Summer holiday childcare - how much to charge?

[GW297]

I have been approached by several families I know to potentially help them cover a few days of childcare during the school summer break. If I were to have the children all day in their own home, I was wondering what you think would be reasonable to charge as a daily rate?

Totally depends where you are, maybe look on childcare.co.uk at other local nannies some will have put prices on?

Thanks for your response. I meant to put I'm in the East Midlands. Will have a look at that website over the weekend, thank you.

I think it also depends how much other local options cost. I know I can't compete with the rates offered by some local church groups or council-sponsored clubs, but am a lot less expensive than some of the private holiday club/sports camp type organisations. That said, I don't really mind if I don't get any takers in the holidays so maybe I should charge more!

I only do night-nannying now, but if I was to do ad-hoc daytimes I wouldn't want to give up my time for less than £10ph. (Although would obviously take into account travel time, number of children & ages, how much family were willing to pay, how much I needed the money etc before making final decision about each job). If families were OK with me taking my own son I may reduce hourly rate by 20% - don't know if this is something that would apply to you.

I am in the East Midlands too.

Thank you for your responses too. I agree holiday clubs are a much cheaper option for parents. This will be just a few days probably at the beginning and the end of the holidays when the holiday clubs aren't on and maybe one or two days in the middle as a bit of a change! I will still charge my hourly rate if I'm doing before or after holiday club care but I will price myself out if I try and do that for a full day. I desperately want to charge what is reasonable and fair (not too high but not too low either) based on research! I will be providing individual, personalised child care in the home so I know the parents will be happy to pay more than they would for holiday clubs, especially as we're only talking the odd day. I will also receive petrol money and expenses for trips, lunch, ice creams etc.

Look into how much the holiday clubs cost. If they are £35 per day per child and you are looking after 2 children then you know how much money they would normally be paying.

Yes good point. Thank you. It'll be several families with one child each though most days I think.

Do you perhaps need to clarify what it is you are providing, as individual care for one child in that child's own home is one thing, but the families know each other (do they?) and they teamed up then its multiple families and maybe there would be different rates for each family dpending on factors such as whose home is used.

Take into account your costs - you may not have many but you probably will have some, even if they are just time involved doing admin, finding places to visit, or money involved such as taxation.

Yes they all know each other and all have girls of a similar age. All professional families with similar expectations and all know me well so no reason why it wouldn't work. It will be no trouble to look after them and I quite enjoy it but I am going to be offering my services to other families too and want it to be fair for both me and them. Thank you for your response.

If you care for 3 or more children from different families (so providing care for 3 or more families at the same time) then to get around childcare legislation, do not care for them at a house... go on a long outing.

I'm in the East Midlands and would be looking at around £25 per day for holiday cover. Hope this helps

Thank you. 25 pounds a day per child or per family? I was thinking of charging double that...

Obviously you can charge what you like and people will pay the going rate. Where we are the excellent rated ofsted holiday club is £22 per day, childminders £3 per hour.
We have a part time nanny which works out at £5 per hour per child for care in our own home and she is on the higher end of pay for our area.

Sorry, should have said £25 per day per child.

Thank you. Think I've got it sorted now.