Do all childminders charge for hols?

[sheepgirl]

I just wanted to know if it is standrad practice for childminders to charge parents for when they go on holiday and for public holidays?

MaureenMlove she has been minding for around 3 years and has 2 children of her own. Her inspecting was only this March.

how much????!!!! (ok excessive use of punctuation)

Assuming that you are working whilst your childminder is away, and you have to find alternative childcare - this CM wants you to pay twice in effect? Don't think that adds up.

Well, Sheepgirl, if she's anything like my childminder she'll wave you goodbye cheerily and turn back to the waiting queue of parents dying to use her services.

I am enormously lucky in my CM. And I hope she's had a whale of a time on holiday this week, too.

mine charges £30 for that time

sheepgirl, public hols, i expect you get paid for them. why shouldn't cm?

It's the self-employment argument. The fact that this tends to be rather a long-standing arrangement and one that is not well-paid kind of passes the arguers by.

Fishie - there is no self-employed profession (and I do not include people who work for employers on a self-employed basis) who get paid for doing nothing.

Do you know of any??? If so prove me wrong???

i pay £35 a day in a horrid part of london. it is a bargain. my cm is unsurpassed.

Fishie - you haven't answered my question! Thanks for telling me your CM is a bargain but this discussion is not about the rate it's about the bloody cheek of being asked to pay for my CMs hols

yes i do understand your point. but i do favour the cm in this case, at least it is all understood. otherwise she'd simply factor in the cost to her time off and charge you more. would that make you happier? it is just a difference of presentation surely and maybe she needs a bit of custmoer training?

Most self-employed people can charge rather more than £35 a day, specifically to incorporate holiday pay.

I honestly think my CM is doing the right thing.

Have you exhausted all other options sg? I really hope you can reason with her, it can't be easy for you knowing that you're going back to work in 3 weeks.

the contract should be open for disscussion anyway you could offer to pay half fee on hers and your holidays so she still has an income all year round.

It sounds like thats what she's trying to do, make sure she has all year round income. Thats not your problem though, she should manage her finances better! (I'm a cm btw!)

There is no way I would pay a childminder if she wasn't avalable to child mind! As a self-employed person, they pay themselves a salary from their earnings and should pay their own holiday pay. What if she got pregnant? Would you have to pay maternity? You don't employ her, as you would a nanny, you pay her for a service. If she isn't providing the service, there should be no fee.

charge half for BH, and parents holiday, and for a week at Christmas, dont charge for 3 weeks of my holiday.

I give out my holiday dates in January and most parents take the same weeks as me, so they dont end up paying for there holiday.

The Christmas Ho;iday we are all off the same time (ARMY)as on BHs so parents do not have to pay for somebody else to mind.

Sheepgirl, I would not sign up to this contract. If I go on hols or my child is sick or we don't show up for whatever reason when the childminder is available, then fair enough I'l pay her in full without complaint.

But, no way no how do I pay someone who is not en emplayee to go on holiday.

I would ask her:
If she goes on holiday or is otherwise unable to care for my child, does she have a back up of someone else who can cover for her for the same price (and not pay childminder who is away)? When I used a childminder, she would arrange for another childminder to look after my DD when she was away. She would give me tons of notice, she would get other childminders paperwork, and would offer for me to meet other childminder in advance if I wanted.

£5/hour is steep in my opinion but may very well be market standard. In Twickenham the going rate is £6/hour (per child!). I do know people who pay for childminder's hols, but again, I would certainly not sign up to this.

How much notice is she going to give you for when her holidays are? I have a friend who is rather miffed at the amount of holiday her childminder takes (and she then has to pay half plu find other childcare). Crazy.

i am a childminder in mitcham, i charge for bank holidays so do all my childminder friends and i charge full price for two weeks holiday which i think i deserve and my mindees parents all agree i deserve this too.i have parents who are single and recieve 80% back of their childcare costs.

would u rather she put her rates up!!!!!

I don't mind tha bank hols so much. Those are manageable and the parent doesn't then need to pay someone else to do the job the childminder is not available to do.

Yes, I would rather the rates were put up.

And, you don't "deserve" money you don't earn. How on earth can you justify saying your DESERVE the parents' money for a service you aren't providing?!?!

I don't want to get into the arguement, seen it enough times on here and it does my head in. I don't personally charge when I'm not available HOWEVER I also see why some CM's do. As someone said earlier on, yes, we are self employed but we don't charge the high rates people like plumbers charge to allow for these holidays. I took ONE DAY off in the whole first year of childminding. It made me ill, I needed the break like everyone else however I couldn't afford the time off. I could have charged more per hour to allow for holidays but then again, people probably would be put off meeting me if others have a lower hourly rate. It's just how CM's work in my area anyway. Not only that but CM's these days are highly recommended to charge for holidays when they attend the courses plus NCMA recommend you are paid 4 weeks a year.

It's all about market rates isn't it? By all means put your rates up to cover your holidays, but then you might price yourself out of the market in your area. Your choice.

Exactly, some parents prefer paying for holidays and having a lower monthly/weekly amount to pay, others prefer a higher monthly amount and then a times when they pay less. With my PARENT head on and not CM head, I would actually prefer to pay a childminder the same amount every month and then have time off work when CM is off and then I don't need to pay anyone else. I've always had more than 4 weeks leave when I've been employed so I would still get other days to myself. Everyone is different though and us Childminders can't please everyone. I also personally would go with a childminder I liked and thought would be good for my child and pay a little more for peace of mind that my child is somewhere I feel comfortable.

The NCMA does not govern my childcare budget. They may advise childminders whatever they like. But, it doesn't mean parents are then obligated to sign up to it.

I do think it's bottom line that matters. If you have to raise your rates to make a profit after taking unpaid hols, then of course by all means you are entitled to do that.

I just get really annoyed when childmenders say they "deserve" parents hard earned money, when quite often the parents are struggling just as much to pay their own bills.

50 squid a day from one client seems quite money to run a business and live on to me. Let's work that out and see who is hard done by here. Average number of kids for a childminder to have... 3? 4? We'll go with 3. £50 3 5 * 46 (assumes 6 weeks unpaid hols, sick, etc.) = £34,600 and no childcare costs for the childminder. That's not a bad deal really in today's economy.

eleusis - I was only explaining why I think a lot of CM's are charging these days, I'm not getting into the arguement of what's right. I don't charge when I'm closed myself.

As for £50 a day per child, I think only certain areas charge that amount, I charge £3.80 an hour, give a sibling discount and am earning nothing like what you put in that example, gosh, I wish I did