Is my childminder ripping me off?

[Katie0907]

She wants me to pay her the full rate for time she was off sick. Is this right? I'm annoyed as I had to take time off work and lose pay.

Dear Fadge

Signing a contract is not the point. The fact that there is a clause like that in there in the first place is what this is all about.

It maybe legal but it's not morally right.

I hope you are more transparent when you present your terms to parents.

Signing the contract IS the point.

It's on the contract, you (are supposed to) read it before you sign. If you don't look at what you are signing and negotiate things you don't think are right then that's your own lookout surely? I bet the same parents would look over say a TV HP contract with a fine tooth comb before signing it afterall?

All my parents are sensible enough to realise that they should read something they are legally bound to.

And for the record,I fully discuss my terms and conditions with my parents - I run a reputable business - oh and I don't charge for my own sickness or holidays

all the cms round here charge for holidays. i have just started. having said that, the other cms do charge more than i do hourly (50p+ more) and i have assured my parents i will keep mine the same for at least another year. existing parents are only being charged half fee for 4 weeks of my hols for now. new ones will be 4 weeks full fee for my hols. its on all my paper work. i just cannot afford to take any holiday otherwise.

I pay my CM for holidays - they all charge round here so no choice in the matter

i would never ever charge for sickness.....which i why i have only taken 3 days sick in the last 7 years! even if i have felt like taking more, i have just had to get through it.

My childminder charged for holidays, and I did find it very annoying handing over great wodges of cash for no service received. Yes it was in the contract, and no she didn't spell it out to us (previously we had used a nanny and paid her four weeks holiday) of course we should have noticed, but there were other things I was more concerned with at the time (like whether our dc would be happy with her). I do think for after school childminding holidays arrangements need to be spelt out, because as a parent you are thinking term time. There is no way I could afford to use my childminder during the holidays, she usually goes away and is therefore not actually available, and the hours for which she is contracted don't actually work during the holidays anyway. We always paid our nanny's holidays (no choice there anyway) but then we also had control about when she took them. I guess part of the surprise with these things is if you work with anyone else who is self employed they charge for the work done and nothing more. It is part of being self employed to factor in holiday, sick leave etc into your fees and charges.

Anyway you live and learn. I'll ask very different questions should I ever choose to use a childminder again!

oh i dont charge for before/after schoolers. when i have them, they are charged pro rata so although i am earning less off of them monthly i am being paid through the year. i do know some cms charge retainers for holidays, i dont, i find it easier my way and then i dont have to look after older ones durning the hols.

jillyj I'd much rather do it like that. It's not about paying my childminder less, it just sticks in my gall to be paying out twice, and I don't think it helps the relationship.

y not suggest it, they may do it.

my CM doesn't charge for sick days but does charge for holidays. But to be honest if she just has a day off I don't ask her for the money back, its so rare and I'm lucky that my mum will often have DS if CM can;t for any reason, so it doesn't cost me anything

Childminders do charge for their hols.If you applied for a job and was told that you don't get paid for your hols,would you still want the job? Sick pay is the same, everyone is entitled to sick pay.

I don't know any childminder who charges for a sick day.

funny enough whilst reading the new NCMA handbook last night (i know sad) it states about if your ill you shouldn't charge!

I don't charge when I'm ill BTW , but loads of childminders in my area charge for hols and bank hols, ncma are acitivly encourging us to do so

Thing is leo69 is that childminders are self employed. So if I was self employed then I wouldn't expect holiday pay - it would be up to me to organise my finances to fund a holiday.

Ssme for sick pay - you are entitled to statutory sick pay but if you're self employed you can't expect anyone else to pay you whilst you're not working.

I think some childminders seem to want the benefits of being self employed with the benefits of being an employee. You can only have it both ways if you make it clear in your contracts. If the parents are then happy to sign those contracts then fine.

Havent read all of the thread but how can a CM even THINK of charging someone when he/she (the childminder) is ill? How on earth do they get away with it?

So does the same thing apply for nannies? Obviously it should be talked about at the signing of the contract.However childminders go above and beyond some types of childcare.If one of my parents is late,it doesn't matter.Most nurseries in my area charge £5 for every 15 mins a parent is late.There are many instances when a childminder or nanny are much more flexible than nurseries.

Childminders are made to be self employed,it isn't by choice.No one would want a job with no sick pay and no holiday pay, would you?Imagine every time that you have one day off, having to get onto the social to get back your days wage.It's very unfair.

But surely by choosing to be a childminder you are choosing to be self-employed? If you want to have the safety net of sick pay and holiday pay then work for someone else.

I would say that most childminders have worked in childcare before having a family,and then choose to be a childminder so they can look after their own.tHERE ISN'T ANY POINT GETTING A CHILDMINDER OR NURSERY FOR YOUR OWN KIDS AND THEN GIONG OUT TO WORK AS A NANNY OR WORK AT A NURSEY. I WOULD LOVE NOT TO BE SELF EMPLOYED

But the fact is, you are self employed. I don't know of any other self employed person who gets sick pay or holiday pay, why should childminders be any different?

But that's the thing, you can't have it all ways. I totally understand why women want to be childminders but they have to accept that if they want to be at home with their children and look after others as a childminder, then they will be self-employed and so cannot expect holiday and sick pay.

I get very confused about my contract with my CM but it's got a lot less confusing since we went on to an agreed monthly amount rather than weekly.

She has 4 weeks holiday per year and I think 2 are paid and 2 are unpaid. When dd went up to 3 days per week I was surprised to learn I had to pay bank holidays tho.

My CM doesn't charge sick pay and has got an excellent backup system in place so we are never left stranded luckily.

Well we shall have to agree to disagree.If that happened to all childmindres then we would be in very short demand.All my childminding friends have sick pay and holiday pay in their contracts.We don't even get minimum wage.Maybe we should ask for £8 an hour to cover sickness and hols

Well we shall have to agree to disagree.If that happened to all childmindres then we would be in very short demand.All my childminding friends have sick pay and holiday pay in their contracts.We don't even get minimum wage.Maybe we should ask for £8 an hour to cover sickness and hols

Then I suspect you would have very few mindees if you charged £8 per hour. And the minimum wage argument doesn't wash as childminders rarely have just one child. If you have 3 or 4 children at a time then you are earning far more per hour (probably) than the parents are earning themselves.

(I'm not saying childminders shouldn't charge a fair rate!)