Do you pay your childminder when they're off sick?

[weeblueberry]

Just that really. There's no contract in place I know I know and there's been a lot of absence which has, so far, been unpaid and accepted as such. Now this month she will be down quite a bit from illness and I'm curious what other people thought?

Sorry I just realised I've missed off a big part of my initial message. There have also been lots of days where my child has been ill and she's not been able to take her then. Should she be getting paid for these days?

I pay if dd is sick (so can't use the place) but not if the childminder is sick.

We have a contract with our childminder and the deal is that if the children are ill and don't go to her then we still pay normal rate but if she is ill then we don't pay her anything.

But she hasn't been ill in over 2 years.
Hth

Thanks both! Until now she's not been paid unless we've had to tell her the morning of (ie sickness in the night) but it's all very informal. She gets paid in advance so between sickness and planned days off next month she's down a lot this payment period.

I pay if my kids don't go because they are sick or we are on holiday. I don't pay if childminder sick or on holiday

Contracts always said that we paid if our dc were unable to go (as the place was there) but didn't need to pay if the CM were sick (or unavailable for any other reason). In something like 16 yrs of using CMs though, I can only ever think of one occasion when any of my CMs were ever 'sick' though - they tend to be a hardy bunch and tend to push on through.

If child sick you pay.

If childminder sick no pay

I had a childminder try and insist I paid her for a weeks care she hadn't supplied because she was ill even though her own contract said otherwise!

As far as I know, if it's your fault dc isn't going you pay, if it's their fault you don't.

You need to sort out a contract ASAP

But as others said if your child ill you pay

If cm ill you don't

Thanks all. We're doing a review in two months and a contract will be in place then. Going to pay her for our kids being sick.

My concern (unfounded but it's still there..) is that she's going to say she can't take them at any little sniffle and still get paid. What are your criteria for your kids being too sick to go?

Have any of you ever encountered this?

Our CM doesn't take them if there is sickness/diarrhoea (quite rightly) but a sniffle etc wouldn't preclude care. We pay if the children are ill. We also paid her a couple of days sick leave this year when she was having a minor op needing a couple of days off, as she is almost never sick (1 day in 3 years with a D&V bug), very accommodating and didn't expect to be paid for the days, however she had arranged for her parents to come and stay with her and basically be her taxi so she could be back at work the following week as she couldn't drive and didn't want to be off work for weeks and not only lose income but leave us in the lurch at short notice. Our childminder is a keeper, so are her parents!

Without a contract you can't know. Most CMs charge when the child is off, but not if they're closed. Some CMs don't charge for either and other CMs charge for both. You need a contract urgently.

Mine charges if he kids are sick but not if it's her.

In terms of sending them when they're I'll. She'll take them if they just have a cold/sniffly but anything else is a no. The only exception being ear/throat infections/conjunctivitis when she will take them after so many days of antibiotics (2 maybe I can't remember off the top of my head)

You pay if children are ill.

I doubt a cm would keep turning away a child with a cold, even if they're paid. That is stressful for parents dependent on the childcare - parents would end up looking elsewhere. Cm are used to children having colds. I think they have to be strict about anything infectious though, as nurseries are.

All childminder's have different term, conditions and policies when it comes to their contracts. Your CM should provide you with a contract and it is up to you to sign and agree to its terms and continue using her service.
I charge if my mindees do not attend due to being sick/illness but I do not charge for my own or my child's sickness. My back up CM charges for both her own sickness and her mindee's and this was due to parents knowingly bringing their children in with sick bugs etc. and resulted in her catching it numerous times. This is something I have too thought about as earlier this year was particularly bad when most of my parents also would bring their children in with conjunctivitis, stomach bugs, contagious infectious etc. and I had to close due to my own child catching some of the illnesses!

Our chldminders will take them unless it is contagious ( so same basis as nursery) coughs/colds no issue...sickness/diarrhoea, chicken pox, conjunctivitis are all exclusions

I'm a childminder and I still charge if the child is sick. I would never exclude for every minor sniffle, it would be pretty damaging to my relationship with my parents. They'd soon find alternative childcare I reckon. People can't just take days off work on a whim so they would end up not being able to use me. Also, I have kids myself and I would have to use the same rules to govern shutting down for their illness, so if I exclude for a sniffle I'd have to shut for a sniffle. I don't charge for my own/my kids illness so I'd go broke quite quickly!

You need to see a copy of a clear sickness policy that states exactly what illnesses are excluded, I use the department of health's list so all parents know up front what the deal is.

There is no 'norm' all cm's make their own terms and conditions.

You really should have a contract which stipulates this and other important things like payment details, notice period, holiday pay - do you pay when she is on holiday or when you are on holiday or both? etc. Make sure you understand the contract before you sign it. You can ask to negotiate although cm isnt obliged to, and make sure it suits you as well as them. If not go elsewhere.

Contracts protect the cm and you from misunderstandings. The amount of times I have heard on cm threads " CM wants paying for her holiday/ notice period/my childs sick days, I didnt realise it was in the contract, I didnt read it before I signed it, do I really have to pay"?

Normal coughs and colds are fine its the infectious things that are a no no. Most parents 'get it' but some will send their kids in knowing they are ill (they forget kids will often tell the cm that they have been up in the night with d&v ) It just means that they get a phone call pdq to come and get their child as its not on for them to be passing their germs to other kids and the cm and her family.

Please make sure you read your contract several times and understand all of it. I recently had to let a charge go as her parent hadn't read the contract and were refusing to pay for days child was off sick, despite it being in the contract. ( there was other stuff, but that was the last straw)
I charge for child's sick days/non attendance but not for my own.

I'm a cm. if child is ill or on holiday, im still paid. If im Ill or take the day off for holiday or otherwise, I'm not paid.

With regards to sending a child who is ill to the cm, a cold is fine if the child is generally well in themselves. If a child is poorly and run down, has a temperature or sickness or another contagious illness they can't come in. I tend to go by the health protection agency list (although im not sure if it's still called that) but it has a list of illness and how long children need to be excluded for.

With childcare you are paying for a space to be available if you don't want it or cant use it for that day you would still normally pay in the same way if you went to work and there was a power cut you wouldn't expect not to get paid.
Most cm's will take children who are not contagious and are able to participate in a normal day they wouldn't take them if they couldn't look after the needs of all the children in their care for example if your child needed to lay down all day and you cant request that they stay in. I'm not sure how I would feel about a parent even thinking I would send home for a sniffle because it shows a lack of trust and I would start to think you would be wondering if I was doing my own things rather than educate and play, (mine are at school at the moment). It is a common problem in my experience that a parent comes for a sick child and thinks that they should be laying down not playing and if they are playing they are not sick, generally resolved once mummy experiences a vomit play ask for food vomit cycle for themselves (and falls for have something to eat) and for some reason some seem to think that calpol means they are cured.
I don't charge for my sickness but I am rarely sick and worked through cancer treatment and chemotherapy, so parents have paid me through their choice for the odd day last year (3) I have heard of some start to if the illness is one brought into the setting by a child knowingly being brought ill, you often find a child saying I was sick last night or mummy said I had eaten too fast last night , when they vomit all over your carpet. I've even had a nappy change revealing calamine all over chicken pox which supposedly must have been applied by the visiting 13 year old niece, who knew what to put on and where its kept but didn't tell and adult...flying pigs.
Luckily my parents are in the main responsible about illnesses they also know and trust me to act professionally and know I will bend very backwards to support them at work and they reciprocate. Should someone suggest I was pulling the wool they would be looking elsewhere.