have found a minder but not sure on her terms

[gregssausageroll]

Is this usual

She has 6 weeks holiday a year.

We pay £5.50 per hour but not for the 6 weeks a year she has off.

I just can't get my head around 6 weeks a year. I only get 20 days plus public as does my husband.

I am just outside Perth. Don't want to give exact location incase she's a netter! Where I live would tell you exactly who the childminder is!

She has 2 of her own children at school age.

I just don't think we can afford her. From the research I have done on the Scottish Care Commission website in the last couple of days fee seem to range between £3 and £4.50 per hour. £5.50 does seem expensive.

Thank you everyone for your helpful input but we think he's going to remain at private nursery for the timebeing.

No no, you dont have to give exact location but i was going to have a look for you to find out local fees but you have already done it!! lol

I think you are right that if local fees are between 3 and 4.50 and hers are £5.50 i think it is too expensive. Esp if you can get nursery for £35 a day!! lol

x x

That's more expensive than my CM in London!

Perhaps there is more to this? I think hourly rates can be deceptive. A lot of childminders base their fees on how many places they have to fill, and their advertised rates are often for their standard hours of business. If a family requires childcare for less than a full day or requires a pattern of care that is less than a full week but nevertheless makes finding another child to fill the remaining hours unlikely or impossible, some might ask you to pay for more hours than you use, others might ask you to pay a higher rate for the hours you do use. It obviously amounts to the same thing, but I wonder if you are perhaps in this sort of situation? Certainly around here a full week would be around 50 hours, some do 55. If you wanted considerably less, you would be likely to be asked to pay something more than the standard hourly rate for the hours you used.

I take 6 weeks and PH ! no fee, and 1/2 fee for parents hols!

but am full so I guess everyone is happy with it lol!

£5.50 is very high

But is this for a part time space? Or full time? Maybe the childminder had charged more as it's only a few hours in the day?

I am in south east And charge £5.75 an hour for a full time space, £9.00 for just a few hours.

This is so difficult. I know my cm needs a lot of holiday and I hope she gets it. We don't send DS 21 weeks out of the year (some same as local school hols, some different) because of the nature of our jobs. But I have no idea how that fits in with the other kids.

I've never had a problem so far where I've not had childcare... if she were to take 6 weeks off in addition to the 21 weeks that he doesn't attend, I'd have to use a nursery.

Do what is right for you so that you don't end up resenting the cm for taking holidays because that would be awful :( She deserves holiday just as much as you do. And as a CM is self employed, they get to choose all of their own holidays and set their own terms. You have to decide if you like them or not.

No I'd never resent her or anyone for having holidays. I love my travel time. As I have already explained I didn't in my mind equate 6 weeks to roughly the same as my own holidays but it is still more than what I get off in a year. We don't have any other back up childcare. It is DH and me and that is it.

This would be for 2 full days per week leaving him at 8.30 at the latest with a 5.30 pick up.

It just isn't going to work though so we won't be taking it any further.

Many CM's have back up minders they use or at least can recommend (maybe someone they go to toddlers with so your son would laready know them).

Is it only up to you to cover the CM's hols? What about your husband?

No but my husband works 6 days per week so our holiday time is precious. Getting away as a family is more important to us than having a space with this childminder.

There is no other childminder in the village where we live.