Childminders, I need some advice/help please!

[chickenmama]

I have a dilemma!

I have been asked to mind 2 children for somewhere between 10.5 and 13.5 hours a week (will clarify this when we meet at the weekend).

The Job Centre have said that if I work for less than 16 hours I will only get £20 of however much I earn. For example, if I work for 11 hours @ £3 per hour x 2 children I'd earn £66, but I'd only be allowed to keep £20.

So it seems it's really only worth my while if I work 3.5 hours (£21, so I only lose £1!) or 16 hours.

At the moment the only solutions I can think of are to try and find another mindee to make the hours up to 16 (but I don't know how long this will take and I'm meant to be starting in 2 weeks) or to tell the family I can only do 3.5 hours.

Can anyone think of anything else I could do to make it worthwhile and so I don't have to let the family down?

could you make the oterh hours up as paperork?

or at least pretend to be doing all your forms and stuff in that time

That's what I'd do

Plus prep time for crafts/activities

Plus accounts

Plus getting to pick ups?

But if you worked 16 hrs for £66 it's only £4.12 an hour

How would it affect your benefits to work 16 hrs for that money

Remember you will also need to be advertising - that takes time

Yes, what I need is to be able to tell the job centre I'm doing 16 hours, so if I can use the paperwork, prep etc idea then that would be great... Is this ok to do tho? I don't want to be accused of benefit fraud!

The hours I'm definitely being asked to do are 11.30 - 4pm and 11.30 to 5.30pm (=10.5hrs) plus maybe a couple of hours on one other day. It's pickup from a local nursery at 11.30 so could I charge from 11 as this is when I'll have to get ready to leave?? Also, I'm assuming during school holidays I'll have the children from 8am to 4/5.30pm.

Katy - I know the hourly rate isn't as much for 16 hrs compared to 11 hrs but it's all based on hrs worked rather than income. Even tho I'd be earning £30 less a week than I could if I actually had mindees for that extra time, I'd be SO much better off than if I tell them I'm working under 16 hrs.

As for advertising, I've phoned around CMs, schools and have left flyers at a couple of places, but nothing yet. Hoping I'll have someone ask me to do 6 hrs before the end of next week!!

OK

So the extra half hour you must use

39 weeks at 11.5 hrs

Plus

13 weeks at 17.5 hrs

Averages 13 hrs a week - I think I do at least (ha ha) 3 hrs a week accounts/prep etc

It may not be possible to include your hours of preparation, accounts & admin because there is no way to verify how long you spend.

You can use your contracts & attendance records to prove how long mindees are in your care. You may have written confirmation of course dates etc to prove how long you spend on training. You may have a day diary to show times spent interviewing/meets with parents. But for tax purposes (eg, expense calculations for gas/electric) you can only include the hours of mindees attendance, I suspect it might be the same here. Still worth asking, you never know.

Otherwise you might need to introduce a minimum weekly charge of 16 hours a week. Or have a contract with this parent for 16 hours @ the weekly fee you quoted for 13.5 hours. Or contracts for 16 hours at the full hourly rate with a sibling discount for the older child that brings it down to the rate you've quoted for 13.5 hours?

Oh, wow, so you think I can actually take those figures into the Job Centre and tell them I'm working 16 hours? If the lady also wants me to do the 3 hours on the Thursday then it'll total 16 hours, if I average it out like you've done, even without accounts/prep etc.

I'm so glad I asked on here! Thanks Katy!

Oh, I just thought, how do I put it to her tomorrow? I haven't seen a contract yet so I'm not sure what goes into one, what we have to agree etc...

If anyone has one they can email me (I'm waiting on my NCMA pack atm) it would be so helpful

Hi, ayla, just saw your post That's what I was worried about and why I asked... some great ideas for making up the 16 hours, thank you!

Is it ok to discuss this situation with the parent? My only worry is that she might see a way of taking advantage if I contract for 16 hours and the amount I charge works out a lot less than the hourly rate I wanted to charge (eg in school holidays).

Is it possible to contract 2 full days (eg 8am to 4/5.30pm) and then offer a discount (eg ask her to pay 10% of the fee) for the hours the children aren't with me, even if they wouldn't normally come to me before pre-school but would do in the holidays??

Chickenmama - I'm really not sure - if the children were poorly form school or it shut would you be picking them up?

I hadn't thought of what Ayla said - I'm sorry - Try discussing it with the job centre? - or could you do a temporary cleaning/ironing job for a friend? it might only be for a week or so?