Childminders? Can I have a little help please?

[LedaOfSparta]

I an going back to work in August and for a variety of reasons I wanted to sort my childcare well in advance.

Anyhoo, I found a nice cm, she met the children they all got on, I'd like to use her. She said she'd email me with her updated terms etc and let me know about a retainer. So, the upshot is that she wants to charge £30 per child per week from June until August and I have 3 children. 1 child will be there about 30 hrs pw and the others will be before/after school. Now it's her business and she absolutely dictates the terms, I understand that and that everyone has their own financial pressures etc but as much as I like her I just can't afford the retainer for all 3.

My question is, as I still want her to have the littley would I offend her if I email back and explain that my finances just aren't going to stand the retainer and could we just sign a contract for the baby and I'll pay the £30 retainer for her and make other arrangements for the others before and after school?

I really don't want to offend or upset the cm as she really is perfect for the baby.

Perfectly reasonable (as a CM)

i don't think you will offend her, just tell her you want her to have the baby and will pay the retainer but can't afford for the other two as you have explained here. what will you do with the older two?

It depends really on what basis she set the retainer. If she were proposing to charge you a lower retainer than she would normally ask for three children from different families (i.e has taken into account that you may struggle to pay a standard retainer for three children), then she might be unimpressed by you offering to pay a third. In my experience, most CMs charge about half fees to retain a place - is what she is asking about half what you would pay when your children start? You might also find that she is either not willing to take just the little one, or would have charged more for just the little one (perhaps she may have discounted her rate as well as her retainer for siblings).

yes minderjinx is right, i hadn't thought of that,sounds as though it was a reduced rate retainer she was offering so you may have to be prepared to pay more to hold one place...
i would charge half fees per child btw as a retainer

It might be worth calling her back and simply saying you really liked her, but can't justify the retainer. She will either negotiate for the one child, tell you to buzz off, or make another suggestion.

I am a CM and I would rather a parent spoke to me about this than just made other arrangements. I might decide having the definite work later in the year, with children I liked, was worth reducing the retainer. Just don't be offended if she says those are her terms and it's your decision.

Looking again at your first post Leda, she is apparently only charging you a pound an hour retainer for your littlest. I can only assume she is offereing you a special deal, bearing in mind that you are looking for three places - and yes she might well be miffed if you take two of your children elsewhere but still want preferential rates for the remaining one.

op - are you sure it's £30 retainer for the baby? seems very, very low. Is the baby doing three 10 hour days? If so, I would be charging at least £50 a day (London) so £150 a week so £75 a week minimum retainer.....

Just to clarify, the retainer would be £30 per week per child for 12 weeks. The weekly rate for the baby part time is £120 (£4 ph) which is her standard rate for 1 child.

You are all correct though and she may want to revise her numbers if it's only the 1 child.

Other options are an au pair who takes the big ones to and from school and I take baby to and from cm, but I'd rather use this lady as she comes highly recommended and the kids took to her really well. I just don't have £1000+ in my unpaid portion of mat leave and a deposit.

The whole point of a retainer is to reserve a place. Potentially, you could just pay a retainer on the babies place and hope that she still has spaces for the school aged children when you need her.
The problem with being self employed is that you don't know where or when work will come along. I've made the mistake of holding a place without retainer for about 4 months to be let down. I turned down several children in the meantime.

We move our mortgage regularly, though might not be so easy in the current climate, but have not had any trouble getting one so far, £250K at the moment. We are both self employed, we use a financial advisor and the mortgage has been based on ability to repay rather than multiples.

Oops, sorry, don't know how that happened! Wrong thread!

I would call her and have a chat, the thing is 3 spaces is a big chunk of her income so to be without that income for 12 weeks is quite a while so she may not be in a position to waiver the fee.