CM contract - holidays

[Meita]

Hi, maybe someone can help with a question I have.

DS (nearly 9months) has just started 2 days/week with a CM.
The CM is newly registered, DS is her first mindee, she won't have any other mindees until probably about September.

We are filling in the contract form and are wondering about the regular thing to do about 'charges for absence'.
Obviously we will pay the full fee for days off due to illness and such.
I was thinking it would be normal to also pay the full fee for CM's holidays (4 weeks) - after all most people get paid holidays.
But what about our holidays?

CM rates here are £5 to £5.50 per hour going by the other CMs we saw and friends we talked to.
One CM we saw (charging 5.50) said she'd not charge at all for our holidays (given due notice and all). Another CM we saw (charging £5) said she would charge half-fare i.e. £2.50 for our holidays. Both were CM with much more experience than ours.

What would you do? What would feel right to you?

Thanks!

Usually the CM would specify what charges s/he would make for holidays - it's not normally for you to decide.

Some CM's charge full for both your and their own holidays, some charge 1/2 fees for both.

Some only charge for your holidays as in effect they are still available to carry out the childcare. (In this scenario they don't normally charge for their own holidays as they are technically unavailable to provide care and in theory you may have to pay for alternative childcare while s/he is away.)

I would discuss with your CM what the preferred option would be.

Thanks surfandturf.

I know normally she would just say 'this is how it is' but as my DS is her first mindee, she hasn't really thought about it herself yet. And left the relevant spaces in the contract blank. Of course I wouldn't 'decide' but would like to have some basis for discussing it with her. Seeing as she is our first CM and we are her first employer we are all a bit new to it all.

So really you're saying anything goes, as long as we're both happy. The problem is for me to be happy, I want it to be fair, but I don't really have an urge to pay over the odds. Perhaps half-fare for both her and our holidays as a compromise since we can't make our minds up?

With our CM, we don't pay her when she's on holiday but she gets paid in full if we are. Solution, we try to also take our holidays at the same time with her. I think half and half also sounds good. I would avoid one where I had to pay her in full when she's on holiday.

Nikos, that sounds reasonable too. I guess that way the CM doesn't feel an incentive to take extra weeks of holiday simply because she hasn't used them up yet.
I suppose the problem in paying in full when CM is on holiday is because then for a while we'd be paying double fees, and then no fees when we are on holiday. Paying when we are on holidays but not when CM is would even it out better (because I doubt we'd pay for childcare while on holiday).

A follow-up question: If we don't pay for her holidays, but do pay for ours - would we then be required to take the full stated weeks of holidays thus giving her paid time off (given as DS is her only mindee) - or is it more of an 'up to' amount of holidays you give in the contract?

I charge full price for child's absences. No charge for mine. If you pay me full rate for your holidays you can have as many weeks off as you want. The 'up to' amount is to make a cap on those who pay half price or not at all for holidays. I know some minders will give two weeks half price the rest full price.

i charge the families that go on holiday but not if i go on holiday

If i am open, i charge (even if the parents choose not to use those hours)
If I am closed (for any reason), I don't charge

It keeps everything very simple that way.

I charge when my service is available and don't when it's not so parents pay me the normal rate when they are on holiday, their child is sick etc. but I don't get anything when I'm on holiday, sick etc. To make it easier for me, most parents pay me a set amount each month (working out how many weeks for the rest of the year minus bank holidays and the number of days holiday remaining this year and dividing by remainly number of paying months).

HTH :)

Ditto PMKB

Thanks ladies, much appreciated!

ditto rosie, paula and mummy.. if open you pay, if closed you dont.. simples..

My 'clients' pay for my availability, not when I am away/sick. Some CM's do a 50/50 split. Some have some paid holiday. YOu need to agree it together really.

As a parent I would be prepared to sign up to:
Bank Holidays - full fees
my holidays - full fees
my child's illness - full fees
CM holidays - no fees (she is not your employee!)
CM sickness - no fees (again, not your employee)

Also ask about who provides food, nappies, pays for playgroups, etc.

My CM pays for all food (including formula) and I provide nappies, sunscreen, and anything else that isn't food.

Also, make sure you define what is too sick for child to attend CM (i.e. vomitted or had fever of 38 deg or higher in las 24/48 hours).

Just like and the others who have posted, my CM wife charges when available for work - if mindee is ill or on holiday, they still pay. If my wife is ill or on holiday there's no charge. Seems reasonable all round.

We pay full fees for:
Bank holidays;
our holidays
if our DS is sick
CM holidays (5 weeks)
food (lunch), nappies, wipes.

We don't pay if she's off sick
She pays for the playgroups, days out and provides snacks

Evitas,
Ouch. I hope you got a lowi(ish) hourly rate for all of that.

Well, on discussing it, our CM claimed that it was normal for her holidays to be paid in full. I had intended to suggest a 'we pay you when you are available' thing, as many have mentioned here - but as she was adamant that it was normal that her holidays were to be paid, we in the end agreed that we'd pay half rate for her holidays and half rate for ours. Works out as about the same, and that way we don't have to argue about who exactly is on holiday...

Thanks everyone!