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.

ASC/Breakfast Club is often tantamount to a holding pen. The OP's friend sounds as though she would offer a high quality experience. If she's in an area where enough people can afford this then she should do well.

At afterschool club, my kids were doing their homework (and the TAs were there to help them if needed), reading, an organised sports activity if they wanted to (football or badminton were on offer, I think) and had free access to the school playground and a range of craft activities. It was pretty good for 2.5h, not sure what a childminder would offer extra as a high quality experience. Mostly they just enjoyed playing with their mates.

There’s nothing to say the OP’s friend will offer a high quality experience. She’s new. No-one knows what she’ll be likely.

She may, as a qualified teacher, offer something high quality, but it’s not guaranteed.

She’s already been turned down in an area with not many childminders for being too expensive. She won’t do well if she doesn’t take local offerings and costs into account. People are struggling. They’re not going to pay a whack more for an unknown entity than other established local options.

She needs to see what others are charging locally.

Look carefully at the day rate. It looks like she's basing that on people wanting a 10 hour day, but the reality may be that people only want an 8 hour day - in which case the day rate is more than they'd pay per hour. They might well find someone with a lower day rate.

Not sure if I've got this right but is she with an agency? Is this normal/necessary as surely the agency takes a cut and is therefore pushing her prices up. All CMs here run their own shows and so there's no one else taking a cut.

If she's lost 3 potential clients then she needs to have a rethink

The day rate is higher than normal for my area, and more in line with the bottom of nursery prices, but the wraparound is very expensive and doesn't really have the evening pick up at an hour convenient for a lot of parents who don't work round the corner.

People are struggling with the cost of living and wage freezes so your friend is expecting a lot of money for an area they're new to.

It could be more of a homework club type focus given she is a teacher

Yourfriend is going to be combining care for preschool age children/babies and school age children. She's a new childminder and therefore I doubt is particularly experienced in caring for a potentially quite large age range at the same time.

It's a real juggling act and I doubt there's going to be much scope to sit down and help with homework.

The parents of the younger children who pay the most for all day care might not be too happy if no one supervises their toddler because homework is being done.

It works in a school setting because there's multiple staff. The realities of being a childminder might come as a bit of a shock here.

I pay £40 a day. Snacks included however I send breakfast and lunch. I pay £1.50 a day for her to give tea. I do have to provide wipes/nappies etc but I’d be using that stuff anyway if I was at home!

When I was a nanny I used to charge £9 per hour but this was around 10 years ago and I nannied for two different families who both had 2 children each so it worked out around £4.50 per child, I looked after them in there homes, and they provided all the food while looking after them, they also paid extra when I took the children out for days out/soft play they covered the Costs of the activities

one of the families I did charge somewhat less though as she was a single mom studying to become a nurse who had no other help from any families and I had been looking after her boys from when I was 16 and it was a baby sitting job after school (the boys was 2 and 4) I only stopped looking after them when they were old enough to look after themselves

That is a lot for wraparound care. We pay our amazing and very experienced cm £4 an hour, so £12 a day (7:30 - school, then after school until I pick up at 5:30). Snacks provided, and if the dc are going on to something else or I have a late evening etc she’ll do them some supper too.

We are very lucky and also she should charge more (I try to make it up with very generous Christmas gifts!) but even the most expensive cm here only charge £5 an hour.

Our childminder recently increased from £4.50 ph to £5 ph, inc snacks but no lunch. Our preschool is £6.50 ph which includes snacks and lunch. So i would say £6ph snacks no lunch is on the h

I pressed too soon, sorry. £6ph seems on the high end.

The main problems seems to be wrap around care. Our school charges £3 for breakfast club, £3.50 for a 4.30 pick up and £7 for 5.30 pick up. So all in £10.50. Many school now have WAC so she will be competing against that too.

I can’t speak to the all day but the wraparound seems alot - in total, not the hourly rate which seems fine. I pay £6.50 an hour for two hours after school, so it’s £13. Was £6.50 again for before school when she did this - so still under £20 in total.

When I used a childminder 3/4 years ago I paid £40 a day 8am until up to 6pm. all food was included I only supplied nappies, wipes etc. Based in a large city in Scotland.

Hey,
I would say that's quite high. I pay £4.25 an hour for my son's childminder and she is Ofsted rated 'Outstanding'. (We live on the south coast) Most childminders that I've seen seem to charge between £4-5 an hour. I know that not a huge amount less but it sure adds up if you're doing whole days.
Hope this helps.

I pay £4.50 an hour, includes meals, snacks and playgroup admissions which is usually twice a week

I pay £40 for 0830-1630 with snacks, lunch and activities (soft play, farm etc) included. I think anything over £45 is expensive but was paying just over £54 per day by time by DD finished nursery 5 years ago.

Previously paid £20 per day for wrap around (1hr before school, 3hrs after) with a CM.
Our after school club is £18 per day for breakfast and after school (7.30-9, 3.15-6) and is one of the more expensive ones in the area! Also includes a breakfast and a hot snack

The wrap around is pricey!

DD left primary school 6 months ago. Wrap around care was £14 breakfast and after
School clubs combined, although it was in school premises.

@tattygrl my old next door neighbour was a childminder. She just used go take the preschoolers to school with her. It's only a 5 minute walk mind.

It took me ages to realise she was a CM. I initially thought she had loads of kids!

We pay £6 an hour with breakfast, lunch and snacks included. My CM was new to childminding when she took my DD but is absolutely fabulous and really puts her all into it! She's on the cheaper side for Bristol too (where we live). If she asked for £7 an hour I wouldn't hesitate to say yes.

I pay £46 per day for my dog and I have to provide lunch so I those prices seem reasonable for a small person.

North west £40/day inc food but not nappies/wipes

£35 for wrap around! My nieces nursery is £42 8-6 breakfast, lunch and high tea. Formula, milk and wipes included.