All inclusive fee

[KateyCuckoo]

Does £5 per day sound reasonable for all meals, snacks, nappies, wipes, sunscreen etc?

I think it is a case of adding up like above.
Then round up to make sure it covers different meals and fruits.

i guess as a parent I would expect something like:
Breakfast: £2
Lunch:£3.50
Nappies: £1

I would expect things like sun cream and snacks within hourly cost. And let people choose the above, as some won’t need nappies for example (we would have provided you washables, and Ds was in pants by 2), and some children must arrive after breakfast or parents want to give at home

£6 per day £4 of which is payable if child is not in attendance and hasn't given more than 1 weeks notice - to cover the meals pre bought when planning for the week.

With over a weeks notice don't charge the £6 at all (e.g. child on holiday)

I'm definitely not getting in to a 'menu' style option, it's one price, take it or leave it. This would be from April and most parents would be entitled to funding.

So i want one price, I will provide an all inclusive service or parents provide their own.

It's too complex to start a mix and match situation with all the children choosing differently my invoicing would take forever!

Great thank you I'll look at this idea.

But as a parent, most would want lunch surely? But if you do a fixed £5-6 it’s expensive if parent doesn’t need any of the other options?

Ie my son eats breakfast at home, no nappies, I provide his sun cream as allergies, and I would be happy to provide snacks. But a Cooked lunch would be preferable as then I don’t have to cook so I would be happy to pay for lunch. I wouldn’t want to pay more to cover all those other things I don’t use.

So unless you’re super cheap per hour, it would annoy me.
Most places would just increase hourly charge to include it all if you want to do that.

When I used a child minder meals /snacks were included in day rate

Sorry just read properly and can see you meant £5 for the items listed not to charge for care for the day!!

I would not include nappies as it’s a hassle having all different sorts and meals you’ll need to work out actual cost for your tax return anyway and then use this to decide how much you will charge parents - it could be more so make a small ‘profit’ on each meal but you’ll want to make sure it’s not less! I used to charge £1.25 for breakfast, £2 for lunch, £3for dinner, 75p per snack or £6.50 for all food and that was 3 years ago!

calculating meal costs is a bit of hassle but once it’s done keep a record and that will do you for a few years unless inflation changes cost of ingredients dramatically. I cost 3 meals and use an average - I know spag Bol only costs me c.£1 per portion because I make a big batch and use lots of lentils, cheap veg etc but a fish pie is more like £2.50. Then add fruit 30p, yogurt 40p and you can see that £5 won’t last very long if you plan on providing decent quality, quantity and variety. Of course if all you’re offering is weetabix and milk at breakfast, beans on toast for lunch and tomato pasta for dinner then £5 is plenty

Lunch and dinner yes, plus snacks. Those older and out of nappies eat more instead so it balances out.

Which is what I currently do but moving on to funded hours from the government for most parents from this year means I need to restructure.

Would it not be easier to ask for nappies and sun cream to be supplied by parents?

I currently provide and find this easier. I have 6 on my books so having 6 packets of nappies to store, 6 packets of wipes to carry, 6 bottles of suncream.... it starts to take over the house!

So my preference is that I still provide but funding means I need to have a free option, my free option is that you bring your own.

My childminder used to charge £5 a day top up to include all of this when we used funded hours. She had it in her contract that she would also charge for payable outings but in reality never did, £1 for playgroup or a couple of quid for softplay or whatever. I used to buy her wine / flowers whatever every few weeks as a thanks though.

I purely charge for meals as it’s easier that way. Snacks are free (and all put through my tax return as expenses). I ask parents to supply everything else, apart from the fact suncream and nappies are expensive, I don’t have the space to store everything. Also, many kids have sensitive skin so will need different suncream than you might have in.

I have a very small store of spare nappies and if they get used then parent replaces next day. I have a small bottle of sensitive suncream that I buy each year to be used as a spare, I’m good at nagging parents so it’s not often used 🤣.

£5 a day for everything really is far too little.

Just to add to that, parents supply everything each day in their child’s bag. I don’t keep everything here overnight

I accept we all do things differently, it's the beauty of childminding really!

I've been a CM for 15 years and am in a great little rhythm with how I do things. My preference is that I continue to provide and parents pay so just trying to get the fee amount to be fair and decent value for money.

Just include all in the daily fee ? £5 is too cheap and you don’t want to be doing refunds for absent kids.
fivs out what other child carers locally charge / include.
Itemising consumables gets really petty eg my kid needs special sun cream so I’m deducting £2 etc. Or my kids not in nappies etc. Saw a spoof video where mum demanded her tiny baby was given the “ meals included “ option though. That was 🤣

I think you are selling yourself short. £5 is extremely for what you are providing.

So this is payable for those on funded hours? My friend is structuring her charges so funded hours can only be used 9-12 and 1-4 with a set £2 top up for snacks, nappies, wipes etc per 3 hour session. In addition it's £10 for 12-1pm thus includes lunch and extras, she doesn't accept funding for that hour. It's £10 to drop from 7.45am, this includes breakfast. Then it's £20 for 4-6pm this includes tea.

Have you read my.explanation for this change? I already do include it but parents will claim funding soon!

It's really complex and makes everything harder for the settings offering funding.

You're not actually allowed to split the funded hours and force a mandatory paid for break in the day.

I'm.offering to let parents have their hours completely free across the whole day, but start paying for all these extras I currently throw in free of charge.

Ours is £8 a day so definitely good

£1 per hour extra per funded hour - most LA’s are taking out the word ‘voluntary’ from consumables/ sustainability fee

It's normal to provide your own suncream in a labeled bottle to avoid allergic reactions.

You could ask them to provide these items and food does £5 go anywhere near making up your loss? In my area it's more like £10 to £14 short per day.

@jannier - op said she was including suncream in daily costs. I said most people would provide own surely due to preferences or allergies