Childminder issues!

[KayReeve]

I am due to return to work on a phased return a few days per week to help get us used to being in the office again.

My childminder tells me today less than 2 weeks before my son goes back there for the first time since March that apparently she is ‘not allowed’ to look after my son on the days I will be working at home. How does this make any sense at all? And surely this isn’t the official guidance being given to childminders?

Its been a huge struggle working full time at home and having my son but now my childminder is opening again I don’t understand why she thinks this is common sense. And she will expect to be paid on those days too.

Yes she is allowed to. So therefore she is choosing not to. I would find someone else.

Not a child kinder but I haven’t been in the office since March and my youngest has been back in nursery since June. I’m guessing she’s has another reason for telling you this and is blaming it on Covid

Sorry should say child minder

There's no guidelines stopping her
She's got someone else she wants then or just doesn't want to look after him for whatever reason but it's nothing to do with being allowed to

I'm a childminder and have all my kids back full time. Most of their parents are still working from home. Two were still off when the child came back. I think someone is bullshitting.

Hmm. If you and your son are otherwise happy with the childminder I would assume a misunderstanding before jumping to conclusions about hidden agendas etc etc, and proceed accordingly.

The govt guidance for schools and childcare providers has been changing, vague, and I imagine quite daunting to interpret and follow. (This is the case for the headteachers I know so i can’t imagine it’s any easier for childminders!) I’m not sure that the advice/support provided by intermediaries such as local childminding coordinators etc is necessarily that much better. Definitely I’ve seen my own childminder (who is v experienced and fantastic with the children, but much more cautious about stuff like regulations and taxes and whatnot) is quite confused and overwhelmed by it.

I would work with your childminder to see whether there is any flex in what she’s saying, before giving up and looking for alternative options.

Although also, re-Reading your post, I’d potentially be tempted to say I was going in to the office/might be going into the office/part of the day in the office, for home-working days?

She wants to be paid as well? Somethings not right! I wonder if she could explain why this would be the case?

Thanks all, I have been otherwise happy with her but the communication with me during the last few weeks as we prepare to send my son back has been terrible. And this just topped it all off today because quite honestly it makes no sense.

At the beginning of lockdown childminders could only look after key workers children.

Those rules changed quite a while ago though.

At the moment mixing childcare settings is to be avoided where possible ie if a child goes to nursery they shouldn't also attend the childminder's setting.

Other than that though she should be able to provide care although obviously she can give notice if she no longer wants to.

I am a childminder the guidance at start of lockdown was if 1 parent at home working then the child should stay at home. But I have had my little ones in as the parents could not work with with there 2 years old with them. They will all be in as normal from September.

Yes speak again to clarify but I wouldn't be paying for days she's refusing to provide childcare.

She's full of shit. My CM has had my dc back (albeit part time at the moment) since July while I've been WFH. Because I am WORKING.

I had a CM like this, who mysteriously would always come up with some reason why our DS had to be sent home on days DH or I were off work. We got to the point where we stopped telling her and DS if we were off.

Our current CM is fab, she doesn't mind what we're doing, she's happy to look after our kids while we are paying her for the service.

She's either got something wrong or she doesn't want to mind him.

Email and ask for her to check and clarify with you the exact rules on this, and say that if his time there needs to be reduced that she emails you annotated contract with new days and times on with the fees updated.

find a new childminder/nursery - asap!

i would not use her at all for any days!

As others have said, this was the case during lockdown, but since the 1st June (in England, I’m not sure about elsewhere), childminders were able to welcome back children of all ages regardless of parents working status.

I think you need to talk to her again and find out why she thinks she can’t have your child. If she is still saying she can’t have him after that conversation, I think it is time to part ways as she is not reading the guidance correctly and I think really cheeky in expecting to be paid for Doing no work. Have you been paying all summer for not having your child? My parents were all fantastic about paying me through lockdown, because of this, I opened as soon as I was able, to help them out as they had all helped me out. To not do this, In my opinion is not really fair.

I agree it’s much more likely to be a miss communication, as childminders we were advised to only care for the children when they can’t be looked after at home as their parents were physically going out the house.

But that’s not he case anymore. As childminders we are given no help whatsoever from the government as to which guidelines we need to follow it’s up to us to go and find that information ourselves which as you can appreciate has been very hard to keep track of over the last few months.

To be honest I think it’s awful that lots of people think she’s only after your money.

She confused with childminding for key workers guidance. That was you look after there kids unless parents WFH
WHF parent could access not childminding because they were at home so they were there to look after kids (somehow).

To be honest I think it’s awful that lots of people think she’s only after your money
I actually think it’s awful that the cm isn’t up to date with current guidelines. the childminder organisations, like Pacey, childcare.co.uk And the Early years alliance have been fantastic about keeping their members up to date on the new guidelines, so I don’t think there is any excuse for not knowing what they are. There are so many support groups for cms out there, especially on Facebook.
If the cm chooses not to be a member of these organisations Or join the support groups, then they are choosing to find out all that information by themselves which they clearly aren’t doing. And if they are choosing not to read the info sent out, then again, that’s not the ops fault.

We had a childminder who had an issue with having DS if we weren't going into the office. It took me a while to twig that she felt some sort of resentment for working if we had a day off/wfh etc - but of course she still expected to be paid.

It got to the stage that I'd have to get dressed up in office clothes to drop him off before going home and getting changed!

I agree you should try and clarify what she's saying and if she won't budge then you'll have to give notice.

If your aren’t a paid member of Pacey they do not send out any updates at all, having said that I know a couple of Pacey members who still don’t receive any emails from Pacey.

Again Not all childminders use Childcare.co.uk to advertise, so again would not receive any information from them. Let’s face it at the end of the day they are both business that we can choose to pay for a service but it is not an ofsted requirement to do so.

And lastly as for the Early years Alliance I’ve been a childminder for 12 years and not once have ever received any sort of email or updates from them.

The amount of different advise we have been given over the last few months has been confusing and over whelming for a lot of people. It chops and changes all the time.

Instead suggesting she’s awful for not being 100% upto date with the newest guidelines Would it not be better to advise the original poster to have a chat with her about what the updated guidelines are?

Far too many childminders are very quick to be judgemental of others when really we should be trying to support each other

@Nicadooby if you read my post properly, you would see that I said ‘if a cm chooses not to be a member of these organisations’. It’s obviously fine If they don’t wish to be, but the point of being a member is that they help keep you up to date. Pacey have been fantastic and I have had regular updates from them. If a cm chooses not to subscribe, that is completely their choice, but they also need to acknowledge that in not doing so, they have to find the guidance and interpret it themselves.

Obviously the organisations will only keep in touch with their members, that’s the point of being a member! I know several cms who went for cheaper insurance options with no memberships. They are regretting their choice now, so hopefully, the organisations will see their memberships increase, which will only help as Pacey etc continue to fight our corner with government.

If you read my post at 20.47, I advise the op to have another chat with her cm about the guidelines. But it shouldn’t be up to parents to tell cms what is allowed to happen. I really don’t think that is professional and it sounds more like the cm is begrudging looking after the child when the parent is at home (and I know many childminders and nursery staff who have this view) and still wanting paying for her not working.

How old is your son? There is a regulation, that childminders can only have limited number of kids under age of 5. So if your son is under 5 and she has the maximum allowed kids for those days then she is really not allowed to have your son on those days. This is my guess.

the guudence changed June 1st when childcare was opened to all not just key workers but it still said staying with parents best if possible