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.

£35 for wraparound is ridiculous. We pay £5 for breakfast (7.30-8.45) and £15 for asc (3.15-6) including a small meal. It’s run by a company on school grounds. We’re in the SE and in our town, our school has the most expensive wraparound. Another school close by is £4.50 for breakfast and £9.50 for after school.

Most of the parents I knew wouldn’t be able to collect by 5.30pm
pick up was 6..30pm at the earliest and usually around 7pm or 7.30 at the latest

I used to pay £4.50 an hour but my childminder was cheapest around.

£35 for wraparound seems a lot if it's only about 3 hours?

Im in London zone 3. Pay £55 from 9.15 -5.30 (though DD could go from 8.15). Food is provided, otherwise I think it’s £6.50 per hour.

Wrap round fee is ridiculous. London prices in the South are cheaper.

It’s a depressing fact that people pay their dog walkers more than they pay the person they trust to look after their children. The whole system needs a huge rethink.

But they will usually be getting that amount from 3 different sets of parents, plus potentially another 3 for the wraparound care. So she will be earning £18 per hour during school hours, and up to £36 per hour for the before and after school time.

Very poor behaviour to use this assumption to justify paying an adult so far below minimum wage. It’s often the case that childminders end up with only one child during the day, especially when an increasing number of parents use the ‘competition’ instead (breakfast clubs, after school clubs).

I don’t blame parents for wanting to pay as little as possible but I’m always amazed how paying so little per hour isn’t flagged up as being completely immoral. Sadly I don’t have any answers though. And I realise my view is not a popular one.

5.30 seems really early to finish. I used to finish work at 5pm and lucky to get to the cm by 5.50.

School breakfast club is £3.25 from 7.45am.
After School club is £10 until 6pm.
After school club in the holidays is £35 per day with own packed lunch.

But there isn't a minimum wage if you are self employed. It's up to the childminder to set her fees and the parents can decide whether to pay it or not. She's welcome to charge £11/hour but she won't have many people using her.

We run wraparound care in the Midlands and charge 5.20 for 7.30am drop off and 12.60 for 6pm pick up, so I'd say £25 for your friends service is pretty good. We offer a toast and fruit snack, craft activites and lots of toys and board games but wouldn't be able to help with homework. Although we certainly aren't a holding pen 🙄

Breakfast club 7:30 - 8:50am costs £4 where I am in the Midlands. After school club 3:15 - 5:30pm costs £4 and includes light tea

We pay £70 9-5 nursery in the South West excluding food/nappies/sunscreen etc… I’d pay that for a good childminder with a teaching qualification!

£35 for that before and after school wraparound of 3-3.5hrs is not too far off what many nannies would charge (I am in the SE) and they come to your house and only care for your own children. So yes, that's much too high for a CM who expects people to drop to/ pick up from her and also be caring for other children at the same time.

Up until August this year I paid £73 a day for DC's nursery (baby room would have been £83). I now pay £20 a session for after school care with a wonderful childminder which includes tea.
Most childminders round my way won't take school aged kids (only 2 CMs offer pick ups from our 2 form entry primary school) so those that do are able to charge a premium.

Childcare in this country needs such a massive overhaul.

Can't comment on wrap around but I paid a bit more than that per day for our amazing childminder- this was just outside london

Lol. It's not an hourly pay rate like an employee. She's charging for a service: each child is effectively one of her "clients" and she'll have several of simtaneously if her business is viable, that's the whole point of what childminders do. Would you expect each family to pay her as though she were exclusively their employee during the hours she works with them, while she's also doing work for other people at the same time?!

Obviously nannies who look after the children of one family exclusively are paid far more because that hourly rate is their entire income.

We pay £5 an hour, no snacks

older kids go to school wrap around care which is £3.75 for am and £6 for pm so I think that side of things is a lot!

I paid £6 per hour from 7:30am to 6:30pm. The fee included all food and entry to places if they went on a day/afternoon out.

My childminder was my rock from the time my DS was 15 months right up until high school. She was so good that I didn't send DS to nursery or pre-school. He followed the EYFS framework with her and he thrived.

When DS started school, I continued with his childminder for wraparound care. It was more expensive than the breakfast/after school club but worth every penny.

I Pay £8ph. £80 8-6.

We pay £6 per hour for wraparound care, so I usually pay £18 as she has DD10 for an hour before school and two afterwards. This includes snacks (and breakfast if we’ve been disorganised in the morning) and the childminder is amazing. I think £35 is very steep. We’re in the South West.

Seems expensive to me! But then our nursery in the Midlands is only £4.25 an hour including food.

"But they will usually be getting that amount from 3 different sets of parents, plus potentially another 3 for the wraparound care. So she will be earning £18 per hour during school hours, and up to £36 per hour for the before and after school time."

No, it doesn't work like that. A childminder doesn't have every single hour filled for every single place 52 weeks of the year. It's a notoriously feast or famine profession.

You also make the common mistake of assuming the hourly rate is the childminder's wage. Included in the fee is everything the childminder needs to run his or her business, registration fees, training fees, equipment, books, running costs, food, travel expenses...

If it's so easy, so lucrative, why are so many childminders resigning, saying they can make a better living on the checkouts or as dog-walkers or cleaners? Why don't these parents who complain that the fees are ridiculous try running their own childminding businesses? There so few of us left now that you should be able to fill your places in no time at all... shouldn't you?

No, it doesn't work like that. A childminder doesn't have every single hour filled for every single place 52 weeks of the year. It's a notoriously feast or famine profession.

That's the nature of self-employment.

You also make the common mistake of assuming the hourly rate is the childminder's wage.

No. The point I was making was the exact opposite. They are not an employee. It is a business. They need a business plan and to ensure they have enough clients to make it viable at a price point that clients will pay for the level of service in comparison to other options, like any other business.

If it's so easy, so lucrative, why are so many childminders resigning, saying they can make a better living on the checkouts or as dog-walkers or cleaners?

I've no idea, I've never used a childminder.

Why don't these parents who complain that the fees are ridiculous try running their own childminding businesses?

You'd have to ask them not me. See above.

Totally depends on area. I think the day rate seems reasonable but the wrap around sounds too high. I live in an area that is expensive for childcare and pay £15 for after school club (until 6, inc snack) and £7.50 for breakfast club (inc breakfast).

I’m south london/surrey borders and paid £6.50/hr for all day care and £7.50/hr for wrap around. Basic snacks included.