When the childminders child is ill.

[QueenOfAllBiscuitsandMuffins]

My new CM has just rung and said her son has a temperature, she is due to have my 2 tomorrow for their first full day with her. Tomorrow happens to be a day that I could juggle childcare and have said that if she keeps her son off school for the day because he is ill then I will probably not send my 2 kids to hers. Usually colds and coughs no problem but something that requires a day off school is more serious.
What I didn't ask is what happens about payment that day, I know if my kids were ill and so didn't go to hers then I would still have to pay, fair enough, but in general do you charge your parents who decide not to send their kids to you if your child was ill enough to stay home from school?

All CM's have differing "rules", personally if my child is ill I would inform the parents and give them the option of sending or not, however my DC are a lot older and can happily sleep through bugs without 1:1 from me. Obv if the illness was very contagious I would not offer care and wouldn't charge. Have you not got a contract or welcome pack?

If her son has an illness that would prevent her from accepting mindees with it (D&V, chicken pox etc) then she should shut anyway so you shouldn't pay. If he's just a bit unwell and needs a day at home in bed, and she is open for business as usual, then you should still pay if you choose not to send your children.

I would expect not to be charged in that situation as it is not your fault iywsim?

The child is either 4 or 5 so would therefore require some attention, also even if she kept him in bed I am sending a 12 month in so if she needed to go check on him for 5/10minutes I would expect her to take the baby with her as she doesn't have a playpen to put her in. I do have a welcome pack which just says if someone in her family was ill she would tell us so we could make an informed decision.
I know it's not her fault her son is ill but I am not allowed to expose her family to illness and still have to pay so I kinda think why should I allow her to expose my family to illness and pay for that privilege!
This is my first CM and we are her first clients so both sides feeling there way thru!

Thank you for your replies btw.

I wouldn't charge if my kids were so sick ii had to close, but a temperature is not usually reason to shut unless it can't be controlled with calpol, each childminder is different though. If its just a cold but you choose not to send them I would still charge, if I gave you the choice and it was something more serious I wouldn't charge if that makes sense.

I suppose the question is if my children had a temperature would she be happy to accept them? If yes then I should pay, if no then I just don't see why I should pay for mine to be exposed to her son.
the illness and infection policy say
" if your child is feeling ill please do not bring them as I will not be able to look after them and you will be asked to take them home"
which is a tad woolly.

If my child had D&V (or either one alone) then I'd close. If a child has D&V (or either one alone) then I would not accept them for two days.

If my child had a temperature and was just feeling a bit crappy then I probably wouldn't and so would be open for business. If a child was sent to me with with a temperature then as long as it could be controlled with paracetamol then I'd be happy to take the child in.

If I close, then I don't expect parents to pay.

However I wouldn't take a baby upstairs/out of the room with me and I don't have a playpen. Ofsted are perfectly happy with this.

Thanks Flisspaps, interesting about not taking the baby with you I just presumed you would with 2 other 3 yr olds running riot but maybe that's just me being overprotective and happy to be corrected.

Maybe I'm just being precious about the whole thing.

Not necessarily precious (or being incorrect!) - each childminder would have to risk assess the house individually, and then visually assess the room for dangers before leaving anyway every single time :)

Some CMs would take all of the children upstairs with them - as you can see from the responses you've got so far, each CM's rules or policies/procedures are very different!

You need to be clear about whether she is open for business or closed, and what your contract says about charges when she is closed.

My DD has been off school with migraines, just wiped out by a bad cold, etc and I have put her in her room and stayed open. When she had chicken pox, the parents all voted for me to stay open and allow their children to stay (had to be unanimous). If she had D&V I would close, and refund the money to all the parents.

When checking on her, I made sure the other children were safe, in whatever way I needed to, appropriate to their ages and abilities.

It's just the basic bog standard NCMA Registered Childminding contract. Basically if she is closed then I don't pay, if she is open I do pay but it doesn't say under what circumstances she should close.

Thank you for all your replies.

She should have sickness/absence policies which make it clear which illnesses etc mean you're children shouldn't attend or she should close if her children have it, some diseases are hard to decide such as hand foot and mouth where some guidelines say exclude and some say not to.

If you can't bring children to hers because they're ill, then it needs to be reciprocated, ie she cannot expose your children to her children's illnessess, and therefore should not charge.

Unless it's D&V, my childminder stays open as her dh works in the loft conversion and he looks after their children, or they go to grandma's round the corner. She's only been off sick one day with sickness and 2 weeks when she had emergency gall bladder surgery in the 6 years I've used her. I didn't have to pay either time.