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?

Agency and bank nurses I can vouch for, do not have the same responsibilities as contracted staff and are more closely supervised, are not required to take on the same managerial responsibility, granted they do have responsibilities to their patients but ultimately it is regular staff who take most responsibilty in nursing. I have worked with plenty.

Maybe near you tori32 but I have loads of friends who are bank nurses who walk in to jobs and they carry they same pressures as permanent staff. They find it unfair as if they wanted per they would have gone for it. There is loads of other professions min included where you are expected to take full responsibility even if you are there just for the day.

Hi SG, I had a childminder for three years for my first child (currently on mat leave with my second). I signed a contract with her (without reading it properly i must admit as she did not give it to me to take away and read) which agreed to pay her 4 weeks AL which she always took in Aug. She also expected to be paid BH's (which I don't mind) and xmas week (from 24th dec to 2/3rd january however the dates fell) PLUS 5 days sick per year (which she always took). I would advise caution with you agreeing to your CM's contract as it was something that annoyed me intensely from day one. I got on well with her on a chatty basis and she took good care of my daughter BUT it definately soured our relationship from my side anyway. I resented every August and xmas as I do not earn that much more than I paid her. I stayed with her as my daughter liked her and ultimately that was more important to me than the money (your relationship with your childminmder is not a simple business one as there are emotions and your child welfare at stake too.. I did not want inflict upset on my daughter by finding a new childminder and the weeks turned into months etc). However, I never recommended her to any of my friends looking for a childminder purely because of her extra charges and I will not be using her for child number two and would never sign a such a contract again. It was worst for us as my partner is self employed and he had to take off a lot of days when she could not work (once my AL had gone) and he never got paid for them!! I would definately renegotiate (agree BH's and perhaps a week AL for her) and check her policy on when SHE is sick as the NCMA does include an option for payment on "Occasional days" which for my CM was interpreted as her sick or things like hospital visits with her elderly mother (of which she had 5 per year). I am still annoyed about it all now! must get a life!! x

I did forget to add that it also depends what else you get for your money. I charge for holidays (2 wks) however, I pay for everything else including nappies, wipes, bags, formula if required, all food including puree for babies, all outings/activities, snacks, drinks, basically everything, which would cost you a damn sight more than my holiday pay for 2 wks if you added up over a year. I also mean full cooked lunches most days, not sandwiches.

tori, I would think most cm's do expect you to bring all that..btw...

If your cm told u that she doesnt work bank holidays or christmas and has the whole of august off, i cant understand why you would sign yourself to her anyway! 2 ask anyone to find alternative childcare 4 a 2 week holiday is bad enough but for a whole month is madness i would never of agreed to that in first place....shock

also. if cm doesn't work bh...but expect you to do full pay and you and possibly dh/oh are also bh workers...tehn you pay probably more then double the usual fee....

honestly in any Job under 30K the state should bloody pay all childcare occuring...if tehy really want people to go back to work...

I agree , it was stupid of me but in my defence i was ignorant of how childminders worked/ what they charged etc . I didn;t read the contract until after i had signed it (about a week later.. v bad of me)and i started with her in the january so August and the following xmas was a long way away. She took her first Occasional day off in the April at easter time and by then (when I fully twigged what i had agreed to), my daughter was v settled and v happy. She was/is a very experienced CM and I think she saw me coming!! Like i said though she was a good CM and it's a shame i can't use her for child number two but there is no way i'd agree a contract like that again.I am sure she is not the only good CM out there.

I agree 3andmore, most CM's do ask you to bring everything. So I am just saying that we are not all greedy gits!!

honestly chldminding is a tough Job, and there is no denying that!
just that childcare in general is a issue...like my dh earns , just, over 30k so, if I was to work I would have to earn a good wage, espeically if it wan't ust a school year job...it's a pain in teh neck...tbh, I owuld love to study, but don't tink there will be any funding , cos of dh's wage...but tis not fair..because we are a 5 headed family...so 30k isn't that juch, after morgage etc...sigh...

mollythetortoise you situation sounds horrid. Well atleast I know upfront and can make a decision about it early. CM does not charge for sick days however if my wee one is sick it is half price, which I thought was fair. Neither my dh or I work bh hols or any stat days off thankfully. So I am happy to compromise and pay for those but I just can not get my head round paying for her holdaiy. I now have visions of her sitting on a beach sunning herself paid for with my hard earned cash!!!!

Tori - do you actually like your job! You sound utterly miserable about being a CM!

I really feel 4 u molly, she may well be a good cm but its obvious 2 me that she needs to improve in laying out the important things in the contracts like paid time off etc and she should defo requested that u sat and read through the contract throughly before you sighned anything even if that meant taking it home and returning it the next day as this is what i do when taking on anyone new, i think its only fair so you all no where u stand....

I charge for parents' hols as they are taking a place when I'm available to work and I do not think this is unreasonable but this is our wage. I don't charge for BHs as I usually have the day off but if they want it and I can be available at say £4.50.

I mean we go through (unpaid) hours of training in our own time, most of us cms are NVQ Level 3/NNEB/BTEC Nat Diploma/ICP/DCP/CCP qualified and are experienced having done it for years.

I am sick to death of people moaning about the rates we charge, we get less than minimum wage and we don't get paid if we are sick or have hols.

Maureen, yes I do enjoy the job, I am certainly not in it for the money!!LOL Although I do look forward to the day I can get my scrub suit back on. It was never my intention to do it forever, as that would be a waste of three years of blood, sweat and tears doing nurse training for nothing.

mum2luke I think that is what is getting people annoyed - the fact that CMs DO charge for their holidays

mum2luke, the thing is though, that that is the thing about being self employed - MOST (although not all!) people who are self employed don't get paid for hols & bank hols. That's how being self-employed works, unfortunetly.

(I'm SE - not a cm)

Well ladies thank you all for your opinions. When I started this thread I was 50/50 whether I thought it was reasonable for a CM to expect payment for going on hol. However having vented my feelings for the last 24 hrs it is clear that I am definitely anti this issue so will be telling my CM that on Mon when i see her

sheepgirl; might of come into this a bit late, but just to say. i charge for bh (full fee.) i dont charge for my holiday or sickness, but i do charge for parents holiday or if child off sick. i think getting paid for bank holidays is standard practice, but getting paid for your holiday is a tricky one. some parents ive worked for begrudge paying me at all ! ( not that im no good or anything

Tori, let me get this staight... you would spend money on a holiday that you needed to run your childminding business and then you would the children oay for it by feeding them cheap crap food and keeping them from going to their usual activities? Now THAT is a very unprofessional attitude and you should be ashamed for even thinking it.

It is your job to manage the finances of your childminding business. Not the parents.

You should raise your rates and take on another child and you could fund your own holiday.

FFS, letting the children suffer for your holiday?!?! I've heard it all now.

Oh, another thing Sheepgirl, you mentioned signing up to the contract and then giving your notice and leaving before AUgust hols come round. You should look at the contractual notice period for the hols. Can she take the hold wherenever she wants or is she contractually tied to August? You should guard yourself again her deciding in February that she is going to take 2 weeks off (paid) with only 2 weeks notice).

Thanks for the tip elusis. Just checked the contract and the CM has clearly stated that she takes her leave in August. It is also a 4 wk notice period so I wouldn't have to tell her until next July, which is good as I hve plently of time to look for a CM. Also gives my baby a lovely stretch of time with one CM...who knows he'll be 1 1/2 by then so I might think about a nursery placement for him after. I feel so much better that either way I have a definite plan....it is so stressful returning to work and leaving a being that is a part of everything I do on a daily basis

Oh tori32 I think it is seriously time to return to nursing love?

Message withdrawn

Well said Lennygirl