Childminder charges for nursery slots

[lotsofcheese]

DS (3yr 8mo)is about to start school nursery - he goes to a CM 2.5 days a week - his nursery place is for 2.75 hours each afternoon M-F, so on 2 days the CM will drop him off & pick him up.

Should I expect CM to charge full rate while he is in nursery? My understanding is that, as I pay for his place, it still would be. However I have a friend whose CM charges 1/2 rate during such times.

Would be interested to hear what CM's practises are, thanks

When my DC went to a childminder and my DS was at school nursery the CM charged in full for the time he was there.

each CM will have their own t and c

so there is no standard practice

Although cms are self employed and can state their own terms of contract, most in this area charge for the short while they are at preschool. The child minder is tied to the pre school pick up times and cannot take on another under 5 whilst the preschooler is in preschool.

Does the one charging half rate charge more per hour?

This is not the issue that would be a deciding factor, for me I'd be looking for a professional child minder who is good with my child and has a good local reputation amongst parents.

My own CM would still charge full rate as it's not as if she could fill that place for 2.75 hours whilst dc was at nursery and she is still 'on call' for that child.

Thanks for your replies - it has confirmed what I thought would be the case.

I would expect to pay. The CM is dropping him off and picking him up which (having done the school nursery thing) I think is a real pita for such a short time and presumably he wouldn't be able to take the school nursery place otherwise.

Have you thought about having DS do a whole day at pre-school (if that's an option)? Several of the children I have cared for have moved from being full time with me to doing fewer days and a day or two at pre-school (morning and afternoon sessions with a lunch club in the middle). They have been used to a whole day away from Mum and Dad so have settled easily, and frankly I would rather they freed up a day to offer to someone else than feel obliged to charge them for hours they are not with me but which I have no chance of filling...and yes nursery pickups are often a pain, especially if you have other children to look after at the time. My local preschool is about five to ten minutes away, but a pick up can easily take best part of an hour by the time I have got the other children ready, got there, stood around waiting while parents chat to key workers at the door etc (and they often open doors late and let children out late which doesn't help), and got home. So with two hours of my day tied up and all the extra hassle, I do feel I would deserve to be paid for the time the LO was at pre-school, but you do hear a lot of parents complaining about paying for "nothing" in these situations (not saying you are!).

Unfortunately a full day at pre-school isn't an option & the pre-school nursery will not allow your child to be in any other form of childcare eg private nursery. So unless you're a sahm or have grandparents etc to help out, CM is the only option.

Financially things are tight at the moment; ironically if I sent my DS to private nursery for the 2.5 days I work, I'd get the 1st 15 hours free & would only be topping up the remainder, so would be in a much better financial position. Whereas I'm still paying the same fees as I've always done. Unfortunately DS has some health issues & I don't feel a private nursery is appropriate.

Thanks again for all your responses

As a childminder who does charge full time for the playgroup / kindergarden time.... The best way to explain i found is that if the parent's doesn't want to pay me for the playgroup time ... They must find alternate cover for those hours during school holidays...
Then i could at least fill the playgroup hours with another child..

It's a mare - we would far rather have Imogen in nursery for a full two days than five three hour slots, but it's not possible under the funding rules. She just won't be able to go when she's in F/T care, but the nursery are fine with that so long as they have notice of the days she won't be in.

Lotsofcheese, I don't really understand the first bit of your post. How can pre-school "not allow" children to be in any other form of childcare? How would they know, and even if they did know, what could they do about it? Surely it's up to the parents to decide. I see childminders dropping children off and picking them up from preschool every day, so those families are obviously using two types of childcare.

Mummy to Mog - I doubt it has anything to do with funding rules. The nursery/pre-school can choose to only offer funded places between certain times and only for certain sessions (and many do), but that is their business decision, not a restriction from government. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable could quote you chapter and verse, but I would shop around if one nursery refuses to give you what you want.

I have had funded children in my care in the past and successfully argued for more flexibility than was originally going to be sanctioned. There was a lot of talk about people being "pretty sure" that sessions had to be of equal length, on a certain number of days a week etc etc, but I went through the criteria myself and could not find any such stipulations and neither could those who had been sure they were in there somewhere. Furthermorre that was at least a couple of years ago and the government claims to have introoduced more flexibility since then.

minderjinx DS's nursery do not offer wrap-around care. So there is no way of him attending a private nursery & being transported to the school-affiliated nursery & back for his sessions. Also it doesn't allow part-time places, only 5 mornings or afternoons. So I couldn't send him to private nursery on some days not others.

Oh I see what you mean now. Thanks!

Just to add that when I attended a meeting about me being able to accept the 15 hours funding, it came out about the nurseries who don't allow full days or for the funding to be split with another provider and often they say they are not allowed but as has been stated, this is the nursery who chooses and it's not true that they are not allowed.