Holidays and childcare

[phut]

Just out of interest, does your childminder still require you to pay full fees while they are on holiday?

It depends on what is in the contract that you sign. I personally don’t charge if I’m closed for any reason. I do charge if I’m open and the child doesn’t come, for example sickness or holidays.

all childminders run their business differently

No mine doesn’t. Only for the 48 weeks of the year that she works

That would be normal. They can't fill the space while your away why expect them to loose income and subsidise your holiday.....do you ask for a refund on broadband, TV, rates?

Depends on your contract. Our childminder doesn't charge when she's not available, whether that be due to sickness or holiday.

Presumably that's her holidays not yours....and you take your holiday when she's off.

My eldests did - 50 weeks of the year

I grew to resent it and she also charged for all bank holidays

My twins are with a term time only childminder - I much prefer it as i have a primary ager so have to arrange school holiday childcare anyway. It can be stressful as they are too young for most holiday camps but between me and my parents we pretty much manage to cover them

Sorry misread your post....some will some won't....look at the overall annual cost and make a comparison before you sign a contract. Over a year it can be cheaper to pay holidays if rates are just a bit lower every day. Some don't charge but are shut for 6 weeks that you can't match so then pay a premium rate for adhoc cover.

It depends on your contact.

Mine does for her holidays in the year but it means we pay less per hour than other CMs in the area.

If she takes random days off or is sick then we don't pay.

Yes, that’s what the post asked

Oh and I pay my CM in arrears.

This means we can easily add extra days which we do when nursery is closed.

Mine doesn't, but she also only works term time so very rarely takes a holiday.

Mine does not charge for her holidays, bank holidays or her sick days.

No. If she’s closed we don’t pay. If she’s open but we don’t use our regular sessions we do pay. Although if she can fill our place with one the ad hoc children or let her assistant have holiday we often meet in the idle and pay half fees. But she’s amazing and we have a great relationship after 8 years and try to look after each other.

Thanks all. Seems like the majority don't pay during CMs holidays.
Do you mind me asking what you get within your contract and what the rate is? I.e does it include meals/snacks, days out etc? I understand it also depends on area/demand in the area but just to get an idea if you don't mind sharing 😊

@phut Days out, nappies (if parents are using plastic ones) and some snacks with mine. I provide my son's reusable nappies and lunch.

I charge by the hour which includes snacks. Meals are charged extra but I’m happy for parents to send meals in. Days out are included in my hourly rate but if I was to do a special day out somewhere expensive I may ask if parents could contribute in some way. Parents provide wipes, nappies and nappy sacks and also formula and bottles in the case of bottle feeding. I also ask parents to supply things such as sun screen, nappy cream etc.

Our childminder doesn't charge for her holidays, or bank holidays. She reimburses half the daily fee if she's unwell (only happened once in the 2.5 years my children have been going to her, when she had covid).

She charges £4.80 an hour, and that includes everything, all food and anywhere she takes the children that has an entry fee. The only thing we provide are nappies. She's worth her weight in gold and my children love her.

CM provides all food and pays for trips out. DD actually started telling me soon after she was 2 what she ate at her CM's.

When DD was in nappies, I provided that and also formula. CM provided wipes and nappy bags.

Oh and my CM own children are all adults.

There is no point saying how much I pay as it is very local area dependent. You can find out approximate costs for your area on a site like childcare.co.uk

I pay 6.70£ per hour. Included are outings, no food or snacks. We also provide nappies.
I pay for bank holidays, our holidays but don’t pay for CM’s holidays.

fees have gone up lots (I paid £4.50 5 years ago for DC1) but IME CM are preferable to nurseries for small children. And it’s still cheaper than our local nurseries which charge £85 per day.

Costs can vary so much - 2 on here are £2ph diff so £20 a day if 8/6 and £100 a week so £400 a month roughly

I pay £5:85/h which includes everything except nappies. And if you want special suncream/nappy cream you need to provide that too. Occasionally we pay extra for a very special outing eg theatre trip (about once a year)

My childminder operates on 2 contracts
She has a term time contract we have she then (every year) emails all the parents and asks what people require over the holidays and advises the weeks of the holidays she is working and taking off - she is always closed all over Christmas and then some other weeks but she also Has a policy whereby she likes a minimum number to operate to make it worth while but she never takes holidays during term times only in the actual holidays.