less per child per hour.*

Where in London is the going rate so low?

I live in a 'cheap' part of London and childminders charge £6+ an hour (and only charge this as daily rate, of which parents only use part of usually)

Childminders in more well off areas locally charge £80-100+ a day.

No one is forced to sign a contract with a childminder who charges family for BH...how would that be hold in court ? 16 years ago I used a childminder myself, she charged for BH and I gladly paid them, she looked after the most important person in my life ! How could I begrudge this ?

I would send DC for a couple of hours whilst you make dinner and then all day boxing day so you can have an adult Christmas grin get your value for money grin
I’m actually glad you aren’t in my family. I’d be really upset to find that a child I know had been sent to childcare on Christmas Day, purely because the parent was paying for it. Maybe you said it in jest (?) but I bet there are some on here who would happily send their dc away on Christmas Day. And I think that is really sad.

Op, if you didn’t get a contract, more fool you. If you were fobbed off by the cm who said you didn’t need one, then maybe you have learnt your lesson. Did you check registration documentation and first aid qualifications or did you go for the cheapest option?

As for the cm making over a thousand pounds a week. I’d love to know how. For a 9 hour day here, it would be £36. If all 3 of my spaces are filled each day, I’d earn £540 per week plus £12 per day for 3 before and after school children, £180. So £720 a week. Obviously over 8s don’t count in my ratio, but how many of them would I need to get to £1000. This includes all my expenses (take off maybe a quarter/third as a rough estimate) and also assumes I am completely full every day doing full days for all children. Currently only one of my little ones does a nine hour day. So far from the lucrative money making scheme you make it out to be.
I just made minimum wage last year and as the dog walker upthread commented, people happily pay more for someone to walk their dog than they pay to walk their child to school.

I do my job because I love it and yes, there are perks to being self employed, but please don’t think we are rolling in cash, because the majority of us aren’t.

I obviously have a good deal with my childminder. She only charges for the days that she minds the children. If I decide to take an unexpected day off providing she is given advance notice she won't charge.

Hourly charge £4.80 11 hours a da 48 weeks a year = £12,672,
8 days bank holiday = £422.40 per year £8.80 a week 0.16p an hour so someone charging any more than £4.96 but not charging bank holidays is taking more money off you a year for doing the same amount of time with your child.
Is your current care worth the fee if it were 16p more an hour if so then pay. if not give notice and find someone else.

Bear in mind that every childminder will work an hour a week extra directly on your child plus extra unpaid time in order to do planning, assessments, learning journals etc. Then on top their is training cleaning and sterilising toys because somebody brought a sick child. Many wont charge you for being those few minutes late even 10 mins a day is the best part of an hour each week, they are there in emergencies and often step in for funerals, operations, advice, school closures and more.

OP - are you and/or your partner getting paid for Christmas day??

We paid £2.50 per hour ten years ago and that was cheap then (Midlands). I’m shocked that rates have risen so little, when NMW has risen a fair amount in that time.

hibbledibble - in my area of London its between £4.50 and £5.50 the council pay £4.90 day rates are rare. Housing is still through the roof and most people are not full so for most of the time they are taking £9 and hour before expenses - of which there are a lot. Not many people would work 55 plus hours a week for less than minimum wage.

self employment means you don't have an automatic legal right to paid tme off because you are not in need of legal protection from an unscrupulous employer you can set and determine your own terms and conditions and the law assumes you wont abuse yourself. If does no mean you are not allowed to have paid time off.
Most self employed work for a set period of time (short term contract) or for many customers they can also decide how much work to take on. A child-minder can only work for a few families at a time and often for many years therefore it is practical to have directly paid time off. Anybody who takes time off is charging for it in some way so how they do it is personal choice.
If you claim any tax relief or benefit you will be getting the support through the year so annualise your bill and you will see the true cost of childcare regardless of how holiday is charged.

Contracts - there is no Ofsted requirement but it is good practice.
Insurance is still valid but they wont pursue disputes.
A verbal contract is still valid but harder to prove and will look at things like custom and practice - what's happened in the past and what is usual in the industry.
Unfair contract terms - are not straight forward and depend on equality of bargaining power, opportunity to discuss and read terms and policies before hand etc. So if you had a meeting then a written summary a few days later then a contract to read and sign and were given opportunities to ask questions and read at leisure you are less likely to get unfair terms.

Not everyone is in London. Going rate here is £3-£4 per child per hour with siblings charged around 50p-£1 less per child per hour.

"Not everyone is in London" was in response to a PP talking about charging £75 a day and another PP saying CM's aren't low paid, especially in London. I was pointing out that not everyone is in London and then said what the going rate is here (i.e., not London)

"here" being where I live

OP are you sure your cm is not already giving you a good deal as a relative? Is she letting you off stuff? Do you every arrive late for collection, pay late, pay less, look at your whole package and make sure you don't burn your bridges on a very good deal - many cm's do favours for family and friends who then seem to forget the deal was on special terms or that because they are family seem to think its okay to pick up after the shops, come early or that aunty knows I'm short this month so its okay to pay next week. Most only ever work for family or friends once then never again.

It amazes me that people can say take your child even as a joke, How can anyone even jokingly say on one hand I love my child, I miss them, I feel guilty etc. and then I've paid they are going, we are talking children not buy one get one free supermarket offers.

"Not everyone is in London" was in response to a PP talking about charging £75 a day and another PP saying CM's aren't low paid, especially in London. I was pointing out that not everyone is in London and then said what the going rate is here (i.e., not London)

Ah, I see, I misinterpreted your post as not everyone is well paid in London. Makes sense now.

I am not in London, I charge £40 per day for before and after school care. I can have 8 children. I only sell spaces to those that take 5 days per week. £1600 before tax etc

It is also the hardest job I have ever held, I used to be a management consultant, this is far more exhausting