Childminder fees question & general childcare connundrum

[74slackbladder]

can anyone help with how a CM would go about working out fees for a 18mo and 4.5yo who is about to start school
currently have 'nanny' looking after the pair of them and ds starts school this sept. So we are looking at ways to reduce our childcare costs as she will now only have one for most of the day, but will have school run to do too, which I accept is not the easiest job in the world.
wondering if a CM will be more cost effective - how would they charge for the hours that ds is at school. previous experience suggests that they woudl charge a slightly higher hourly rate for the school age children as to allow for the fact that they cannot fill the rest of their day with other fee paying children. However they would also usually offer a sibling discount (I guess?) - what kind of % discount would it typically be and would they apply that to the full time price or the older child (who is at school)'s fees?
Obv nanny arrangement is massively convenient but is costly, not just her pay but employers NI, payrol costs, grocery bill is huuuge, heating bill in the winter and also subbing her for trips out (which a CM would include in their rates)....Any suggestions ?
One obvious option is to 'share' the nanny - perhaps get her to do the odd pick up/drop off, for someone at the same school as DS. DH not too keen on this idea, but has anyone got any experience of this and how that works out financially ?

As long as the 4.5 year old is in full time school I think they would be classed as a rising 5 which means that they wouldn't count in her ratios. Therefore she would be able to offer a before and after school place without having to hold the rest of the day open.

Not all trips are included in Childminder fees, I pay for toddlers etc but I ask the parents to contribute if we're going somewhere like swimming/soft play as it would end up costing me a fortune if I paid for 6 kids to get in, depends on the Childminder though, I do as many free activities as poss so only 2/3 each summer for them to contribute towards

I use a CM but have never used a nanny so can't help there I'm afraid.

My CM doesn't offer a sibling discount but her fees are low, and I only pay her for what I use. When she has had DD3 during the day (eg when her nursery had an inset day) I paid for DD2 after school i.e. 1500-1800, and DD3 for the hours she was there i.e. 0800-1800. I send packed lunches for them but she provides snacks and drinks and I give them dinner when we get home.

She has never asked for money for trips but tends to do free stuff eg walks, picnics in the woods or at the beach, and the library. She will get them drinks and ice creams but I would offer to pay if she wanted to take them somewhere that had an entrance fee (but I would expect her to check with me first that it was affordable for me too and not present me with a bill afterwards!).

She's also really flexible and will have them on inset days etc. She gives me notice of any planned holiday she has arranged and I don't pay her when she's not available to work.

She's a gem

Everybody charges differently so this is really difficult to answer. Average fees in my area are £4/hour. For a very long day I might charge slightly less per hour. For very short days (i.e. just an hour or two after school) I would charge a set fee for about 3-4 hours even if they are not all used. I don't really like to give sibling discounts but if I really like a family I might deduct a few pounds per day from the older child's fees, no more than that. None of the childminders that I know would discount more than 10% and it is normally on the older child's fees only.

So, for a full 8-10 hour day for the 18mo I would charge about £36 including all meals and outings. For the 4.5yo I would probably charge £12-16 per day during term time depending on the exact hours and about £30 during the school holidays. My full day charge for school aged children is slightly lower than for younger children because I have to compete with the after school clubs

How long is a piece of string? I think it would be best if you rang a few childminders and went to see them and ask those questions. We may speculate here but there is no average way of doing things. We are all self employed and work to different set of rules we choose. My friend charges differently to the way I do - we live just a street apart.