Childminder & holidays/pay

[Scattymere]

Our childminder has sent fees for this month and has not lowered it to take into account the 2 x bank holidays, is this normal?

We only have her Mondays and Fridays, so this month will pay her for 2 x Mondays she won't work, even though she is part time. She is also taking a weeks holiday this month too, which she made clear would be paid for (she requests 4 weeks paid holiday a year) so we understand that. just feels very annoying that we are paying for 4 days this month we are not getting childcare for?

Check your contract, if it says you pay for her holidays and bank holidays when she isnt open then you are obliged pay.

Are you taking your child out for the bank holidays or is she closed? If you are taking them out to do things with them then you still have to pay to keep their place open. If parents dont use contracted hours they are still payable.

You really should have had this sorted out before you signed the contract, you need to re read it and decide if you actually agree with it, if not try negotiating with the cm. Ask if she intends to be closed every bank holiday? If she is and you only need her for Mondays and Fridays then you are going to be paying for a lot of nothing! if she doesnt want to change her terms of business with you you will have to look elsewhere and give the required notice.

Dont know why she took you on for these days if she isnt going to be available for a large chunk of them!

As willow said if you agreed to pay bank holidays in the contract then that is why.

However ... I forgot to deduct bank holidays from my bills once and only corrected them when a parent noticed. I would have noticed eventually, but not immediately.

As the pp say, you need to check your contract. I used to charge for bank holidays, but wasn't available to work them. Now I don't charge for them, I just find it easier that way. But I don't charge for my holidays either. Each childminder is different and we all do our contracts slightly differently. Speak to her and clarify it with your cm and if you don't like her response, and it's a deal breaker for you, give notice and phone a few other childminders in the area and hope they don't do the same thing. (When I charged for bank hols, there were a few of us in the town doing the same thing).

Seems a lot- if she gets 4 weeks holiday pro rota (if she only works 2 days for you) that's 4x2 days all great.

Pro rota bank holidays should be 2/5 of 8 bank holidays a year surely.

If one parent pays for Monday and Friday and pays 8 days they can't use as she's closed another parents works Tuesday Wednesday's and therefore never pays for any bank holidays - given it may take several years for Xmas or new years bank holidays to fall on those two days a week. Dosnt seem right. Each family should pay for 4 weeks holidays off their days plus 8 bank holidays if they are full time or pro rota if not.

Parents pay for the hours they are contracted for not for other peoples.

I would not be asking parents to pay for bank holidays if their kids never attended on those days anyways as well as their own holiday times.

But as I said if I ALWAYS took every bank holiday off I wouldnt take on a parent who only needed mondays and fridays! This should have been clear before the op signed the contract.