Is a childminder charging too much/being unfair ?

[shopping01]

I am a childminder and have been approached by a parent who is a little unhappy to say the least. After using her childminder for 2 years her hubby lost his job, so she notified the childminder that they could not afford to pay full fees for the summer holidays, but she could pay half providing that the slot be kept open until September - when she goes back to work after maternity. The childminder agreed.The childminder would then get a 2 year old and a 6 month old full time. Anyway hubby quickly got a job again so they gave the childminder 2 weeks notice that they would need her again and everything was OK. However childminder filled the holiday slots and cannot now take her child but still charges half fees ? I as a childminder think this is excessive and not allowed. 2 slots for 1 child is she not being greedy - knowing what this family have gone through. Its not like the slot is not being filled is it ?
What are your thoughts, she is unsure or not weather to pay her as now she has to look elsewhere primarily me - not sure what advice to give her. I certainly as a childminder would not charge her if I was not available.

I think it depends what the agreement was - were they paying half fees to keep the slot available over the summer, or were they paying to keep a slot open in September?

I do think that once the holiday place was filled, the childminder should stop charging the half fees though.

Yeah, it sounds a bit off that she was able to fill the slot and she is still charging quite a lot for the parent to keep her place. Not sure what the legality of that is .. If she doesn't mind giving up the place in September, I'd definitely advise her to stop paying.

I don't really see what the childmimder has done wrong here.
The parent gave notice that the space wouldn't be needed till sep but agreed to pay half fees to keep the place in sep.
The childminder then filled the space as she is expecting the child back in sep.
circumstances change and the parent now wants the place back but cm has fiilled it but will have the space as arranged in sep
What is the cm supposed to do?
I would suggest giving notice and switching to a new cm

Thanks ladies, well as I only have the parents view on this - the other childminder is away on holiday I am going with what I know. Understandably I would take the side of the childminder if no other child had filled the slot, but she is being charged £400 per month £100 per week and the childminder cant even have the kids. The childminder is therefor on £300 per week as she now has a full paying child too of £200 per week. (Oxfordshire prices are crazy) Abit excessive I think. Also its the moral issue here that a shocker. These kids have been going for 2 years, its as if she has no compassion. Anyway thanks for the advice I shall try to write her up a letter of some sort to try to help her resolve this issue. I will also give PACEY a ring too and see what their stance is on this xx (best way to get actual info is to see original contract I know - but I don't want to get too involved - as I don't know both sides). Thanks again xx

Just joined today - what a great site too xxxx

Sounds like a good example of where there should have been a written agreement. Childminders may be great with kids but it's still their livelihood - they don't just do it for the fun of it and it's really hard work.

The CM agreed to keep the places open in September, for which it's perfectly fair that the parents pay a fee. If there was no written agreement that the kids might actually go to the CM for part of the summer, then the fact that the CM filled the places for the holidays is irrelevant. Other people aren't expected to show "compassion" so it's a bit unfair to argue the moral case if there was no legal agreement to start with.

Well it really depends on what was agreed- if the mum was asking to pay half fees over the summer to reserve places for september then aslong a cmer provides those places in september she is doing nothing wrong.

If however the agreement was to reserve the places til as soon as the mum need them again and she said it could be anytime at all then the cm has to honour that

I think it's fair. it's actually a retainer to hold the place open till sept. what would have happened if the parents then decided the children were not coming back in september? the minder would have lost a lot of money

So..the CM was being paid half fees to keep the space UNTIL september-so,to me, that means it's a retainer for over the summer holidays....then the CM fills that space with another child.....so surely the CM can't charge the half fees as the place is no longer being retained for the parent?..or have I got confused.......she can't charge twice for the same space,surely?
The CM has given that space to someone else-so it's been filled-so how can she also charge someone else for it?
I always thought a retainer was to keep that space open so it wasn't filled by anyone else!

It sounds more like a payment to guarantee a space in September than a retainer. It all depends how it was worded, but it sounds to me like the CM simply made use of an available space.

Sounds fair to me, she is paying (only half what the going rate is which seems a favour by the child minder) to hold the spaces for when she thought she would need them in September. As long as the child minder can still take them in September she is upholding her part of the bargain and the parent is unreasonable to expect her to change things because her situation has changed.

I would say differently if the child minder had not done her a favour and agreed to half fees, would be more like profiteering in that instance.