for childminders to help me

[babyhollie]

Hi what would do in this situation. I have been asked to have a baby to satrt in january. The lady whose baby it is is head at our local early years department.

she has asked me to do a letter about pay etc.. She wants three days a week. I was thinking of charging her £400 maybe £500 up front and when starts maybe refund her £100 back off first months bil. what do you think

Nicola x

Not a childminder but my childminder ask that we pay a retainer from when we book the children in to when they start. DS2 is to start in sept so its £5 a week non refundable whether we do or do not start. hth

January is a long way off!!

The first question is, do you have the space now and will it be unused between now and January - therefor you will not get any regular income from this space between now and then?

If this is the case then you could charge half/full fee between now and then.

If you are already uding that space, and it becomes available in January then you should just charge a deposit, I think that £500 is an awful lot, I think the standard is one weeks fees non returnable.

ANything else then please ask

yes, I agree. January is too far away imo to be charging a retainer. If the place is available now and you can't fill it for the next 8 months then you could mention a retainer although I doubt many parents would want to pay even half fees for 8 months.

If it were me,I would say to her to come back to you nearer the time, maybe September onwards and then consider whether the place is/will be available and discuss a retainer/deposit from then on.

I agree, £500 is too much. I don't think you can guarantee that the place is going to be available come January so if you take that off her you may then have to pay her back if for any reason the place isn't available.

I would discuss with her after September, paying either a deposit of 1 weeks fees (which I believe is then taken off her first month's fees) or a retainer of half fees for those 3 months.