couple of childminder questions...........

[FAQ]

Firstly (roughly) how much would you pay/charge for a childminder/childminding for 4hrs, 14 times a month for 2 children?

Secondly - do childminders ever have children who come on "odd day" - say mon,tue,wed one week, then wed,thu,fri second week, then folliwing week as per week one, 4th week as week 2???

I've been "head-hunted" (by my SIL LOL). And she's offering me a job for 4 nights on, 3nights off, then 3 nights on, 4 nights off on the alternate weeks......

Need to work out if I can afford it.

i would do odd days for 1 child but not two as i would need to keep 2 full time places available i could not afford to do so

maybe you will end up paying for every day of the week

are your childen pre-school age? just noticed you only need a childminder for 4hrs

dmo - yes they're 4 and 8 months. DS2 starts school in September - so wouldn't need a childminder once he starts full time (october).

Need a childminder for 3/4hrs (this is all in theory haven't even decided whether I'll go for the job) from lunch until school pick-up time - so that I could sleep - DH would do the childcare in the mornings.

maybe you could get somebody until oct then you will have to phone around somebody may be able to help

i would charge you £3.20 per hr each child

hope you find somebody

I would do it. I don't need to fill all my spaces, all of the time, so I'd be happy with an arrangement like this. The only way to find out is speak to minders in your area. Generally though, it is a possibility. I charge £3.50p/h btw.

Some childminders have minimum charges, you might have to pay for a full day or half day because its not likely the childminder will find 2 other children who could attend for the part of the day you're not using.

If you are going to need care on any day of the week then the childminder can't offer any of those days to anyone else. So the usual deal is that you have a contract for each of days you might need and are billed for all of them, whether or not you use them all each week. If you could say that you will never need a friday, for example then you could have a contract for Mon-Thur to reduce your costs and the childminder can use the Friday for another family. If you book very early and the childminder uses your unwanted hours for another child then I woud reduce your bill accordingly.

Some childminders offer ad-hoc care where you can book your days as and when you need them. This way you only pay for the days you use but there is no guarantee of the childminder's availability as the childminder is not reserving a place for your child. Usually they can only agree if they happen to have an unfilled vacancy or a child is off sick or on holiday. As you need 2 spaces, its probably going to be difficult to use this option.

Some childminders can be more flexible than others, so you need to phone around to see whats available to you. I had an arrangement where I charged full fees for the booked time and 1/2 fees for the remainder of the reserved times. Others have drawn up a contract that requires the parent to pay for a specified number of hours each week but gives the parent some choice over which hours the child will attend.

My fees for the 4 hour session would be £18 per child.

thanks everyone - shall have a chat to my SIL and see what the wage is like (she spoke to DH and had all the information to hand, except for hourly rate LOL) and then ring round some local childminders.

Just one thing - how long is a "session" usually? ie how many more hours would I be paying for if they wanted me to pay for the whole day??

Whole new territory for me this as my last job (and age of my children) meant that me sleeping on through lunchtime into the afternoon didn't matter - only had DS1 and 2, DS1 was at school, DS2 used to nap from lunchtime until 3 so never had childcare issues to take care of!

i charge by the hr so the session would be as long as you needed

my friend charges £22 for the day for 10hrs

What area do you live in?

i'd offer adhoc care if i had the spaces BUT iT would be hard to fill the gaps - so if it was a regular thing and i couldn't fill the gaps i would end up losing out - you're more likely to find a c/m who can help once your ds is at fulltime school i'd think

oh and i charge £3.20 p/hour - i don't charge by the session