CM Hourly rate or per session?

[Nicadooby]

Hi I'm going though the process of becoming a childminder and i was wondering if what i am suggesting to a mum sounds ok?

She needs someone one day a week to being with 9am until 3pm

Then in a couple of months time she will need me 3 days per week 8.15am until 3.30pm

By the end of the year it will be 5 days per week 8.15am until 4pm

I have been thinking that i will charge her per session insted of per hour as there is no way i could get another mindee who could do the last couple of hours of the day.

If i was charging hourly it would be £4.50 per hour.

I've said that my sessions will be 4 hourly so 9am until 1pm then 1pm until 5pm which totals £18 per session. When she will need to start coming earlier i will charge £5 per hour for any additional hours outside these times do you think that sounds reasonable?

I don't want her to think i'm taking the mickey, but i don't want to do myself out of the money either as she will be my only mindee, plus i will be holding a full time space for her until the end of the year.

Does anyone else charge like this? if not do you manage to fill the last couple of hours with other children?

What age is the child?

How many childcare places do you have available... How many Under 5's, How many Before/After School?

First mindee can be tricky to get, once you have one, then other parents more likely in my view to use you.

Whatever you do for this family, you need to do for others, else it will get rather complex and parents may talk to each other about fees and moan.

Whatever you do do not turn anyone away expecting the held place to be used later in the year as it may not be. If you get another enquiry offer it to the first mum if she still wants it to be held she will have to pay.
So often cm's hold places in good faith to discover mum has managed to alter their hours to be part time and no longer needs the place but hasn't actually told you.

I charge a daily rate, to avoid midday handovers and state my opening hours as 8-6, but when I first started I charged an hourly rate. It may be worth finding out what other minders close to you do. Holding a place for someone is always risky, but you can review that if you start getting full.

It's for a baby who will be 1 in august but I have 2 of my own as well who are 1 and 3 nearly.

I see what you mean about holding a space open for her, maybe if I have more enquerys I'll ask for a retainer if she still want the space.

Although I'm only just getting registered now I have been a qualified nanny for 16 years so I'm hoping to not be out of work, I'm always getting asked by people about childcare.

I see what you mean about doing the same for everyone as it may get complicated. If she is going to be my only mindee then hopefully that will be ok.

Is doing it this way very unusual? It's how my last boss paid her childminder before employing me

Sounds like you only have one under 5 place available. So income wise best to use for a full-timer, not a part-timer.

Are you actually registered yet? Your certificate will say how many children in each range you can care for.

Not unusual. We are all different. There are people who charge morning and afternoon sessions.

You can either opt for a child to take a full time space, so you know what you are doing each day, but if they leave you are left with nothing. Or you can take part timers and hope you manage to fill each gap, which is more complicated, more paperwork and more files, but less drop in income if someone leaves.

Hi thanks I'm not registered yet bur in the process of it, got my first aid cert, going to my pre registration meeting next week, then hoping to start the course soon after.

I'm going to temp nanny for the mum until I get registered but I'm doing it for CM rates iykwim. That's why I needed to know if it sounded ok I thought about charging a set fee per hour but at a higher rate for a part-timer but then id be more expensive than other childminders around here.

I don't need to earn a fortune just enough to help with some bills. I know I will only be allowed one under 5 with my two so I need to make sure I get most of the day paid for 9-5 is better than 9-3 ish

The 3pm and 3.30 pm finishes could be problematic if you wanted to try and get some after schoolies later. You want to be able to do a school run. Have you checked what time your local schools finish? How long it would take you to do a school run with 3 littles with you?