To charge this much for childminding

[Anothertiredmom]

posting on behalf of friend who’s not on mumsnet

friend has recently qualified as a childminder. They’ve been working out their fees with the agency who qualified them.

The feedback from a lot of enquiries has been that it’s too expensive and she’s now lost 3 potential customers due to this.

so she wants to know a general opinion on costs please

If you use one, how much do you pay for your childminder? Per hour/per day/wrap around care

she’s been advised to charge around £6 an hour, £52-56 per day(7.30-5.30), and £35 for wrap around care. Snacks are included in wrap around, extra food cost is added for hourly and day rates or they can provide their own.

do you think this is unreasonably high?

I understand it changes based on location, this is for outside of London, midlands town.

Ds1 gets picked up from school by local cm (we are north east based)

she charges £35 for a full day - no lunch provided but does provide snacks
£10 per day after breakfast or after school

I pay £5.50 for after school childminding. This includes snacks but I pick up before dinner. I think £6 is on the expensive side (especially for all day care) but not extortionately so. I would probably not expect to be charged extra for food at that price though.

It does seem really expensive. I'd be thinking no more than £40 per day.

What do other CM’s in the area charge?

The rate round here is £45 a day and includes food, so would be on the high end.

The only CM round here that charges just over £50 a day is highly experienced and has a waiting list that’s incredibly long. She’s basically the local Mary Poppins.

I pay £45 a day for 9am-5pm. Snacks are included but lunch isn’t, I’m based in Manchester.

Gosh yes, that does sound quite high. Does she have a background that would give her a specialism perhaps? Such as previously been a teacher etc?

Ds2 is in ft nursery who’s charge is still lower than the ones in the Op.

@Anothertiredmom who has advised her to charge these fees? Has she spoken to over local childminders or nurseries?

So at least £260 a week each, and she can have three pre-schoolers, so she could earn £780 a week, plus maybe a little extra for afterschool siblings. Her maximum gross earnings for a month would be roughly £3,200 a month.

Each parent would pay £1050 - £1100 per month of which the govt would contribute £166. So cost to the parent per month would be £900-£950.

If she can find parents willing to pay £1,000 a month for full time care, then it works.

When DS was tiny - 12 years ago, I paid £750 a month in the home counties, so I guess there are people who will pay. She just needs to find them.

Seems on high side. Been long time for me but aren't daycare coming in around £55 to £60 with everything included?

Wrap round I pay £5 breakfast club - they feed them and £20 for pick up and afterschool care until 6pm.

It’s what I pay for nursery, and that includes food so it is high.

I pay £7 per hour, £56 for the day. Includes home cooked lunch and snacks. Fantastic childminder, lots of experience, feels like one of the family - worth its weight in gold

Based in north west

I pay £40 per day, snacks included 8-5.

That is around what I pay, but I’m in Hertfordshire. My cm is one of the cheaper ones locally though. Not sure about your area though…

The local Mary Poppins that made me laugh 🤣

There’s not many childminders round here so it’s hard to say, and she’s on the border between middle class and working class towns so again it varies massively in that short distance.

It seems £4.50-5.95 is generally the hourly rate, and the day rate is actually the same as some local nurseries which I pointed out to her probably isn’t a good thing either as people often expect childminders to cost less. However nurseries round here do go up to about £65 a day, again it varies loads.

the wrap around care is what people are mostly saying is too expensive. The £35 includes drop off from 7.30, breakfast, walked to school, picked up from school at 3pm, home for a snack, help with any homework, a craft or activity, and pick up by 5.30. She wanted to charge £10 for just before school and £15 for after school, or £20 combined but was told this would be underselling herself.

The daily charge doesn't seem too far out but the wrap around charge is extortionate.. I pay £14 for wraparound care which includes breakfast and tea

By who? Who is this person telling her what to charge and saying she’s under selling herself?

It’s the agency who she’s done training with who are advising her.

yes she was previously a teacher for 12 years and has early years training. She will be wonderful at it, and is planning on doing early years teaching methods with them, as well as practical skills like gardening and cooking. Going to playgroups, parks etc.

We paid £28 a day which includes meals or £18 for wraparound including breakfast and tea. In North East.

I pay £40 a day, which is from 7.30-3.30.

My DDs kinder is highly experienced, spent 15 years as a paediatric nurse. She Includes breakfast, I do DDs packed lunches, and on a Friday she is there until 5.30, childminder does her dinner.

I live in the west midlands and use 2 different childminders.
One charges £36 per day and the other is £40 per day. This doesn't include food, so I send dd with food.

We're in East anglia and pay 5.50 an hour. Includes snacks and lunch. DD goes for 8.5hrs so 46.75 a day.

You need to look at what ASC and Breakfast club charges.. its £2 before school and £5 after school her until 5.30. Obviously ratios a lot higher. Its the TAs employed for longer to run it.

I’m in the northwest and it’s also around £50 a day, but that’s including breakfast, lunch, dinner plus snacks. Wrap around care (breakfast, drop off, pick up, and a proper dinner) is £20, so a hell of a lot less than what your friend is charging for that.

We pay £65 per day (10 hrs) and provide own food in London

wow @PuttingDownRoots thats really cheap compared to around here! I think the going rate is around £7/8 for before school and £15 after school. But obviously that doesn’t include walking to and from school as they stay there