What's a reasonable fee increase notice?

[dillite]

Just received a text from my childminder saying that due to the rising living costs she will be increasing her fees by £1 an hour starting June. I am quite pissed off to be honest as that's an extra £150 a month that I need to find somewhere. Is just over 2 weeks notice standard practice?

How much does she currently charge and whereabouts are you? It may be that she's been undercharging and has just realised that she needs to increase her rates to make CMing a viable option, otherwise she'll have to give it up and find other employment.

I agree that it's a big jump, but if she hasn't increased her fees at all for a couple of years it may explain it.

I'm in the south east and the current going rate around here is £4 an hour. £5 an hour is what nurseries seem to charge. She has had a reduction of 2 mindees in the last 2 months, no idea whether it's relevant or not. I don't mind the increase even though it is quite steep, it's just that there's so little notice. I would have thought that something like 4 weeks would be reasonable. Plus my rent goes up by 10% too which isn't helping.

What's the notice period in your contract? I always thought any contract changes had to be done with the same notice period as this. £4/hr sounds low for SE although I appreciate areas vary quite considerably but likewise 1/hr is a big increase & I would expect at the very least contractual notice period (& in fact when I went from 5 to 6 a hr for one family I notified then in June that it would start September)

A text? How professional!

Are you happy with this rate? If it's what nurseries charge then it sounds too much for me.

Sounds like it's purely due to the other mindees leaving.

What can you do tho? I'm sure your DC are settled and attached.

I'm shit at maths but is that a 20% increase? That's extortionate

Tbh 1/hr increase for a cm is pretty steep unless there were special circumstances such as change of terms to inc food or if a discount was offered initially or for sibling who is no longer with you. I would ask for a meeting & be honest saying I get the need to increase due to inflation/higher living costs etc but I simply can't afford 20% increase (& what if this becomes an annual thing - perhaps worth asking )

I'm putting my rates up in September when most contracts are reviewed. I've told my parents verbally that they'll be going up and will be adding a proper letter to invoices at the end of the month. Probably quite a long time in advance but I have term time only mindees so only fair they get told well before the summer hols.

2 weeks isn't long enough in my opinion.

You need to refer to your childminding contract and your CM's fees policy.
In my own fees policy I state that I review my fees annually and it may increase in line with inflation and other local CM's. I also give at least 4 wks notice of any increase by letter or email - not text message!
I think she could have worded it better also as by saying a pound an hour sounds so much more but again like others have said it could be due to other minders charging the same price.
For instance when I started childminding my LA Development worker advised me to charge a flat day rate of £50 instead of £5 per hour. Another CM I know was charging £40pd and was also advised to increase to £50pd as that is the going rate in our area. She increased her fee and gave parents 2 months notice.
I think most people don't actually realise how much CMs have to spend per month on equipment for children, local activities (lots of playgroups charge per child/per family), food and snacks, petrol costs for school run or home drop offs if applicable etc. The list is endless!
You will only find out if you talk to your CM so if I were you, I would ask as you might find she probably didn't want to increase her fees but due to her own expenditures increasing she may have had no choice.

Thank you all. I need to find the contract and have a good look at what her terms are regarding increase. I'm getting ready to move homes, so everything that's not used daily is in boxes.

I do understand that it's not that cheap being a childminder, my biggest annoyance is at how it has been done, to be honest. She seems to have upped her fees for food and snacks as well, although those do not apply to me, as I provide my own. I am already paying an extra £30- £50 (half-terms are the most expensive ones, as they then go out on day trips with high entrance fees) a month for childminding groups and materials, as she has explained that due to the rising costs she's not able to cover it. That's fine, as it means that my child gets to do fun things. I will be having a chat about the increased fees tomorrow if there's time, she was very keen on letting us go today. Our Contract is until September, when it's for for a review due to dd starting school.

I completely agree with Forresitters- text is awful way to do it, in my contract i state 8 weeks written notice!

How and when do you pay? If your invoices are due end of June then I actually think she has given you enough notice, if it's beginning of June then no she hasn't. Check your contract, and then take your queries to your CM. Good luck x

I'm in south east and cm Charge £7/8 near me so £4 or even £5 is good

Tho agree the way she went about it was wrong and unprofessional. Check contract. Prob says a months notice for change of fees /hours etc

Why do you pay entrance fees? I thought cm
Paid these and used against tax ie exspenses

Blondes, cm are free to charge parents for outings etc. I don't, but it does stop me taking children out to places with entrance fees. We tend to go to the free places, eg the park, a lot. Anything with an entrance fee is a real treat. My pay isn't high enough to take children to lots of attractions and the parents I have wouldn't appreciate being billed for me to take their children out each week.
you can put something down as expenses and knock it off your income so you don't pay tax on it, but If you don't earn enough to pay tax in the first place it's not a great help.

True. By the time I've done my tax return and taken off exspenses my tax isn't high

But if I had to pay out even £500 extras year - £10/15 a week not including few weeks holiday - for trips I wouldn't be happy

Are there sure start centres near you?bet if go to a m&t for a £1per child you don't want to ask parents for a £1 - but over the year it adds up

Those are the kind of things we do go to, mums and toddler groups tend to be up to a couple of pounds, the singing Group is £1.50 per family group and our library does a free story time group each week. I don't mind paying for those, it's more the things like soft play, or farms where it is £4 a child we don't do very often and keep for a treat.

I don't think it's the amount per se but the way she's just done it. With such a big hike as that (not the total cost) then she should at least give you enough notice to be able to give her notice if you choose to go elsewhere, IMO.
That said, it would seem to make sense to me to have in the original contract a clause saying the fees will be reviewed in {insert month} each year, and to keep on top of smaller increases, so you don't have to suddenly put them up 25%

Right, I've had a look at my contract and it says nothing about fee increases, only that terms can be looked at when the contract is up for renewal, which in my case is in October.

AMI88 I pay on the first Monday of every month, one month in advance.

I am beginning to get quite annoyed by this now. Last night I brought it up with her, and at first she said that it's due to the rising cost of living. But then she said something how her income has gone down so much now that the other 2 are gone, that she has no choice but to charge me more- there's only my dd, who is full time and another after schooler left, so that's 3 or 4 hours a day. I guess that also explains why I have been getting charged outings costs too in the last couple of months.

I feel like I am being taken for a ride.

It kind of sounds like you are a bit.

I mean, I can see it from her perspective as she's obviously skint but what is she doing to change that situation? She's going about it in such a way that she will lose all her mindees.

I bet she wouldn't drop her hourly rate if she took on a new mindee in a couple of months!

I guess then that, with the clause saying it can be reviewed in October, then legally she can't just up the fees now in May.
Whereas I have sympathy for he financial predicament, that's not really your responsibility, and your easy answer is that you can't afford that so will be forced to look elsewhere and she then won't have any income.
It boils down to if she needs you more than you need her I suppose, but you need to have the conversation with her pointing out
a) her contract doesn't allow random hikes in the middle of the year
b) a lot of CMs get work by word of mouth recommendations and she's not really endearing herself to you in this way
c) Everybody is feeling the pinch, and where does she think you are suddenly going to get the extra money from?
d) She's a self employed CM, not a Nanny employed by you - it's not your responsibility to top up her income because she hasn't got enough work - you 'buy a place' from her.

I would expect a fee renewal to take place in October. And no sooner.

Id also expect 10/15 percent increase, not 25!

If she is not earning enough she needs to find a better way of advertising her spaces. Or figure out a way to make herself more desirable to perspective clients. She's going to end up loosing her mindees like this and to be honest I wouldn't blame you for leaving with that kind of attitude.

To be honest- it sounds harsh to say as I am a CM, but if she is down on money, that's her responsibility to fill the spaces- I wouldn't dream of hiking up my prices to compensate for any loss of earnings!

By the sound of it to me, you were getting an amazing deal, which she could afford to offer when she was full, but now she has vacancies she is realising she needs to start charging the going rate.

It's really unfair, and financially she sounds like she has got herself into a right mess! I would (if you can) start looking for other childcare and hand your notice in! She may be a wonderful childminder, but it's not fair that you are being "taken for a ride"

Best wishes x

I think I'd refuse this and start looking for another CM in light of an expected 25% rise in October!

Double check what the going rate for cm is for your area and if any free places elsewhere

Stating the terms of your contract means she can't just hike fees up till oct so 6mths time - does it say how much increase? She's increasing by 25% (if my maths is correct) that's a huge increase !

Normally the notice period of the contract but you have a price review built in so that supersedes it, I think.

Do you know anyone else looking for a childminder? Help her fill her places!!