Full fees if parents holiday,half fees for mine. Does that sound fair

[childminder01ramsgate]

Hi there,
I was just wondering what other childminders charge during the holidays.
At the moment i charge full fees if parents on holiday and nothing for mine. But im thinkng of changing it as last time the parents went on holiday and still left baby with me while garndparents picked him up so never got any holiday. STitched myself up there. I really need a week at christmas which i think is fair and at moment i will get nothing as i know parents will still send them in even though its christmas week. I would keep mine home if it was me so i end up losing out. So wanted gto know does anyone else do full fees for parents and half for there own or full fees for both?

Also wanted to add i only work 4 days a week so would i still be entilted to holiday pay maybe 2 weeks a year not 4 weeks? not sure what other childminders do. It just inoys me as when a particlur parent is on holiday they still get the 100% tax credits to pay me so its no odds to them and then when im away i get nothing for my holiday but they sit at home with there own child and pocket the free money from the gobverment i dont feel this is fair? Has anyone else experianced this. Sorry to go on?

You will get every answer under the sun as everyone does what suits them. I'm term time only and charge full fees to parents for their holiday and none for mine as that is what works for me, but I charge more per hour than other local childminders.

Why don't you take holiday and not charge for it? Just take your week off. Or two if you prefer.

HUH?

They don't get 100% childcare from the Gov - it's 80% at best & they only get that if on a very low income

Lots of childminders charge for their holidays - I don't

Charge more for the weeks you do earn & put some of that money away for holidays

I wouldn't want to pay you if you were not available to work, but am happy to pay if I choose not to send my child in.

If you want to take Christmas week off just give parents plenty of notice that you are not working that week and they can't send their child.

Oh and not all parents get tax credits towards their childcare.

You are self employed. You are not "entitled" to holiday pay, but you can charge it, or whatever you like really, as long as you are upfront about it all to the people who use your service.

If I wanted to find a childminder, I would add up the costs over the course of a year (including paying for alternative childcare when the CM was on holiday), and take that into account when making my decision. You should probably do the same really. And don't rely on your customers not wanting to use your services in order to have a holiday.

My childminder charges full rates for 4 weeks holiday a year, pro-rata (so I only send DS 2 days a week, so I only pay for 8 days holiday. Parents who use her full time pay four full weeks).

I'm happy to pay for that because she ONLY takes those 4 weeks. I prefer that, rather than someone who takes more time off but doesn't charge for it - the reliability is more important IYSWIM.

But I think it totally depends on where you are and what the demand is like. Round our way good childminders are like golddust and can charge what they like - most charge full rate for holidays PLUS full rate for bank holidays. That's the norm, so people pay it. If it's not usually in your neck of the woods, you may struggle.

I know where you're coming from. One year I couldn't afford to take any holiday - just couldn't lose a weeks income. I was looking after children from 2 families and their holidays never overlapped so I didn't get any time off. One of the mum's would regularly have days off from work and send her children to me while she went out shopping/to lunch and it did used to (unreasonably I know) grate a bit.

As others have said you need to set your fees to include taking a few weeks off a year - so you look at your monthly/yearly income and don't see it as a week with no money.

Money aside, we all need a bit of time off every now and then to recharge our batteries.

One of the downsides of being SE is that you don't traditionally get paid holiday so let's just be clear you're not 'entitled' to anything in the same way you would 've as an employee.

You can choose to put in your contract that you'll charge for holidays. It'll fly with some parents but not others.

You can announce well in advance what your holiday dates are and then do nifty calculations so parents pay you monthly 12 times taking your holiday into account.

You can carry on as you are and inform them when you're taking holiday.

Really it's up to you but honestly working 52 weeks of the year isn't healthy!

What do you currently do for Bank Holidays?

Our childminder used to charge half fees for holidays, whether they were hers or ours. I never quite understood why, as I'd budgeted to pay the same monthly fee throughout the year and actually expected to pay full fees. I'd be a pretty ineffective employee if I never took any holidays, and the last person I'd want caring for my child is someone who is exhausted. Charge what you can to allow yourself time off, childminders!

Gah - would be as an employee.

i charge 4 weeks either side at half pay,parents then have to pay in full if child doesnt come after the 4 weeks entitlement...one week is how many sessions the child does a week so if he/she only come for one day a week then the parent can have 4 days hol,has worked well for me as i dont then lose out too much and i normally wait untill they tell me their dates then take the same time off so i dont use my own hol

but having said this from jan 2011 i will be charging full fee's for parent and none for mine as using the same rule this would make more sense financially,most parent EXPECT me to say full fees as nurserys do so why shouldnt we? plus you make the rules thats one of the pro's to being SELF employed!!

Thanks for all your comments just wanted to reply about the 80% help they told me they get the 100% childcrae because of disabilty so they pay nothing themselves. These particluar parents i wont change about holidays now as i feel it wouldnt be fair but i was just thinking about any new mindees what to do and whether i should do it diferrently next time. Maybe i could charge a bit more for the hourly rate to cover my holidays as i work all year round so i would like a holiday at some point as i have a 2yaer old and 7 year old myself who would like days alone with mummy and as you say time to recharge my batteries. Thanks for the advice

find your post a bit difficult to understand. You are running your own business so you set the holiday pay rate and time off and parents can either agree and sign your contract or do the other thing..

first its not any of your concern who picks up the child while parents on holiday,, thats silly.. you havnt 'been done' you should have set the rules in the first place.

I am a cm and have 4 weeks annual leave a year, 2 in the summer and 2 at christmas and all bank holidays.. I dont charge parents for my holiday but fully charge for theirs.

you need to look at your contracts, talk to your parents and decide how and when you eant to work and then get them to either re sign contracts or give notice.

hope dont sound harsh with you but you sound pissed off and I understand that feeling, you need take control of your business and then you can enjoy the job.

good luck

I charge half fees for my hols (normally 4 weeks a year) and full for parents hols. I dont charge for bank hols.

I charge full for parents holidays and none for my own. I make it clear at the start that I take 2 weeks in august and 2 weeks at christmas to coincide with school holidays, I write this into the contract so it is agreed and signed for. I usually give atleast 4 months notice of august dates. I don't understand why you don't just book your holiday time,everyone needs a break paid or not.

Yes i have just booked a week next week unpaid but very tight having not much spending money as i will lose the pay for that week. It would be nice to look forward to taking a holiday and not worry about losing full pay. Thats all im saying. So just wondered what other childminders did. Someone mentioned they charge full for the parents and half for theirs just wondered if this was common or not. In any other job most get holiday pay and i feel the hard job i do i am entilited to one paid. But will proberly still not charge for mine. As work is quiet so dont want to put off potenial parents if any come along.

You may want to speak to other local childminders and see what they do. When parents are looking they will look at a large variety of factors and you wanting paid (or partly paid) holidays will be something they need to factor in so look at your competitiveness.

Don't quite follow the peevedness about parental holidays but with grandparents looking after the kids. I don't think you can realistically say that if the PARENTS are on holiday then the kids can't come but you want paying. Fair enough to say if they don't want to use the space then they have to still pay for it but otherwise agree with those who said its not your concern who is looking after the child outside of your care.

Axis, I don't think she was exactly peeved. I think she was just meaning that she'd factored in some parental holiday in her calculations and had been assuming she'd be getting some breaks. Now that's not going to happen, so she needs to rethink.

OP I think you both need and deserve a holiday, but whether you can charge for it or not probably depends on local factors and how accommodating your parents are.

If you feel it would make you uncompetitive, what about putting aside a fiver a week in a savings account and then using that as "pay" for the week you are off?

But if these particular parents are getting all their childcare paid for by tax credits then maybe it's no odds to them whether you charge or not? Just a thought - it might be worth having a quick chat and seeing whether it would make a difference to them? They might be happy for you to renegotiate?

i'm self employed too, haven't had a proper complete day off in 4 years. 3 laptops usually come on holiday!

it's the way it is, there are so many benefits/advantages to being SE. you are master of your own destiny, sort out your holiday dates and don't begrudge those paying you for your service their time off.

personally as a parent i would prefer you charged full for my hols and zero for yours. after all if you are away i am going to have to find and pay someone else. but i would also need those dates well in advance so i can tie in my holidays/childcare arrangements with the dates you're not available.

but i don't get tax credits. theyoungvisiter makes a good point.

Yes thankyou theyoungvister that was what i meant i had factored in the parents holiday in my calulations when i did the contract and assumed that they would take there child with them and i would get my break holiday that way. Ive never had a holiday alone with out my two children, but i do relize everyones different. (So no that is not a dig at any parents who go on holiday without their children.)

childminder01ramsgate - you are not employed by these people. Instead you are providing a service and there is a big difference. Think of it this way, if you get your hair cut each month at a particular hairdresser's but one month you don't go in, should the owner ask you for the money he didn't earn from you for that month?
The trick is to work out how much you need/ can earn each year add tax and expenses and divide the total by the number of weeks or hours you are willing to work. then check that you can get away with charging that much and if you can, then do it.

i thought the norm was for CMs to either charge 1/2 for their own hols and half for the parents hols

OR

to charge full for parents hols and nothing for their own.

At the end of the year it works out the same (assuming you both take the same amount of holiday). But, I as a parent prefer to pay all of mine and noe of yours because then I don't feel like I'm being made to pay for a service I am not receiveing.

"In any other job most get holiday pay and i feel the hard job i do i am entilited to one paid."

No, not in any other job. Only for employees. The problem is you do sound very bitter. But, actually, you have no such entitlement.