Do you charge a whole day for part time hours?

[TheDetective]

I've probably been spoiled by lovely childminders in the past... anyway, it isn't an issue currently as family are now doing the childcare. But I'd like to hear the consensus anyway.

I enquired with a childminder about one day a week 11-4. My partner works 3.5 hours on this day, and earns just over minimum wage. She wanted to charge the full daily rate of £35.

I've always been charged an hourly rate in the past, and have had similar hours, for example I used to pay for 4 days, 2 full days, and 2 part time days (hours were 12-5). And I paid the hourly rate of £2.50, then £3.00 when it was increased.

As it is, it is pointless my partner working as he earns £22.47 for his hours, and we would have to pay £35 plus the costs of him traveling to work. We considered dropping this day at work because it wasn't worth it for us.

I'm a bit :( at it though, just because I wonder how others manage when they need to work, but have to pay FT childcare when they do part time hours.

As I say, I just wondered what other CM's do?

hi, just a bit curious, is this your current cm? or one you were interviewing? my childminders always charged me hourly rate of £4 ph, and they had dd from 3.30-6.30pm 5 days a week. Im wondering if they want to charge you full day rate because by them having your dc 11-4 it may interfere with the allowance of them not being able to take on a child for full day, or just mornings or just afternoons iyswim? due to age restrictions? also if a cm only had your dc 1 day a week, the same would stand that they may miss out on a mon-fri child as they may be restricted again with child age and numbers etc. It doesnt seem unfair of the cm tbh as im sure it is to do with numbers and ages. best of luck, im sure if you ring around there will be one who can slot you in on an hourly rate.

My co-childminder and I charge a daily rate. We're open from 8am to 6pm; parents buy the 10 hours, and can use it as they wish.

Charging an hourly rate would mean losing money. If we charged an hourly rate to a parent wanting their child to attend from 11am to 4pm, we wouldn't have a hope of recruiting someone to use and pay for the other 5 hours (8 - 11, 4 - 6).

I thought it might be you ;-)

I charge a daily rate too and would charge for a full day even if someone only wanted 11-4 because there'd be no chance of filling the 'edge' slots.. My daily rate is £52.

Just get a local person in to babysit?

I charge a daily rate 8-6

I charge hourly, but I would charge a higher hourly rate to someone only wanting really short hours which would leave me with unfillable gaps (or a discounted rate to someone wanting long hours if you prefer). I'd also obviously be more inclined to take on someone who wanted more hours or more days so it might well be academic.

I don't think its a question of being unfair to charge for full days though - if a CM needs to fill her spaces to make a reasonable living then its reasonable to structure charges accordingly. If you were renting a house you wouldn't argue that you would be out at work half the day so you shouldn't be charged rent for that time - you'd still be stopping somebody else taking that space.

I charge an hourly rate but I quite often turn down hours if they don't suit our routine, an 11am drop off would stop us from doing many of our morning activities so I would probably ask you to extend your hours for that reason.
There has been times that I have also explained to parents that I'm actually in need of a full time place at the moment leaving it up to them if they want to pay for that or not.
I guess this is because I don't actually want to be full for five days a week but obviously all cm's are different, work differently and have different terms. As long as they explain their fees and terms up front then none of them are being unfair.

I normally charge a minimum of 8 hours a day. I have agreed to shorter hours in the past but found that it just wasn't worth my while financially. By the time I have paid for activities, outings, a cooked meal and everything else there just isn't much left. For me the cost of looking after a child for 5 hours is almost the same as the cost of looking after that child for 10 hours but the income is a lot less. Just like your partner is considering dropping the day at work as it is not worthwhile, I don't find looking after a child for only a few hours worthwhile

I also don't like having a drop off or collection between 10am-noon as it means I can't go out to toddler groups etc.

i don't but everyone else i know does!
i charge for a 10 hour day, 8 hour, 6 hour or 4 hour....
The only reason for this is i have two dc of my own who really need me after school and i much prefer to work school hours only.
but i understand completely why most cms charge for a whole day, tbh, it isn't really worth my while, i'm really only getting minimum wage and providing all food/wipes/outings etc out of this but the benefit for me of not having mindees there in the evening is the reason i do it.
i work 5 days but only 3 long ones (until 6pm) wouldn't want to do that eveyday and have to provide two cooked meals a day out of my minimum wage pay!

another reason i don't charge a day rate, is if a parent is paying for 10 hours, 9 times out of 10, they will want to use the full 10 hours,so i do the contracts with specified short hours which they know they can't go over and the option to change the contract at a later day if we all get on etc...

Hi detective

Like you know, I also charge for a whole day. You wouldn't check into a hotel and ask for a discount because you only used it for 6 hours. You pay for the room for the whole day/night. Our spaces are limited, I would prefer to make 45 pounds a day for a one child than 20 :)

Blimey, Reet, if you're getting minimum wage you're doing a lot better than some of us!

thats the (only) good thing about being in London ZuleikaD!!

To be really honest, and not wishing to offend anyone, I wouldn't do it if I couldn't earn at least minimum wage. I get disheartned enough with the job as it is - admire those who earn less and still put their all into it

I find it astonishing that people can make it work at £3.50/hour - I thought I was doing well on £5/hour!

I'm stopping anyway but I can see that financially I've made mistakes over the years lol I charge p/hr £3.35 for f/t (over 35hr a wk) & £3.50 p/t, I don't charge while mindees are at playgroup for 2hrs even though I stay if children are doing something special like singing to parents or having a party, I also agreed to do 11.30 to 2.30 for a child filling a whole space for the sake of 3 hrs. I love working with the children & I'm good at it but my business sense is pants lol

There are childminders who would do this. I am returning from maternity leave, I have one mindee 4 days a week and I'm not looking to take on any more for about six months would take on a part timer for a little extra cash.

I charge by the hour & have 1 mindee just 4 hours BUT I meet his mum at school after drop-off & she collects just after lunch so it's no disruption to my day as 90% of activities are in the morning. I prefer not to be full to capacity & only ever have 2 regular pre-schoolers at once sometimes just 1 so these extra hours are a nice little bonus for me. Mind you I still have to follow EYFS with him, & probably do the same amount of obs, planning etc as someone paying me for the full day!!
If you're partner can change hours I'm sure you'll find someone otherwise working isn't economically viable & it makes sense for him to take on the role of childcarer & you to work as many end up doing.

Thanks for the responses! I've had 2 more childminders get back to me today, one was happy to charge the hours used, the other wouldn't take him for less than full time .

It's hard, as we could never use a nursery, as CM's are more flexible in terms of start/finish times. Luckily for now, we don't need to worry as MIL is going to do the 1.5 days we had needed.

I must of had some fantastic CM's in the past! I used to have drop offs and pick ups all over the show, as I would often finish early, or be on a late shift, so only dropping in the middle of the day, as opposed to first thing. I shall count my lucky stars for those CM's!

Do those of you who don't like children being dropped at different times during the day decline shift workers? Just wondering. For future reference also!

Oh, DP can't change his hours at work, he would only be able to drop the day - he covers lunches on that day, there is no extra work for him.

I have two children on my books who are shift workers & they give me their dates a month (roughly) in advance but they are either early or lunchtime drop offs - it's just the mid morning or mid afternoon that would put me off.

i wouldn't take shift workers but i think it depends on how much work cms can get in your area and also on their own family circumstances. someone who has no children of their own at home may not mind, likewise, someone who is just started and not got tough yet!! or not managed to get any mindees yet might not mind. you can only ask!

I have taken on shift workers in the past but wouldn't anymore from my experiences. I've always been mucked about so much more with shift workers, quibbling over pennies in their invoice, last minute changes, being late or just leaving with no notice. Never had that with regularly scheduled contracts. Coincidence? Maybe but it's put me off doing it again.