Child Minder still charging when she is ill - normal?

[Nessalina]

Asking for a friend.
She's filling in some forms as her DS is going to a childminder soon. One of the clauses says that if the childminder is unable to look after him due to unforeseen circumstances (illness etc) then she still charges them half fees. Is this standard?

Not in my experience. Most don't charge for anytime they are unable to work but then full fees apply if child is unable to attend as they are still open. Every childminder is different and if you don't like here terms then don't sign and go somewhere else.

Anyone else?

Thanks by the way!

She should have her own self-employed insurance to cover her sick days, I think?

No not standard - whilst I know many cm's charge whilst they are on pre-booked holidays, charging whilst sick would leave the parents wide-open! One of the reason us cm's are so rarely off sick is because we don't get paid so I wouldn't be signing that contract or at he very least have restrictions in terms of number of days per week/month/year.

No, ds's childminder never charged for sick days. She didn't charge for holidays either, but I think this was unusual.
Come to think of it, she didn't charge when Ds was ill, which is very unusual.
She was brilliant!

I found that some cm don't charge for bank holidays but mine does. I don't mind. But I've not seen anyone charge for sick time off. The logic being that parents can then use that money to find alternative childcare. The only time charging makes sense is if the cm offers to send the child to her backup cm and hence parents can pay her as usual.

What happens if the child is sick? Will this charge the parents only half rate then? Some of these terms go hand in hand.

There is no right answer to this. The cm offers a service with specific terms and the parent decides whether to accept.

My terms are full fees when I'm available and no fees when I'm not. Other CMs in my area have different terms, some 50/50 for time off, some who will work bank holidays, some who have a set number of paid holidays, etc.

There is a right answer. No it's not on. Charging for pre- booked holiday is one thing but charging for sick days is ridiculous.

What if she was off sick every week? Or for a month? Sod that.

I'd look for another CM

I would say it's not normal, but then again depends on cm and often the area... Tend to find cm in London etc where they are high demand and charge a fortune get away with charging. If your friend really wants to go with cm then I think I would want a clause saying 'upto max 5 days' or similar, I'd probs also want her medical history! Haha
It's completely up to cm how or what she charges. It's also up to parent whether she wants to use the cm.
Having said all of that, there is nothing worse than a parent who brings their child with runny nappy that's 'just teething' even though the whole family has had it or when a child tells you half way through the day that they were sick last night or has conjunctivitis or anything else... Then you have to close for the week without pay because your whole family ends up infected!!
So if you don't agree with your childminder charging for sick days then please bare in mind that sending your own kids poorly so you can go to work and still get paid means the childminder then potentially loses a weeks wages!

Sorry that was a bit ranty!

Perfectly normal. Many cm's charge for holidays and sick time (I dont) many dont. Its up to them.

Some charge for the kids/parents sickness & holidays some charge 50% some dont charge at all. Self employed therefor can make their own terms and conditions.

Many charge a higher rate to help cover sickness and holidays. So you dont actually pay at these times.

The best way is to average out the costs over the whole year and compare to someone who doesnt charge this but charges for food, snacks, outings etc. Sometimes there is very little difference.

TBH when you are paying any other self employed person you are paying a whole lot more per hour which covers their time off its just not mentioned in their invoice.

Its up to each cm.
It maybe she's fed up with children coming sick and passing it on, maybe you could ask her exactly what she means by her illness and discuss a limit on it? I have heard of cm's charging if they have to close because of infection knowingly brought into the setting so list things like D&V after a mindee has been ill with it. Its amazing how many parents have a child sick on Sunday and bring them Monday.

Seems a bit weird. I thought CMs were self employed which surely means they don't get paid for holidays or illness?

CM are self employed so can set their own contracts.

I don't charge for my holidays I do when others are on holiday. I don't when I am sick and do when Child is sick.

I do know some CM's that charge 1/2 for all.

It is a contract you can choose to sign or not.

For CM illness - not on.
For child's illness (too ill to attend) entirely reasonable.

Bishop - generally I'd agree with you, but CMs are often ill because parents have sent a child with an illness without taking into account that the cm will have to close if they catch it.

As HSMM says, it really depends on the individual childminder. I know one locally to me who just charges half rate whenever she or the mindees are off for whatever reason. Whereas I charge full rate if the mindees are off and nothing if I'm off. Obviously it kind of works out the same deal for parents.