How much would you expect to pay for a child minder?

[blaisealex]

How much per hour would you expect to pay for a child minder? Would you expect to pay an additional fee for lunch too?

What would you expect from the minder? Activities, days out, walks, free play, crafts, etc. Would you also expect an update book every so often with photos etc, like a diary?

I pay £7.50 an hour including food in a rural part of the South East. It does seem expensive but there are only 2 childminders locally and not much nursery provision.

I pay £5:35/h. She fudges it for the 15/30 hours so she gets the same but we pay a little less. It’s a been a bit limited recently for obvious reasons but normally she does 1 big day out (petting zoo, museum, national trust place) , 2 local days out (library, playgroup, garden centre, picnic in the woods) and 2 home days a week. She’s awesome. We wouldn’t have survived the last year without her.

Oh that includes all food, snacks, entry to stuff. The only thing I have to provide is nappies. And sun cream if I wanted her to use a particular brand. She sorts out a set of waterproofs for all pre-schoolers at the beginning of the year and has a seemingly endless supply of hats, gloves, spare clothes. Again as I said she’s awesome.

Anything from £5-8 per hour which usually includes, food, days out etc. My friends who used a childminder who they were really happy withsaid they'd usually go out every day, sometimes just the local park or playgroup, sometimes a farm or similar. At home they'd have some downtime and some time doing craft etc.

@MolyHolyGuacamole exactly. It's kind of outrageous that childminders only get £5 per hour and a dog walker gets £10. That's what the poster was saying.

I do get that if childminders have multiple children, then of course, their per hour goes up significantly, so I guess that's reasonable. However, I have heard a few childminders around here tell me that local parents seem to think the £5-£6 per hour should be enough, even if the family has multiple children at the childminder. Which I find absolutely shocking.

[quote Triffid1]@MolyHolyGuacamole exactly. It's kind of outrageous that childminders only get £5 per hour and a dog walker gets £10. That's what the poster was saying.

I do get that if childminders have multiple children, then of course, their per hour goes up significantly, so I guess that's reasonable. However, I have heard a few childminders around here tell me that local parents seem to think the £5-£6 per hour should be enough, even if the family has multiple children at the childminder. Which I find absolutely shocking.[/quote]
Oh right I thought the post was saying it was atrocious that childcare costs so much. Re-reading it it now makes sense

£10 an hour per child (2 kids)

@Triffid1 who the hell thinks the person responsible for their child all day only deserves £5 an hour. £5 an hour per child usually works out fine since at least my local childminders have at least 4 children at any one time. (Unless the kids are younger but I think they charge more for that).

My CM charges £5 an hour and does all food and snacks which was part of the reason we went with her.

She has an annual pass to the zoo and would take the preschool kids regularly, to toddler groups and crafts and play in her massive garden.

One of the attractions over nurseries is the outings. We'd get an update at pickup and WhatsApp pics some days too.

Used to pay £6.50ph, no food included. South East. Was £10ph when wrap around only. Worth every penny. Off the top of my head, their expenses included running people carriers to ferry the children places, annual passes to loads of attractions, toys/craft activities, Ofsted registration, other qualifications needing keeping uptodate like first aid etc

South East, £7.50 / h is the cheapest locally for full time, £8 for wraparound.

@blaisealex

How much per hour would you expect to pay for a child minder? Would you expect to pay an additional fee for lunch too?

What would you expect from the minder? Activities, days out, walks, free play, crafts, etc. Would you also expect an update book every so often with photos etc, like a diary?

Are you asking as a potential client or thinking of becoming a cm?

Cost: we pay £5.50 per hour for the toddler, £5 for wraparound for our older DC. CM provides everything apart from nappies and milk. So breakfast is included if you go early, then snacks and lunch. She doesn’t do dinner but is happy for you to send a packed meal if needed.

Covid has obviously affected trips out but they still do playgrounds and play dates with other childminders. They spend time in the garden and do lots of arts and crafts stuff as well as free play. She is very aware of the EYFS curriculum, especially for those approaching school age.

Ours used to do lots of trips out, especially in the holidays, before Covid. We were asked if we would be happy to contribute to the cinema one wet half term (no problem) but otherwise she didn’t charge us extra and wouldn’t accept payment when we offered, eg when she took them trampolining one school holiday.

Ours keeps learning journals and updates daily via WhatsApp. Can be a bit sporadic but I’d rather she focus on the kids and we can always ask about nap times when we collect.

Our first childminder (different area) was more relaxed and the day was less structured. We were happy with her approach at the time and it suited DC1 - lots of free play. I think our current CM is great for toddlers and preschoolers - lots of stimulation. Pre-Covid, she offered much more than I expected and really went above and beyond. We have been very happy with her.

I pay my childminder £65 a day which includes lunch and dinner. She takes my DD to the park and is always doing crafts etc. My DD adores her.

Childminders also have to pay insurances, cover holiday and their sickness periods, craft and resources and also often fees for things like legal advice (drawing up contracts etc) first aid courses, petrol parking and travel and sometimes membership to pacey etc. But they can offset some of their home costs against tax which helps.

There is a lot more expenses to childcare above and beyond the obvious and it’s a challenging business Model to work out. Local market demand and rates and ratios of children to adults plus the free hours issues are all factors.

Not a potential client. Looking into the possibility of becoming a childminder.

Sorry, that was for @ToastandJamandTea

It varies so much by region that you need to see what your potential competition charges.

Costs to consider:

• setting up an appropriate play space (this doesn't need to be a dedicated room but it does help), including resources, toys, furniture etc
• ensuring space is safe (childproofing noth house and garden)
• any trainings courses you need or want to take
• ongoing costs of material; trust me you will get through an astonishing amount of craft stuff and so on
• insurance
• vehicle- do you need to upgrade to a 7 seater, also running costs, higher mileage etc
• appropriate car seats (using parents often isn't practical)
• double/triple buggy
• food and drink
• increased household wear and tear (we had to repaint our hall regularly...)
• trips and outings (look at annual childminder passes for local attractions)
• no pay when sick
• no pay on holiday
• void periods (you won't always be full)
• late/non payers
• advertising
• accounting costs (can do yourself potentially)

I've probably forgotten loads

The best thing you can do is to research childcare in your local area. You don't want to price yourself out of the market. Nurseries tend to be more expensive where I am based.
Expenses include food - breakfast, lunch, tea if you provide it and 2 snacks a day. Some childminders don't provide lunch and children take a packed lunch. Other expenses include Ofsted fees, training, heating, water, lighting, council tax, petrol, outings, resources, cleaning products... the list goes on.
A good childminder is worth their weight in gold and will never be without business.

It varies quite a bit depending on where you live. I live in the midlands and our childminder charges £4ph or a daily rate of £36 per day (no lunch included). This doesn't sound like a lot, but she often has 2-3 children doing full days, and she charges the hourly rate for older children that she provides a morning & afternoon school drop off/collection service for. Our childminder takes our daughter to playgroups, the park and also does a lot of educational activities with her. She also completes a diary each day recording what my dd has been up to, any developmental progress made and letting me know about anything else i need to know e.g. how she's eating/drinking, bowel movements etc. I also get updates/photos in the day via Whatsapp from time to time.

I pay £4.80 p/h 3 days a week. I provide all nappies etc, food, and extra paid for classes (dance class during CM time). She pays for annual membership to the local animal park with soft play and regular toddler groups as it’s for use by all of the children. She has around 3 children at a time, give or take. Unpaid annual leave (2 weeks summer, 2 weeks Christmas) or if she’s unwell.
She’s amazing and worth every penny.

She also does a daily diary, quite in depth, and goes for a walk/ park trip every day in amongst learning activities.

[quote InTheDrunkTank]@Triffid1 who the hell thinks the person responsible for their child all day only deserves £5 an hour. £5 an hour per child usually works out fine since at least my local childminders have at least 4 children at any one time. (Unless the kids are younger but I think they charge more for that).[/quote]
Someone earlier had been shocked that people only pay £5 for childcare but £10 dogwalking. Someone else wanted to clarify that. I was then also pointing out that, as you say, a CM is spreading her fee out over multiple families. So basically, it wasn't a suggestion that anyone said Child Minders only deserve £5/hour but acknowledgement of how weird it seems on the surface.

But I do stand by the comment that if you have 2 children, you need to pay 2x£5 per hour or whatever it is, and not then expect a discount.

We pay £5/hour. She has 3 other similar age children at the same time. We provide lunch but she provides drinks and snacks. We also send nappies etc. She provides a lot of craft activities and trips out, although in recent times they’ve been woodland walks, park etc. She sends us photos via WhatsApp and keeps an activity log for each child.

West Yorkshire here.
I pay my child minder £4.50 an hour for before & after school.

It used to be £30 a day during the holidays, but I’ve not used that service since before COVID, so not sure if that’s gone up at all.

I did have to pay half for our holidays, but nothing for her’s.

My daughter is going on a residential trip for 4 days soon, but I’ll still need to pay my CM for the time.