CM: How do I calculate monthly fee if child is on retainer and I am on holiday for part of month?

[Alliwantisaroomsomewhere]

I have two brothers on a retainer of £500 a month but I will be on holiday for 6 working days in July. I will have the boys for some of the time before I am on leave.

Not sure how to charge them. I cannot charge the full fee because I am not available for the full month. Do I pro-rata it??

I don't really understand the question! I would charge a retainer to hold a place until a future date, so I wouldn't normally have the child(ren) while I was charging the retainer. I would only charge the retainer on days when I was working or available to work, and I would let the family use those days childcare if they gave reasonable notice (a week) and topped up the retainer payment to full fees.

Ah, sorry! I did not explain myself properly. I have a contract to care for two brothers who are at school. Their mum works shifts, so it is never the same days or hours each week that I have them. For this reason, I charge a minimum monthly fee to assure her a place for them - so in effect it is a sort of rolling retainer.

I charge a minimum fee of £500 a month for the two boys, so if she decides to do less shifts than usual and the contracted rate per hour amounts to less than £500, she is still contracted to pay a minimum fee of £500 that month If her hourly rate with me is in excess of her minimum contractual amount, then that is what she pays = the higher amount.

So, for July she needs me for some of the time that I am on leave. I would charge her my contracted rate for the hours she uses, but I cannot charge her a blanket fee of my minimum contracted amount with her because for at least a quarter of the month, I am unavailable.

I reckon I should calculate pro rata amount for the days of July for which I am available, then work out the hours she actually needs me for, then charge her the higher amount.

SORRY!! bit confusing!!!

Thanks for the explanation. I wouldn't have called that a retainer, more of a minimum monthly fee. What you are proposing sounds reasonable to me, but I would say you are on dodgy ground if all this isn't set out in your contracts or at least covered in your policies - for example what if Mum says you should make your calculation and charge her the lower of the two figures? I think I would give some thought to all the possible scenarios around absence, extra days etc and set out your expectations at a contract review which you document and get signed agreement to.

Thanks for the advice, minderjinx! The minimum fee is set out in my contract but I had not considered whether to charge the higher or lower of the two fees. I will talk to the mother about it. We have a very good and open working relationship.

Can you not divide the 500 by number of days in month and minus 6 days?

Bonkerz, apologies for not having replied. Yes, I had considered doing that and wondered if that would be the fairer option. I will run it passed mum.