Childminder and holidays

[FandyRenoli]

Name changed for this as don't want me or childminder to be identifiable. It's long so buckle in!

LO is 1 year old (just) and started with the childminder in September. I'm a single parent, no wider family childcare support. The childminder is new to childminding but does have extensive experience in the childcare industry and excellent qualifications and references. She is married with primary school aged children. LO started with her the week she opened. Childcare is in extremely short supply in our area and I was very happy to find someone so good.

I should start by saying that the childminder (CM) is lovely and the care she provides for LO is amazing. On that front I'd recommend her to anyone.

When we went to look around she said most of the bookings she had were wrap around school care so for most of the day it's LO and one other. At that point I checked that she isn't term-time only as this just wouldn't work for me. She assured me she wasn't and said she would close between Christmas and New year, had two weeks holiday booked in the summer, and might take "the odd day here and there" for a long weekend away or similar, but would give plenty of notice plus bank holidays. All good.

At Christmas she was actually closed from 20th December to 6th January (so not just between Christmas and New year) but we managed.

At Christmas she also sent out a list of the dates she would be closed in 2025. This came to 40 days plus 8 days bank holidays. I really wasn't expecting anywhere near this many- it's nearly double my annual leave allowance and there is absolutely no way I will be given that number of extra unpaid days even if I could afford them (which I can't).

The pattern is also very focused on school holidays. She will be closed either the entire half term or the majority of it for all three half terms - February, May and October - plus a week at Easter, a couple of weeks in the summer and all of the Christmas school holidays.

I will absolutely not get annual leave now for February as this was booked up by other staff months ago, and May and October are key times in my industry where annual leave is only approved in emergencies - one of the reasons I checked CM wasn't term time only.

I messaged CM (politely) about this pointing out I'd checked she wasn't term-time only and that I just couldn't get this amount or pattern of time off.

She replied that she isn't term time only (though by my calculations she's shut for 70% of the school holidays), that she's entitled to annual leave (I agree) and that this is the usual amount of time off for a year round childminder (I'm not sure about that one).

So am I being unreasonable to be surprised/taken aback by this amount pattern of leave, and by the limited notice for leave in February?

What are other people's experiences of this?

Would I be unreasonable to expect some level of compromise from her to resolve this?

Technically she isn't term time only but she might as well be !

Ring around all the nurseries you never know you may just find one that has a space. Definitely get added to the waiting lists.
6 weeks notice is pretty shocking really. Good luck.

Did you sign a contract with the CM? I feel as this kind of detail should be in a contract

I hope she doesn’t expect to be paid for all this time off as a lot do and some don’t.

The only way round it is to take unpaid leave explain circumstances, or go sick and don’t explain circumstances. Surely after 15 years your employer will be flexible? Sickness is a dishonest option but may be your only option at such short notice

she has primary aged children so it’s very logical that she will take her holiday in school breaks, you should have been able to foresee that. It means any holidays away you want to take will be tied to school terms which mamas very expensive too.

40 days is a lot, most places have 25-30. Might she have or create an arrangement with another childminder for holiday cover?

I assume you aren’t paying for cm when she’s on holiday?

good childcare is hard to find so you might want to get a babysitter for the extra time.

I’m an Ofsted registered Childminder - my advice would be to refer to your contract. I personally take 5 weeks holiday one of which I close between Xmas and new year - this year I tagged on one day after that - I don’t usually work bank holidays so would normally take those off but will work them if needed but I charged an enhanced rate for those (no one has taken me up on them as yet). An employer cannot refuse care for emergency leave for dependents but in any case there may be an option to have a nanny for emergency care and see if any Childminder has any availability for the dates you’ve been given for the year by the Childminder. In the meantime I would look at getting your little one’s name on a waiting list and hopefully you’ll get lucky!

It isn't 'emergency care' though. That would be a one off cm sickness. She can't just take emergency leave any time there's a school holiday. The childcare arrangement isn't sustainable for OP so she needs to find one of the many childcare facilities that is. Her cm is within her rights to have this much holiday but she may well find that most parents are in the same position as OP and choose to give their money to somebody else.

It would be classed as emergency if she had no back up and it’s an interruption in care. Whether it be paid or unpaid

Yes if it was sprung on her with only a couple of days notice but no employer in their right mind is going to tolerate her suddenly announcing before every single school holiday that she has to stay off because she has no childcare and even if they did the cost of taking unpaid leave would be way more than the cost of childcare. It isn't an option and isn't relevent so I really don't know why people are saying it in a way that almost defends the cm.

It sounds like she's not term time only but has decided to take her holidays inline with her children's school holidays so she can spend time with her family. You should have a contract with her. What was agreed for holiday notice. It is usual to have a minimum of 4 weeks notice on both sides for any holidays so if she hasn't given you the correct agreed notice for Feb holiday speak to her about it. She's self employed so can take as much or as little holiday as she choses & while I agree it's not ideal for you, her taking 40+ days, it's common for employed people to get 5 weeks holiday entitlement so she's not really taking any more than most people who work full time. You can't expect her to take her holidays around you so I'd either try & arrange alternative childcare when she's not available or move your child to a more suitable provider.

@Goodtogossip employed people get 5 weeks holiday entitlement so she's not really taking any more than most people who work full time

She is taking nearly double what employed people get. 5 weeks = 25 days and she's taking 48 days.

Have you tried the Bubble app?

Honestly exact same experience I've had with every childminder. Even ones who were term time were off sick or visiting relatives too, so it amounts to quite a lot of time off. It's such a massive risk compared to nursery where you might have better coverage, but you need to make sure you have a good one.

I have no idea how people think we are meant to make this work!

Bank holidays often aren’t included in the holiday entitlement, so it’s 33 days.

It's 5.6 weeks

the 28 days holiday entitlement many people get includes bank holidays. There is no legal entitlement to bank holidays.

Could your partner take leave or any other family members? I’d go for a nursery place as you may well have to cover days she’s sick on top of the holiday leave.
Obviously you’ll also need cover when your child starts school.

I had an almost identical situation with my CM, my LO joined when she opened her business. She also took this level of holidays and we also had an issue with working hours continually being changed/reduced ie pick up 6pm went to 5.30pm to 5pm as she tried to find the balance between her own family and the business - overall making it really difficult.

I would explore a solution using both a nursery and the childminder, often nurseries have more space during school holidays with people taking their child out for holidays/family time so this could work well for you when CM is not available ie even if child could do 1 or 2 days at nursery, rest with CM and then you could explore whether nursery can give you extra days during school holidays. You will find the CM far more flexible in taking your shield when they are under the weather whereas nurseries tend to be on the phone asking you to collect every time child has a runny nappy or a sniffle.

Our contract with CM stated you could get a refund on your fees if you had to find paid childcare during her holidays - worth checking your contract here so you are not double paying.

unfortunately there’s no rules/regulation here, its up to the CM on how they run their business and the motivation for setting up the business might be to have more time during school holidays with her own children.