Childminder fees query

[HJ]

Hi, I need some advice please......currently I use a childminder and our contract states the 2 hours in the morning before school and the 2 hours after school.....no mention of half term, xmas holidays etc. However when its half term or summer etc my childminder charges me for the full day regardless of whether my dd is with her or not....not just the 4 hours in the contract.

When I queried this I was told I would need a term time contract which would cost me more....I currently pay £3.50 and hour but didnt agree to pay her 4 weeks holiday.

First of all your contracts need revising to include the entire year. How did you get this far without sorting out school holidays?

Secondly, if it's a term time only contract, yes it's usual to be paying a higher hourly rate. basically, the more hours you use a childminder (over a year with schoolies) the lower the hourly rate is likely to be.

Thirdly, if you use a childminder x days a week in term time, it is entirely reasonable (unless you have a TTO contract) for the childminder to expect to have the child/ren on those days, all day, in the holidays.

And your childminder is right, imo, to charge the full day in holidays even if your dd isn't there - you are paying for the space as much as the care, iyswim. Your childminder can't magic up another child to replace the lost income.

Agree with that although I'm surprised that this wasn't all discussed when you signed up. NCMA contracts have a space for daily rate etc and for my schoolies I have 2 prices, one for all day and one for when they are school. And yes, if it's TTO you want (i.e. never use ANY holidays, inset days etc) then I think it's fair to charge more for that (I personally never used to offer TTO contracts because I couldn't fill just school holidays - things have changed for ME now but it's all about supply and demand)