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.

Midlands rural village.

I pay £80 a week for 3 days of before and after school. So around £26 per day for wrap around. I pay £48 per day for a full 8-6 day during the school holidays.

Last year I lived in a Midlands city and paid £40 a day for before and after school club at school. It was nowhere near as good as my childminder.

We pay 4.75 an hour and lunch/snacks is included. We do pay an additional charge for breakfast and dinner. Think it works out at around £42 a day for 8.5 hours with breakfast lunch dinner and snacks.

I choked at £35 for wrap around!!! We pay £12 3.30-6pm at after school club, I think the morning is £8. She needs to find out how much any school based childcare is charging as that is her competition.

More importantly - she should listen to her parents. If they say it's to expensive, then it's too expensive!
No-one likes the idea of being ripped off.

I pay £6 for before school (can drop off from 7.30; breakfast provided) and £16 for after school (dinner provided but it’s more like a snack for my hungry kids, as they still need feeding when they get home). I thought that was quite a lot but it looks like it’s actually quite reasonable.

£35 is way too high.

That includes

• breakfast
• school drop off
• school pick up
• a proper dinner (school wrap around was snack only)

She’s highly qualified, really nurturing, used to be a Nanny, and has a really long wait list. I had to get on it before we even moved here to secure a place.

Day rate seems fine/ nurseries near me are now £80 a day so I’d see what the local nurseries are charging and try and try to undercut but 5.30 is too early a pick up as others have said.

wrap-around around is likely too high to be competitive. Mine is £14 for 3-6 with snacks. But given she’s a qualified teacher, I think she could use that as a benefit and charge more - (like the £20 she initially suggested). I’d love someone who could do reading, help with homework etc. a lot of wrap around care is really cheap and probably a bit rubbish. She might also find that not everyone will want both morning and afternoon. I need afternoon but don’t need mornings for example and I know plenty of people who are the opposite. I’d definitely charge separately.

She’ll struggle if her prices are the same as a nursery. At a nursery you have the back up that if the keyworker is ill there are other staff.

Tbh what the agency is suggesting shouldn’t be her go to. Other CM’s and what people are willing to pay is what’s important.

If she’s in an area with a lack of CM’s and has had a lot of feedback that she’s too expensive then she’s too expensive for her area. Sadly childcare isn’t a well paid role.

I’m in Yorkshire. I pay £4.50 per hour and that includes all snacks/meals/activities/days out etc

Local childminder here charges an eye watering £8/hour - it's an expensive area but nursery is £70 for a 10 hour day. This thread confirms she's overpriced herself.

£4 per hour regardless of if it’s a whole day or wraparound. Always rounded up to the nearest hour.

I pay £4 before school, £8 after, so £12 daily for wraparound. She could charge double and I wouldn’t complain. She’s the only childminder for miles. I’ve very lucky to have a place as some parents have had to change schools to find a childminder.

£10/hour for after school in London.

I can’t believe how cheap it is elsewhere!

That's roughly what mine charges in London.
The £56 per day seems not too bad (though still a lot more than any of my friends in the Midlands pay) but £35 for wraparound care is extortionate! That's £10 per hour. Our before and after school club is £14.50 per day for the same amount of time, and our CM charges her normal rate (£6 per hour). I can't see anyone paying £35.

Yes that'd expensive. I'm in the midlands, going rate is £40-45 here (including food). She doesn't have to provide drop off a collection from schools. £10 for am drop off and £15 for pm collection reflects the midlands.

Our after school club is 4.50 and pick up by 6pm so even £15 would seem really expensive.

Hi OP, I'm down in Somerset, middle of nowhere.

My 2 yo does 3 afternoons in nursery for £4/hr, and 2 with his childminder for £6/hr.

I feel massively lucky to have her, she is oversubscribed! She has no more than 3 children at one time, she is 100% reliable and my DS adores her, much prefers afternoons with her over his (Ofsted excellent!) nursery setting.

She is very experienced and massively responsive to the children and takes them out and about to parks and playgrounds and the library etc. For the fun he has with her and the quality of the time with her, what we pay is a huge bargain.

I think my advice to your friend would be to start off with the prices that parents are happy to pay and then once she's proven herself, has word of mouth on her side etc, she can nudge things upwards. Honestly I'd pay £10/hour for mine if she asked for it! It's the highlight of my little one's week <3

SW London so expected to be on the higher side - breakfast club from 7:30am is £8.50 plus after school club til 6pm £21. So under £30 per day. £35 ‘only’ until 5:30pm seems a little higher than I’d expect

I pay 12.50 for after school
3.20-6 that included a meal

I'm rural East Mids and that's very expensive for here.

Childminders are around £5p/h inc food. Nursery is £55-60 per day for context.

The school wraparound at my nearest is £14.60 inc breakfast and after school snack to 5.30pm (it is 3 separate sessions charged individually 7.30-9 (£6.20), 3.30-4.30, 4.30-5.30 £4.20 each).
Childminders cost including pick up and drop off is £20ish depending on the school.

We pay £42 a day - that’s 7.30am till 5pm, it includes breakfast, lunch and snacks - it’s all home cooked lovely food too. Also includes trips out eg to playgroups, or she’s previously taken DD to China town for lunch at Chinese New Year, to the aquarium, soft play and the farm.

Our childminder is also a qualified teacher.

We sent nappies when we still used them, but didn’t need to sent wipes or anything like that. She also provides wellies, puddle suits etc for them to use whilst there although I think they’re just the ones her own kids have grown out of!

We’re North West, fairly leafy suburb and I’d say she’s about the top end of the going rate round here.

Like everything else prices have gone up but that would be nursery prices imo. I'm a CM in NI & charge £40 per day, £20 after school. Parents send lunch, I provide snack

It really depends on the area. Im in Manchester & I currently charge £45per day but it's not sustainable. Any new starters will be £50 per day. For that I provide all food and outings. I also don't charge for my own holidays or if I'm sick
Nurseries around here charge £70 per day which I couldn't believe when I found out.
I don't want to put my prices but I have to. We use the heating & electricity when we are home, I use my car and have to put fuel in it. All of these cost increases are forcing me to price a bit higher unfortunately

That wrap around is extortionate! I dont think her day rate is unusual although I paid 50 from 8 til 6 in london but that included all meals.

Would be expensive here but it's all relative to the area you're in! We pay £50 a day for nursery, 0800-1800, with option to pay extra for 0730-1830. All meals and snacks are included, as are trips out, forest school, yoga, music classes etc. Childminders here are around £40-45 a day.

If nurseries locally are charging £70 then it sounds ok.

£60 for a full day (9-5.15) for a baby aged 1.5
she picks up my son aged 5 from school at 3pm until 5.15pm. Gives dinner and I pay an extra £12.50 per day for that. £50 for holidays for the school age child. I find it very reasonable, we pay for bank holidays and she goes away 2 weeks a year. Based near London.