How much should I pay my 24/7 childminder?

[Mazzledazzle]

My childminder charges £3.75 ph pc (so I pay £7.50 oh for 2 DC).

DH and I are going away for 5 days Mon - Fri, leaving our 2 DC with family, but due to an emergency this is no longer an option.

Luckily my fabulous childminder has agreed to let our DC stay with her and her DH for 5 nights, which works out at 105 hours!

I hate talking about money - I usually pay her in advance for the month and round it up to the nearest tenner.

How do I bring up the subject of payment? And how much should I expect to pay her?

Tia

you should pay her. Never mind what she says. You have a business arrangement.

suppose something happens while they are at her house? they wont be covered if they are not 'on the clock'.

I think you are taking advantage of her. she probably has one eye on your continued business.

I'd be willing to bet you've misunderstood, anyway.

Why would she decide to forego payment for the usual hours she'd be looking after them anyway, as well as have them overnight?
Btw, you're leaving them at home as childcare is cheaper than plane tickets? Seriously? .

She is going to look after your 2 children, day and night, for 5 days...for FREE?

That doesn't make any sense, she is going to lose 5 days of wages and 5 days of her free time as a favour?

I'd clarify with her what she means.

Is she registered for overnight care? If not then she isn't legally allowed to charge. (Bear in mind that insurance wont be valid either during those hours) It would have to be done on a voluntary basis. Although I would agree that some form of thank you is in order. And I suspect that when she said free she was just referring to the additional hours, as its going to cost her for food etc.

i don't think we have to be registered for overnight care anymore PinkCanary i'm pretty sure that's what i was told at my last inspection and my certificate no longer makes any mention of overnight care.

I too would read that as "the extra hours can be free", but I presume most people would still get a very generous set of vouchers for her to do that.

If I'd have texted that in this situation I would most definitely have meant the extra hours were free, I would NOT be loosing out on my usual income and that's with families who have been with me 6 years and who I've become very close to - I still have bills to pay!

But yes, I think it would be nice to give an amount as a thank you anyway as this i a big thing.

Clause 3.76 in the EYFS stipulates that you DO need to inform Ofsted of your intention to provide overnight care, however you no longer need to wait for them to validate it. You just need the relevant risk assessments in place. I would imagine without ofsted records showing the intention any insurance policy would be invalidated. I personally wouldn't take the risk for the sake of a quick phone call / email. A minder local to me is in prison due to an accidental child death which occurred overnight.

Please tell me you have realised she didn't mean 'don't pay me at all'??!

Gosh, i do hope so or that could have been extremely embarassing! I can't believe anyone of sane mind would think their cm would offer to have their 2 dc 24 hrs for 5 days for free!! Even giving up a full weeks wages - dear god, thats crazy.

i'm totally shocked you are thinking of just buying her a voucher. its the sort of stupid thing i would say when i dont really mean it. as you said neither of you talk money. your reactions shocking. who is going to pay for what it costs her to have them for the week. you were thinking £600 so at least give her £400. in an envelope like you usually do.

Some people are just me, me, me. Fancy sunning it up while someone else looks after your kids for 105 hrs all for a voucher! I think i've seen it all now, really shocking

Wow.

Even if she is too generous stupid to waive a fee, you should insist, out of common decency - for the booked hours AND the overnights. She is looking after your children and it is a business arrangement. Favours do no-one any favours. Keep it formal - then everyone knows where they stand.

My post made no sense!

Righteous indignation + exhaustion = nonsense.

Précis: pay her!

Please update OP

From two years ago? Unlikely!

ZOMBIE THREAD

I wonder what the OP paid...

Haha. I didnt even realise the date.

A Registered Childminder is not 'Yours', he/she is a Service Provider so since you are a Service User I'm sure the Childminder will set the rate. If it were me, I'd charge my normal rate from 7a.m to 7p.m then a higher rate from 7pm to 7am.

Lol at date. I'm normally good at checking dates

We will blame flop83

Tho tbh not surprised op didn't come back after all the Replies saying she was mean and has to pay her cm etc