I'm paying my childminder less than NEF

[TheLemur]

I have a great childminder, DS goes to her 2 days a week and has been with her since he was about 6 months old. He also does 3 days at a nursery

He's turning 3 so is about to get the NEF funding, and I think the government pay something like £3.80/hour to the setting for this. My CM charges £3.50/hour and my nursery is £3.80/hour, so it makes financial sense for us to claim all the hours at the more expensive nursery.

However I can't help thinking that CM is getting less than the governments recommended amount, and the fact that she hasn't raised her fees since we've been with her even though the cost of living has gone up means that she's missing out on getting the NEF funding for my son.

Basically she is great and I feel mean that I'm not paying her enough. DH doesn't want to take any funding through her as it just doesn't make financial sense for us (and we are not exactly rolling in it - DH is about to go back and study as his freelance work has dried up)

I'm not sure if there's anything I could or should do (I'm thinking of giving her a cash bonus if I can afford to as it will be out of my pocket not DH's) but it just feels very unfair on CM. I feel like I'm paying her less than the minimum recommended wage if you see what I mean.

(I live in East Mids btw)

I'm guessing she either has or has option of looking after other kids as well as yours.

My last CM who we finished with a few weeks ago charged £3.25, the one we were using last year charged £3. New one charges £3.50 which is top end of the range of rates in this area. Also in East Midlands.

However she looks after 6 kids, so is earning £21 an hour. Far more than I earn.

Not entirely sure on this but I don't think all cm's can claim the nef funding - something about needing to be an accredited cm or belonging to a cm network. I'm sure someone will be along to clarify this.

As stripey says, cm's can look after more than 1 child, so it will take them above that level.

I'm sure your cm would be over the moon with a bonus and it would make her feel very much appreciated (which it sounds like she is )

Thanks so much skss, those rates make me feel a lot better!!

Yes she does look after 1 other child (she can only have 2 as she has a baby herself) but I think he started off on more than £3.50/hour as he's been going for a shorter while than DS. I just don't want CM to miss out by being too nice/non-business minded if you see what I mean! I value her so much she is great.

nbee is right - not all CMs can claim funding as they need to be accredited/part of a network and some CMs actively choose not to do that.

A cash bonus is a lovely idea and I'm sure she'd be thrilled.

She is accredited and can claim the funding. This is part of the issue - she asked me ages ago if I would claim the funding via her (which I verbally agreed) but then nursery put their fees up meaning it now makes financial sense for us to take funding through them. So basically I have gone back on my word

I'll see if I can manage a bonus... I think I've figured out she'll be loosing approx £200 over the next year by me not taking the funding via her so what do you think would be appropiate? Maybe £30/term or something? (which doesn't sound very much does it!? Maybe I'll do a lump sum of £90ish?)

That changes things a quite a bit - that you verbally agreed to claim the funding for her. This may well be why she hasn't put her charges up for you - especially if the other child is being charged more than yours. If you don't claim the funding for her be prepared that she may increase her fees to £3.80 an hour.

Maybe tell her why it makes sense for you to claim the funding elsewhere, then she has choice to put her prices up if she chooses to?!

Otherwise I'd say £50/£100 bonus - just as better to do round sum?

And as he goes to her 2 days a week and the nursery 3, you will still be better to have the funding for the nursery. In fact, I would sit down and chat to her about it and maybe even offer to pay her £3.80ph. It would save bad feeling because, as you say, she will be aprox £200 down because of this.

Thanks all. Yes sorry I should have mentioned that I verbally agreed to take the funding with her as she would benefit from it.

The other child is on a higher fee as he started 2 years later than my DS. She said that she will never put the price up for existing parents.

I have told her why we are going to be claiming via nursery and she understands that it's better financially for us but I could tell she was disappointed.

nbee84 as you say it's certainly simpler for us to take all the funding from nursery as it's more straightforward if we don't have to split over 2 providers

I would be quite prepared even happy for her to put her fees up but I don't think she will as she's too nice. I don't want the nice person to lose out though! I don't feel like I can force her to put up her fees or start paying her a different rate - hence the bonus idea. I think £100 cash will be a good gesture won't it as it's like we'll be splitting the £200 she would have lost. But DH says I'm crazy and this is business, argh!

i only have one child who i can claim the neg vouchers from september as the other children i have are too young. the child will go to pre-school 5 days but i have asked if parents can claim neg vouchers from me as i will still stay in the loop as it is and get offered training etc through them also neg vouchers offer bonus cash this yr to help with being felxable for the parents

i have checked with my LA (Greenwich) and the booklet they send out says:

Is it possible to use the 15 hours at more than one early learning and childcare provider?
Yes, up to a maximum of 15 hours and at a maximum of two providers.

How do I claim the free early learning and childcare?
If your child is eligible, your early learning and childcare provider will claim
the funding for the free hours on your child?s behalf. These sessions are free
at the point of delivery, which means that parents must not be charged in advance for these sessions.

Is this the case with all LA's?

dmo that is interesting. Do you mind me asking how much the cash bonus is? Maybe this is part of the reason why my childminder is disappointed

EmMum06 yes I think it's all LA's

I'd be interested in hearing about this cash bonus too.

We use all DS2's funding with the nursery not the CM, but this was not do do with the rates but because my CM had so much hassle claiming for DS1 that I was hoping to save her the hassle with DS2. I got the impression that the funding was fairly easy for nurseries that claim for many children but quite a lot of paperwork for a CM with few children to claim for. Maybe this depends where you are?

I'd feel guilty if it came out that this was hurting her financially by trying to save her hassle.

TheLemur: If it is for the childcare provider to claim then why does she not claim for the 2 1/2 hours each day for the 2 days your DS is with her and then the nursery can claim for the 2 1/2 hours for each day your DS is with them. Each childcare provider can only claim 2 1/2 hours a day is my understanding. am i making sense?

£1000 per yr paid in 3 parts (each term) so £300+ per term

Oh my goodness dmo that is loads!!! Wow, I will have to think about splitting it across providers then (or will they have to split the bonus?)

EmMum06: There is not a minimum of 2 1/2 hours per day, it can be as many hours a day as you like to a total of 15 but it must be split over 3 days. As nursery charges more than the childminder we will be better off if we have more of the free hours with them. And as DS goes 3 days a week it's fine to claim ALL the hours with them if we want. Plus it's our decision who we claim it with, it's not up to the nursery or childminder.

Ah I just phoned my CM, she got the bonus when she first got accredited/started offering funding so she won't be getting it again

You are a lovely parent to be considering your CM in this way. I don't think i've ever had a parent concerned they are paying me too little!
EmMum06: a maximum of 15 hours p/w can be claimed per child up to a max of 570 hours p/a, not per provider
I am accredited (you have to be on a Network & accredited to claim) and the only 'bonus' I have come accross was a one off payment of £250 in return for completing a survey which was paid to help us implement the new flexible entitlement (eg to cover time needed to write new policies)
Stripey - whilst our gross may be higher eg I charge £4.00 an hour average so potentially £12 p/h (we are not normally allowed more than 3 early years chn)our net (before Tax & NI) is much less as we have high overheads. Out of that £4 p/h I pay heat/light, food, wipes, stationery, petrol, entry fees for toddlers and outings, insurance, training costs, annual registration fees, replacing or adding resources and equipment etc etc etc. The average net profit ie actual income for FT childminders is £7000 per year (acc to NCMA). Last year i worked an average 35 hour week plus about 15 hours p/w paperwork, training, meetings etc and my profit was about £6k.
I lose out by offering EYE funding as it is less than my hourly rate but do it to provide continuity of care.
I think some kind of gesture would be greatly appreciated by your CM. It needn't be anything grand. we just like to know we are loved lol.