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.

We pay £90 per day (08:00-17:00) for our son to be looked after by our childminder.

That’s the going rate round here… and she includes all snacks, meals and milk. We have to provide nappies and wipes etc.

There are some who charge the same but don’t provide any food.

It’s a 15 minute walk to get to her and our son goes three days a week, so roughly £1080 per month for 3 days a week.

There is almost no point in me going to work, I barely bring home anything after childcare costs, hence I have given up two days a week (for now).

It’s so expensive. But if I had millions of pounds, I’d be paying her way more. It’s such an important job and she does it so well.

I was on here a year ago in a compete meltdown trying to find a childminder. At that point I’d have given an arm and a leg just to find the right one.

I would definitely consider quitting my job and becoming a CM myself but I just don’t have the stamina 😂

Is there a reason she has a set charge for wrap around rather than her hourly rate? We had a childminder for several years and then had to use a couple after she retired and they all just charged the hourly rate which was rounded to the nearest

I dropped off at 8AM and she took them to school for 8.40 so I paid for an hour, £5.5. She collected them at 3.15. And I collected by 5. She charged from 3 so I paid 2 hours £11. If I had to work late and collect by 6 she would charge 3 hours.

One of the benefits of a childminder is you tend to pay for what you use. I'm lucky that I don't need wrap around as often so now have to use afterschool clubs and I still begrudge paying the flat rate until 6PM when I can usually get there before 5.

I dont know of any local childminders who charge a flat wraparound rate. Admittedly last time I used a childminder was pre lockdown. My guess would be that locally 6 per hour is probably the going rate now. We are South

Oh and I forgot to add… most of the childminders I visited had contracts stating that we would pay as usual for our regular days whilst they were on holiday (meaning they still got paid during their summer holidays/ Christmas break etc). Ours doesn’t charge during her holidays but many in our area do.

God I need to move up north. 75 a day is the average in my area (bucks).

No she won't there are overheads to cover especially now energy, food and petrol are so expensive. Most will be taking £12 and earning £8 before tax. As the average is not £6 and funding is typically £4 sometimes less.

How do you have more clients if the law tells you how many you can have? How do you earn more money than the funding rate paid by your LA pays ....were audited so can't just add extra on its much stricter for childminders than schools or nurseries. So in reality people are leaving childminding and others once they realise the real earning potential never start.

If you only charge an hourly rate children wanting an hour or less would be turned away in preference to families needing the full 3 hours....you can't go back to school at 4.30 and fill up again. A £4 space is not financially viable especially after giving food.

Wow I'm in London and that would be £20 a day in my area. I thought we were supposed to be more expensive. School club is £3 for mornings including toast but the after school had no demand so shut.

School breakfast clubs etc. Are subsidised they also don't have the overheads as it's absorbed by the school and a high child to staff ratio the aim being to get children in to school on time and having eaten....they often get free cereal etc too.

It's pretty tough to support homework for several children and ensure the need of EYFS children are being met (Ofsted requirement) and cook/serve/clean mess up whilst doing nappies and answering the door.....I don't get 5 minutes between 3.30 and 6.15 to go to the loo

I'm in the north east, my childminder is £52 a day 7:45-5:15.
She provides breakfast, snacks and dinner. Tea is a extra £2

I was sort of assuming if she went the homework route, it might be her main thing - i.e she just did wraparound and school holidays and didn't take EYFS

But mainly trying to get the point across that she needs a selling point for the wraparound

But mainly trying to get the point across that she needs a selling point for the wraparound

Yes the wrap around care as described in the first post isn't going to work for most parents / carers, as it's more expensive than other options and children need to collected by 5.30pm

If OPs friend wants to offer wrap around care then offering later picks ups would be a good idea, as finding care after 6pm is very difficult. Opening until 6.30pm would be a great selling point and would jusify the higher costs.

I think the main reasons people choose a childminder over school wraparound are cost and flexibility/longer hours. Or the child is familiar with the childminder from when they were younger but that doesn't apply yet.

The OP's friend needs to pick something to persuade parents to go for her

The huge advantage for us is having one childcare solution for both children, even with an age gap of nearly five years. Our childminder provided wraparound for DC1 as she was already in school when DC2 started as a baby at 11 months. DC2 is now at school as well and the childminder drops off at both the infants and the juniors, which are on separate sites. Breakfast club and after school club would mean two drop-offs and pick-ups for us.

Perhaps OP's friend could consider a sibling discount to capitalise on this advantage.

It's in line with nursery fees and traditionally childminders are cheaper than nurseries as generally not as reliable (if childminder is sick/has an appointment/ goes on holiday parents have to cover). Pre-schools charge £35 - £40 for a 9-3 day near me so £35 for just a few hours wrap Care is very expensive. My son's school do a breakfast club for £5 and the local nursery which does wrap Care with pick up and drop off charge £15 for full wrap or £10 for just morning or just evening.
Ideally she'd be going for lower prices to build a local rep and increase over time.

Thanks all for the responses. Just to clarify the 5.30 pick up time is also due to the fact that she has 2 children herself who she has to count in the ratios, and 4 days a week when her youngest returns from nursery at 5.30 it would likely put her over the ratio allowance, so it’s easier for her to just say a 5.30 pick up time. If a few needed longer than that she would accommodate them as best as she could. None of the people who have enquired have an issue with the time which is good!

she’s going to put her hourly rate at £5.75, can’t remember what she said about day rate but it was around £50 I think. Wrap around will be £10 for morning and £15 for afternoon, or £20 combined. She also has to think about ratios after school for under 8’s and at the moment would only be able to have 2 wraparound kids I think which is another reason why she’s gone with this pricing.

Thanks all for the feedback it’s been hugely helpful!

I think £6 is a lot personally, I paid £4ph for a childminder and between £4.50 & £5 for an actual nursey. I’m in Yorkshire. Every £ adds up.

Personally I don't offer day rates I hate to see children's faces when they spot their parents sat outside using up every last paid for minute I'd rather if they can they pick up as early as possible and spend time together.

@jannier I'd say that's a parent issue not a billing one surely? We pay 7:30am-6pm for DS at nursery, but don't drop him off until 8:30 and pick him up as early as possible - If I get an early finish I go straight for him, otherwise its 5:30, don't care that we pay all day, I want my sons at home

@Anothertiredmom

Remind your friend to put late payment fees and being kate to pick up fees in her contacts. Bc of she has to leave to pick up her own DCs by 5.30pm, then it will become a problem if she gets those parents that think 5,10,15 mins late doesn't matter (as they just need to pay extra £1.50..) when it works cause breach of her numbers or a massive problem delaying friend from picking her own DCs up. It needs to sting so that they turn up before 5.30pm (I'm sure she'd make an exception for eg if someone was in a one off unavoidable emergency)

Unfortunately most parents don't think like that they won't pick up early ....I'm in my 29th year ..if they go to a GP appointment some still bring them back for the last hour even if it takes the 30 mins driving home and back and child is crying . I've seen it all. Obviously not all of them. But some treat it like a supermarket shop the offer is buy 1 get 1 I'll only use 1 but I'm not leaving it

I charge £35 per day. I don't provide food just snacks and drinks. If your friend is with an agency rather than Ofsted they will take a percentage of her money so maybe that's why she charges more

£35 for wraparound care is outrageously high. I live in the midlands and our wraparound care is £15 a day!

Seems expensive for midlands. I’m in south, not London and I pay approx £5 per hour at nursery or £57 per day 8-6pm. Otherwise school breakfast club is £5 and after school club £12 3.20-6pm.