CHILDCARE EXPENSES

[Bowie44]

During the summer holidays (and its the same for other school holidays) I am paying my childminder £270 per week. Is it right then, that if she decides to take my children to a toddlers club, she should bill me the incurred costs?

Depends what's in your contract. Mine states that all these costs are included in fees. Other CMs bill separately.

I've double checked, and there is no mention of it in the contract. Besides, CM is helping run the toddler club during the holidays, so my children have no choice but to go.

Just talk to her and check.

Hard to judge whether £270 a week is a lot or a little as it depends where you are, how long she is caring for them, and most importantly how many of them there are.

That said, you presumably must have agreed that they should go to this toddler group, or she must have said she could only have them if they came to toddler group with her. If she did not then raise the subject of payment of fees, I think you could tell her now that you did not appreciate that she would expect you to pay, and see what she says.

It doesn't have to be in the contract but you should check your CM's policies as it may be in there. As a CM myself I don't include this in the contract but I have it in my policies regarding activities, trips and outings during half term holidays. I send a letter out to parents with a timetable or itinerary of where we will be going and how much they will need to contribute.

Are your children going to the CM daily and therefore attending the toddler club daily too? Also how much extra is the toddler club per session or per week?
£270pw would be very cheap in my area for 2 children as usual cost is £50pd. Most groups charge per child whilst others charge per family. If your CM has other mindees besides your own it would work out very costly for her to pay for them all. She could claim it out of her expenses but then that would restrict her monthly outgoings.

Hey, as others mentioned, it's hard to judge without knowing the situation.

You say "my children" how many of yours is she looking after, and for how many days a week? I ask because if she has two for five days a week, I would charge you £360, which potentially makes £270 look very cheap.

I have a rule in my policies, not contract, that I will do activites with my children every day, if I am charged more than £4p/child I will invoice parent. This is mostly because I have four or five children a day, and if I had to pay for all of them two/three times a week, that could range from £32-48 (big expense every week). We also in the summer do bigger trips, which include getting on train to central London, going to museums, aquarium, palace, and going to the seaside etc so those I charge for. Parents are happy to pay, because they know children are going out and experiencing new things.

Is it payment your not happy about, or the fact that she goes to the club? HTH

Sorry just read forresitters and I basically said same thing!

@ACM88 it's good to know that most other CM's do the same thing. I think sometimes it's difficult for parents and other non CM's to understand our expenses and extra curricular activities/trips payments etc.
It's funny though because working as a nanny I used to receive anything between £20-£100 per week as kitty for my charge and now as a CM it's completely different because I pay for most things myself for my mindees or find as much free activities as possible because from previous experience most parents don't have the extra to pay or question exactly what you're spending it on!

I find expenses a tricky one for CM, even though we can obviously claim them against our tax, like you say it impacts our monthly income...which for some CMs is less than £1,000!!

Having said that families often select CM because we are the most cost effective childcare option, so if we start adding extras, it suddenly becomes very expensive. It's a fine balance. My view is quality costs, and if my parents want me to go out and offer children fun learning experiences, then occassionally I will have to bill them for it.

A lot of parents/customers are confused by this business of "claiming expenses off tax" and imagine that any childminding expenses are somehow refunded or credited in full by the government, which simply is not true. If I spend say £10 on a legitimate expense such as a ticket for the zoo, I will eventually not have to pay tax on £10 of earnings, but I still have to have £10 cash in the first place, and the tax benefit could be eighteen months later. and then it only reduces the effective cost by the taxation amount - in other words takes about £2 off. In practice, an expensive trip out will often mean the CM has worked the morning/afternoon for nothing or next to nothing, which is why the big trips have to be eked out with less expensive activities.

Jinxxx - I've had to explain this to some CMs. They say, "It's ok, I can claim it back against tax" and clearly seem to think that somehow, magically they will get the money back. When I try and explain that they just get tax relief, I get very puzzled looks.

For example: "I'll claim this £4 back against tax", so I explain that it will still cost approx £3.

Like others have said I think you need to look at the total cost, as your childminder's hourly rate could be on the low side. Some childminders charge extra for outings and others don't. Just like some charge for meals while others include everything in the hourly rate. However, your childminder should have made any charges clear from the beginning so that you knew exactly what you would be paying for.