Childminders holidays

[MerryPerry88]

Hi all, grateful for opinions to get a sense of what is 'normal' (if any such thing). Our childminder is having 4 consecutive weeks off in the summer holidays. She's also having Easter week, Oct half term and Christmas. I understand the other holidays, but 4 weeks has been a pain as my husband and I can only take 2 weeks off at a time. This leaves us with no family time, and we also have an older child so would be nice to go away for a week. No family support we can rely on. I've found out that she did the same last summer. I would like to know if this is her usual pattern but she has evaded messages about it....I wanted something in writing to refer to. She's amazing and my DD is so settled, but it's making us consider nurseries for a bit more flexibility. I should say I plan to message again.

Yanbu- this is not standard practice
Yabu- part and parcel of going with a childminder.

Standard UK holidays are around 21 days, plus bank holidays iirc. I know she's self employed and can set her own terms but there's no point to having a childminder if her service is unreliable or she makes your working life harder!
I would be looking for a new childminder tbh, or a nursery.
I used to be a childminder and it only works if you view it as a proper job and are professional and don't behave as if it's some optional little hobby that you can pick up and put down at will.
She ought to have written policies regarding annual leave and these ought to have been discussed with you prior to signing up.
Personally I'd ask her to change her plans and say that you don't have annual leave up cover excessive time off.

@WhatILoved

Unfortunately what I found in my area is that many childminders behaved like a cartel and all banded together to set very similar terms and conditions - they knew demand outstripped supply so that was that. You wouldn't have known they were self employed given the holiday and sick leave terms they insisted on

Also had several childminders refuse to sign up to the tax free childcare account because they "didn't want the HMRC paying them 🤔"

Thankfully things were different when my twins came along

Probably change. I think they should communicate with you upfront around leave as it's a bit pointless having someone look after your child if they're never around. Mine is only open during term time but I knew this upfront

Didn't you ask about her holiday schedule when you were agreeing the terms of your contract with her?
Sounds like she has children in school otherwise why would she be keen to take those particular holidays?

I think you are right to move at this stage. This was why we chose a nursery tbh- we both have jobs that can't easily be covered so we needed reliable childcare.

When I was a childminder I took two weeks at Christmas and two weeks in summer. Plus bank hols and odd days. My contract said upto six weeks. This was unpaid but any holiday the parents took they still paid for their place.

I’d say this is excessive and should have been detailed in your contract.

This is one of the many reasons we moved our son to nusery and we’re sending our daughter to nusery after mat leave. We had to take off anytime the childminder needed including medical appts, and our childminder took term time off, which we couldn’t manage for when our son goes to school next year. Nursery has been worth every penny.

That’s loads of holidays! Her prerogative but I wouldn’t choose her - you can’t use her when you need her.

I’ve had two childminders and they’ve taken at most 2 weeks in summer and 2 at Xmas. But rarely as much as that.

we used nursery until the dc were school age for this reason, but I did check about holidays. The whole point of year round childcare is that we both work and have no family support.

As a childminder I take quite a bit of holiday - two weeks at Christmas, one week at Easter, one week in July and two weeks at the end of summer holiday.

No doubt it is a bit annoying for parents but it is sent out on my marketing document before I ever even meet prospective families, it is in my contract that they sign on onboarding and I send holiday dates out for the year ahead well in advance. You shouldn’t be surprised at the holiday. I would love to take a month off in the summer holidays but I just know it would be too inconvenient for most of my families.

It's the downside of childminders.

Its not an unreasonable amount of leave. Its her business she can do what she wants. For some (school workers) this probably works. But for you it doesn't sound like it does.

We swapped to a nursery when DD was 2.5 for similar reasons. I was using alot of leave on covering childminders holidays. She sold it as only having 4-5 weeks a year. Which may have been true for previous years. But in the nearly 2 years we were there she averaged 8-9 weeks holiday. Plus odd days and long weekends and a week closed due to illness. It was her choice. But also ours to go elsewhere. Part and parcel of childminders i'm afraid.

Nursery has changed our dynamic. Leave is used when we want it, no lunchboxes, more resources and outdoor time (not true for all nurseries). Open 51 weeks a year. Downsides it costs us alot more! We pay for 51 weeks a year.

DD settled quickly with the change. We spoke to her about it and visited with her before. Best decision for us. Look at nurseries and see what you think.

It sounds like she's a term-time only childminder? I only use mine for after-school as my son was in nursery until then, but she doesn't work holidays at all. I've no idea how the parents of the little ones she has in all day manage.

Our nursery only closed one week a year (Christmas). The most I've heard of is three weeks (one at Christmas, Easter and summer).

@Antsinmypantsneedtodance has it spot on....

Its her business she can do what she wants

If that doesn't suit your family then you need to look elsewhere

She can do what she wants^^ if she was clear with the OP from the get go. Not if it turns out her policies didn't specify this amount of leave and not if she's planning on retaining OP as a user of the service. I guess it comes down to whether demand for CM in OP's area outstrips supply.

She is being evasive because she knows this kind of holiday structure doesn't work for most parents. Term time childminders attract term time workers and she doesn't want to limit herself.

I'd change to another CM or a nursery purely for the dishonesty. If she did it last year as well then she knew she was planning to do it this year. To allow a child to settle in knowing she was going to do this would put me right off her.

There are a lot of term time CM's round here because there are a lot of term time workers. If she could easily fill her places I'd bet she'd happily advertise as one - the fact she said it was a one off last year and is being evasive this year suggests there's not a huge demand for term time CM's in the OP's area, hence her being evasive.

This is excessive holidays unless she told you when you signed a contract.

I had a childminder who made it clear that she would take four weeks holiday a year and would give me at least 3 months notice. This was written into the contract. Two weeks at least would in the school holidays which didn't bother me as I work in education. However, I found the lack of sickness cover a big issue as a solo parent so I moved my child to a nursery instead. They have the flexibility that childminders don't.

My sibling and partner knowingly signed a contract with a childminder who goes abroad to visit family during most school holidays. This was despite neither of them working in education therefore they have to rearrange work hours and rely on the kindness of family who they over rely on already.

Usually this is agreed beforehand and, as you’ve discovered very important to check. In my town there are 4 childminders and 3 of them only work 39 weeks a year (term time only) the other does 48 weeks and always has Xmas week as one of those. Getting a space with her for a pre schooler is like gold dust.

Ime most childminders take 4 weeks a year. They generally go out if business if never available for any school holidays as the vast majority of working parents need some school holiday cover, not to mention its a lot of time off not paid.

The childminder I used had other childminders who could cover her other absences in the year. As these were a maximum of 2 a year we just took the time off.

She actually was more flexible than the nursery we also sent DD to from just before she was 3. As we could meet her in the middle of the day to pick up or drop off DD for/after a medical appointment.