Childminders - how many holiday days do you take a year?

[AddictedToGin]

Please can you let me know what is a suitable number of holiday days to take a year. I am a parent and looking for a childminder and wandered what the average is? Thanks

I'm not a childminder, but DD goes to one and she is usually closed for 2 weeks in summer (generally the last 2 weeks of the school holidays) and a week over Christmas. That's pretty much it, although last year it was a big birthday and significant wedding anniversary and so she took October half term as well. I don't know how average that is, but that's what my CM takes.

Thanks emsjy

I take 4 weeks paid: 2 weeks during summer holidays then a week at either easter or spring half term then 1 other week probably Christmas if it works for all my parents but that one is more flexible & I possible to split into 2 long weekends if it's easier. I also have the option to take a further week off unpaid but can't see me doing that very often, if ever! I notify parents well in advance (january) so they can try & tie-in if they want to save double childcare costs.

I would say 4 weeks is normal but it varies between no charge, half fee or full fee usually depending on area & local demand.

My childminder takes 2 weeks in summer, 2 weeks at Christmas and the odd day here and there - has only been 4 extra days in the year my dd's have been with her and normally at half term. She also works bank holidays. We did find a big variation between the CMs we met.

last cm took 2 weeks a year plus odd days but she tried to do that on a fri when she only had one child whose mum was very flexible.

current cm takes 2wks in summer and sometimes another week, she also takes odd days but tries to tie these in when other families are off for example she said oh x is off on this fri and this fri (its her full time mindee) and we are thinking of taking one of the fri (we only use tues and fri) and I said oh we were going to have x fri off so she made it that fri - so think some of its around communication.

Consider if your childminder is taking 4 weeks annual leave a yr plus bank hols and thats all you get are you happy to have yours all at the same time, will you and partner share it so you can then have a holiday at another time - if you use all time off for childminer holiday what will you do when childminder is sick or child is sick for time off (carers leave is limited really - can you afford to take unpaid leave).

we use a cm 2 days and a nursery 2 days- childminders rarely take sick days ours had to recently as daughter had d&v so she closed for 2 days my husband used a days annual leave - but if we are desperate we can ask nursery for an extra day (although it costs £15 more a day than cm!!)

sorry prob more than you needed to know

My CM doesn't work bank holidays, and she doesn't charge when she's on holiday or sick (not that she's ever been off sick since we've known her) - she charges half price for our holidays or sickness. For our area her hourly rate is quite high tho at £4.50 (£3.50 is more average in this area) and she doesn't have a daily rate, it's just an hourly fee - so she is more expensive than other local CMs as they are generally around £30 a full day, whereas if we use 8am to 5pm this works out at £40.50 which is quite a bit higher. So it's swings and roundabouts I guess.

Are there any parents in this blog who are self employed like c/ms?
I would like to know how many days other self employed people take and when they take the holidays do they pay themselves half or not at all?

Would be great to compare...also I believe it is now days we need to mention in terms of holidays not weeks as it is customary for employed people.

Hope someone can help

"when they take the holidays do they pay themselves half or not at all"

Self employed people don't pay themselves anything, their customers pay them for the services they provide.

"I believe it is now days we need to mention in terms of holidays not weeks as it is customary for employed people."

No, it is weeks. The minimum annual leave entitlement for employees is 5.6 weeks - this is so that it works for part time as well as full time workers (if you only work 1 day a week, 28 days annual holiday would be a bit generous!)

Funnily enough I posted [[http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/freelancers/a1580791-freelancing-on-350per-day-been-asked-to-go-permanent-what-salary-should-i-ask-for#34669814
a message here]], where lots of self employed people hang out, about holidays earlier today.

I take 3 or 4 weeks and don't charge for them. I took more one year, but I bent over backwards to help parents find alternative care.

Most self employed people in other businesses have no one to charge for their time off (ie builders), so they don't get paid.

I can't put it in days, because for some families 4 weeks is 4 days and for others it's 20 days.

My contracts state that I can take up to 25 days unpaid holiday each year but I rarely use all the days. Children taking holidays pay me the full hourly rate of £3.40.

I try to vary when I take them between school holidays and term-time. I also occasionally take the odd day unpaid if all 'my' parents have a day off at the same time and I fancy a quiet day!

Ah yes Sheila. Parents can take as much holiday as they like and they pay me for it.

Thank you Mr Anchovy
I understand that employed people have their leave in days not weeks now...I was asking to be sure
Leave days for employed people also increases with seniority I believe

My question about self employed is a perfectly genuine one and I wanted to engage with them
If they do not pay themselves, which is not entirely true as it comes out of their turnover, then should all c/ms receive full holiday pay from those to whom we provide a service to?

57,000 c/ms will do things 57,000 ways but good to share

"Leave days for employed people also increases with seniority I believe"

It depends where you work - this is not universally the case by any means, although fairly common in e.g. public sector jobs. It's not a legal right.

Italiana, are you referring to self employed people paying themselves a wage from the turnover of their business? If so, then the childminder would surely spread their turnover (from days worked) to cover their holiday periods in a similar way? That doesn't equate to childminders charging parents for holidays though - they are two different situations.

I can't think of any genuinely self employed people who are paid for days when they're not actually engaged in providing the relevant service - although they may choose to bank all their takings and withdraw a regular wage so that they aren't without income during holidays, if that makes sense. There's nothing to stop childminders doing the same.

If childminders can charge for holidays and parents are happy to pay, why not? But this isn't standard for self employed persons.

Thank you... very interesting

I am a childminder in London. My parents pay me for 52 weeks a year. I mind for three families and we all agree (or majority rule) and go for Christmas/August/October and if any parent needs childcare at these times, those parents either nanny share or grandma share :) with fabulous communication, we've never had a problem

I take all school holidays. I have only term time contracts and have created a little niche for myself with teachers' children. Works for me as I get to spend the holidays with my own children - it works for the parents as they don't have to pay over the holidays as I am not available.

I generally take 2 weeks in the summer, May half term and I don't work between Christmas & New Year. I charge a reduced fee for the 2 weeks in the summer & all other time no charge. However this year I am taking all the Christmas holidays off as we are off to spend New Years Eve in Times Square! I do advise all of my families well in advance of my holidays and will help them find alternative care if needed, as I did in the summer for a newly started family.

I also take 4 weeks per year, 2 in august and 2 half term hols, and i dont change when i am on holiday but charge half fee for up to 2 weeks that parents take off and full fee if they take anymore time off during the same year. I put aside a small percentage of my money every month so that it covers my loss of pay when i am on holiday.

I think its really cheeky childminders charging when they are on holiday themselves. Although its fair enough to charge when parents are on holiday.

I'm self employed and wouldn't dream of billing someone when I wasnt there.
I do take a lot of holiday as the children are at private school and have long holidays, but I have another Optom friend who can cover for me.

I was gobsmacked when I realised some CMs charge when THEY are on holiday, they'd have to be bloomin' better than fantaastic- or I would have to be desperate for that to happen!

Some of the ones who charge for holidays have a lower rate, so it works out the same over the year.

4 weeks half pay 1 week Xmas full pay

Karoleann & Bytheway1 - do you think parents would be happier if CMs paid higher rates to compensate for no fees at all being charged during the time the CMs are on holiday?

So many professions have holiday pay - why shouldn't CMs?