Parents, can I ask you a question about holidays if you use a childminder ?

[Claudinette1978]

I'm about to start in a couple of months, I'm looking for potential parents, I'm still working on my admin etc...for the holidays :

1- Do you pay full-fee for your holidays and no fees when your cm is on holidays ?

2-Do you pay 50% of the fee for your holidays and 50 % of the fee when your childminder is on holidays ?

3-Other and if you could tell me what is your arrangement that would be nice !

Thank you for your help

She's legally entitled to paid time off like anyone else no she's not; she's self employed

I pay when I am on holiday and when CM is on holiday.

CM only takes 6 days holiday a year.

I paid full fee for both! Childminder always took 4 weeks in August and 2 weeks at Christmas. We paid full fee for our own holidays unless they were at these times in which case it all worked out. She didn't take any other holiday. I think it would have worked better if she had increased her daily charge to cover the holiday times as we moved house just before her summer holidays so we didn't pay her during the holiday season as we'd already ended our notice period. Also we had to pay for bank holidays.

This was £50 per day and included cooked lunch, afternoon snack and cost of taking them to stay and play but not nappies.

I pay full pay for her holidays (4 weeks a year) and any day I choose not to use (although largely I align my leave with hers, just as I did when DS was at nursery).

I also think, before signing any contracts, you need to have a really good think about when you are taking holiday...... do you want more than the BHs at Christmas? Will you be taking your holidays in term time ? etc. etc.
When mine were little, I was teaching in schools - all my CMers charged 50% throughout the school holiday (would take the dc by arrangement if I wanted them to at all if I topped up to full fee), but they would not take any days during term time, as there is no way I could cover that. OTOH, for folk who have more flexibility with their leave, they might like the choice of dates, but would probably need to know in advance when you are taking your holiday, so they can tie in their leave with that. Not many people can just take leave at short notice.

We pay 50% during her holidays (about 3-4 weeks a year) and 50% during ours. It works well. She states 6 weeks notice but actually gives us the full years holidays by November. She refunds us when she's sick (rare). We pay if DD is sick.
She's very reasonable, flexible and has a similar parenting ethos to us. We are very happy.

I pay nothing when she is on holiday . I have a term time contract so would still pay if they didn't go on a term day . In school holidays I don't pay unless I use her .

I pay full fees regardless of holidays.

I pay nothing when my CM is on holiday and 50% when we are on holiday.

I'm a cm and do full fee if I am open, no fee if I am closed. Nice and straightforward. I think parents can resent paying for a service that's not available and I can understand why.

I took 4 weeks holiday that they didn't pay for and gave dates in January. They paid for their holidays if not aligned with mine. They paid bank holidays. All worked out in advance so
Monthly fees the same all year round.

I charge 70 pounds a day with everything included, nappies, lunch, breakfast dinners, outings.

I charge for their holidays and sickness but not my own, in regards to Bank Holidays I don't charge as I am not willing to work them. Personally I don't think it's fair for parents to pay when I am on holiday or sick as they need to find alternative childcare.

Our contract with our child minder is for term time only (we're both teachers) so we pay nothing over the holidays - unless we pre-arrange the odd day.

I use a CM for DD.
As ours is mainly after school care and holidays, we worked out the rate over 12 months (with the childminder) and we pay the same amount every month, so effectively she is paid regardless of holidays and bank holidays....would it be worth working out something like this?
We both find it a lot easier as we know where we are every month.
That being said, we pay for bank holidays and 50% rate for annual leave - we get paid for holidays so why shouldn't CM X

I don't pay anything when my childminder takes holidays or when we take holidays.

I think for my policies I would have:
Parents/child holiday: full fee
Childminder holiday: full fee because the parents gets paid holiday so why not the childminder?
Sick child: full fee
Out of opening hours:£5 extra for every 15 mins unless agreed before hand or called sometimes they can be stuck in traffic or the transports are held up not their fault really. But sometimes I had parents coming at 7pm with a sleepy head!! 1hr after closure the children were so distressed. I’m sure they wouldn’t do that at school!!
Parents agree sign the contract and if not then find another childminder.
You have to be firm in your policies because to be honest sometimes parents take the piss.

We pay full fees for our holidays and none for her holidays, she also offers term time only places with no retainer fees. So is more than fair, I think.