Term holidays.

[Bumbleb79]

Hi,

My son has started going to a child minder the last couple of weeks. Basically had few questions :

1. Do child minders charge during term holidays ?
2. Do child minders do half hours. As in look after children for 2.5 hours and charge for 2.5 or they charge for the whole hour ?
3. What's the General practise if you want to reduce child minding hours. Do we need to give sufficient notice ? When he was In a nursery , it used to be 4 weeks notice.

Thank you.

Those really are down to each individual provider. Have you had a copy of the contract? It is likely to say in there. You should also ask your childminder specifically - so if you want term time only care and not to pay during school holidays, then they can reprice things if necessary plus know the term dates in advance (not all schools even in a local area are the same).

As nanny nick said. CMs are all different. You need to find the one that offers what you need.

Thank you Nannynick and Hsmm. I did not get any contract as such. She was through a referral. Ok will check with her. Thank you for replying.

Ask for a contract it clears up everything.....I assume she is Ofsted registered. (you should have seen her registration and insurance as well as complaints information) You should have signed permission forms and given information about your child's health and needs as a bare minimum.

Did you not discuss terms before you took up the place?

Its pretty common for you to pay for hours you book even if you don't use them as you are paying fro a space that is not available to others (if you go into work and the boss says there is nothing to do today I expect you get paid), having said that a few cm's may not charge but it is rare.
Some cms; charge by whole hours others are sessional (so whole morning, afternoon or day because they cant fill the time around you) and some will charge part hours.

If you want to leave a setting this is normally set out in the contract if you don't know you will have to ask, and consider how you would like to be treated what is fair and reasonable. If you don't pay her she can immediately terminate your contract similarly if she breeches her duty of care like leaving your child without legal supervision you could terminate immediately but you should follow her complaints procedure...something again you should have been advised of.