Do I have to still pay when childminder takes a holiday?

[colacubes]

Obviously this isnt just a money issue as child minder is a trusted professional who takes care of my dd, so dont want to upset the applecart, but.

I go to pick dd up and the cm informs me she is having a 2 week holiday in 6 weeks, so fine,obviously I will have to make other arrangements, so I mention the situation in regard to fees, to which she replies, "Oh I still get paid, its my holidays"

So my question is, I pay for her service, she is not an employee, so why do I have to pay for her bloody holidays. I am self employed and no bugger pays me. I of course said nothing, my mind ticking, slightly bemused, and trying to think about the bigger picture.

Until today I get a text informing me she is booking another day of later in the year as a holiday and I will have to pay for this day also. So I will either have to pay for her day off and then pay someone else to care for my dd, or pay for her day off and take one myself to care for dd, and not get paid, because, I am self employed!

Is this a normal arrangement with childminders ?

Oh well said piggysgal, will have to see how it goes.

I'd avise you call NCMA CC, you can get advice as a parent, not just as a CM

I can totally understand your feelings cc. I would never pay a cm for holidays either. One of the reasons I chose a nursery was so that I could have guaranteed childcare for 50 weeks a year. The downside is that we pay through the school holidays when dh isn;t working but at least we know where we stand.

Dh is self employed, he does private teaching and so has virtually no income during school holidays except for a couple of workshops he runs. I can just see the parents of the children he teaches paying for him to go on holiday and not teach their children.

He can also only teach one child at a time and only between the hours of 3.30pm and 7.00pm so although his hourly rate is much higher than that of a childminder he is limited on the number of hours/children he can take.

I have great respect for all childcare providers but think that some do take the mickety when it comes to fees.

Glad to hear you are sorting alternative arrangements but to be honest I would give her a chance. Explain why you are giving notice, she may not realise you feel so strongly and may revise her policy rather than losing a child.

But IOS - you say you wouldnt pay for holidays, yet you are?! another one contradicting it.

Well you ladies have helped me see that my current system is not going to ork forever, so on behalf of my parents I will pass on their thanks to you for me raising my fees as apparently no-one has a problem with paying for CM holidays that way

I have to say that most of my parents were happy for me to have holidays with pay. I couldn't have afforded to otherwise.

They felt that anyone looking after their dc (and doing a great job) deserved to have a break with their own family.

The odd parent made my life a misery so all the parents are now paying more overall.

Do you parents who think CM's are not entitled to paid leave mind paying a higher hourly rate? Or do you not realise your CM has worked out your monthly fee to include a holiday pay element?

I don't pay for their holidays though. They are closed for 2 weeks over Christmas, I don't pay. They are closed Bank Holiday Mondays, I don't pay. We do pay if WE choose to take ds out during holiday times which we do if we go away or occasionally for the odd day so we can go out.

Actually this should be the past tense as he finished 2 weeks ago in readiness for him starting school in September.

Their rate would have been high enough to cover the two weeks they are closed tho.

Do you mind that?

Not at all. I know where I stand. I am paying for a service and I receive that service for the price agreed. If they don;t provide that service I don't pay and use the money to either have time off work myself or make alternative arrangemnts.

Having worked in nurseries i think they do set the daily/weekly rate high enough tbh.

But if you are happy with the way the nurery set up works then thats great

I was paying £35 per day. I reckon that is about £10 per week more than a childminder would be for those hours going by what seems to be the local rate of £3.50 per hour.

Then again if ds had gone to a childminder I expect I would also be sending him to pre-school as well.

He could have had a free state school nursery place all last year but I didn't want him full time (that's another discussion lol!!)

I am cheaper i think. When you take off my hols anyway.

I hope your ds enjoys school

DD1 has 1 year to go till big school and she can't wait lol

It will be a very long year methinks!!

i dont see the problem really. if i had itin a contract i would be happy to pay for cm holdiays, depending on how many of course!

I don't charge for my hols as i'm not dependent on the income. I know alot of cm do, they have to make a living, we are all different. You should have a copy of contract if you have lost it explain this and ask to see her copy for clarifiction if she is nice she won,t mind!!

Ahhh infuriating, to read that a CM should get half rate and they do spend time on paperwork!! And the point about a plumber etc I get , my example best mate CM , husband SE plumber , my mate earns more & my husband spends almost every evening doing paper work!!! So I definitely think Cm shouldn’t get paid for holidays !!

ZOMBIE Thread!

This is YEARS old

All of the childminders in my area charge full rate for when they are on holiday (of dates of their choosing).

The childminders round my way (NW London) also do not accept the government free hours - I visited 5 and all of them only accept kids up to 3 years old or school age wrap around care.

Two of the many reasons why I chose nursery over childminder - I don't have to worry about finding alternative childcare during the childminder holidays and can make use of funded hours.

It is very old , just needed to vent !! Can you turn off notifications on threads ?

Don’t blame you one but, we have to do what’s right for our children xx

Lol I R.E.M. replying on this 10yrs ago

What I didn’t get is why did op pay the cm holiday if it wasn’t in her contract

And certainly wouldn’t pay her before the holiday

Anyway yes zombie thread

But the same post happens again and again

Cm are se and can charge what they like as long as in the contract and parents need to read before they sign