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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

What do you think about charging what you think your parents can afford?

18 replies

Indiechick · 09/01/2009 21:21

Friend is a childminder and has offered to have dd in school holidays for £50 a day. But is looking after other friend's child (same age) for £30 and then looking after other child for £25. Is it me or is this ridiculous and you should have a set amount for each child, not what you think the parent can afford?

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LucyTownsend · 09/01/2009 21:46

Hmm, maybe there is more to it than that? If she has the others in term time only too then she may have agreed a lower fee due to the number of hours that they will be using her services?

Maybe they are using different amounts of hours per day which is why she is charging more?

However, if none of the above is true and she is asking you for more because she believes you can afford it then that is not fair and I would look for another CM!

HTH

Scarfmaker · 09/01/2009 22:13

Some friend! That's terrible if that is the case. £50 seems a lot anyway wherever you are.

Julesnobrain · 09/01/2009 22:16

£50. Thats double what I pay and I'm in London!!!!!!!. That doesn't sound like a good arrangement to me. Are you sure she's a 'friend'.

HarrietTheSpy · 09/01/2009 22:44

Crap. How is she planning to assess this? On the basis of the mum's handbag or something?

Ridiculous.

thebumcleaner · 09/01/2009 22:48

How you know the different charges? Sounds very unfair.

ActiveC · 09/01/2009 23:07

some people are not biz savvy.

Maybe when she took on the other children, she didn't realise it was not financialy viable, so has now increased her fees accordingly?

cat64 · 09/01/2009 23:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Blondeshavemorefun · 09/01/2009 23:28

if she charges 25/30 per child/day then she should charge you the same - not double

southernbelle77 · 10/01/2009 07:04

Sounds very odd! I would have thought there was more to it, but if there is not then that seems very strange.

Another point completely though is that £50 a day is actually not that unrealistic depending on the hours. For a full days care (10 hours + a day) that isn't that unreaslistic in many areas.

I would ask her how come she is charging you so much more than the others.

georgimama · 10/01/2009 07:49

My CM charges £3 per hour, the same amount regardless in standard hours 8-6. One of her mindees occasionally is babysat by her or stays overnight. She charges a set amount for that rather than per hour.

If this "friend" really is charging you double because she thinks you can afford it, or because she has in fact badly costed the other mindees and you get to be the lucky person who subsidises them to cover her costs, I wouldn't bother. Childcarelink website has details of registered child minders nationwide and plenty who will consider holiday only or term time only care.

ayla99 · 11/01/2009 11:33

It does sound a big price difference! Worth checking rates of other cms in your area.

Are the others ad-hoc arrangements too or do they have contracts? If they've been with her a long time they may be on older rates, she can't charge them more until she renews their contracts. Are you arriving earlier or collecting later than the others? Are they getting a discount for booking more hours? Or sibling discount? Are you paying for anything, eg meals, nappies that other parents are bringing? Are the chidren the same ages? Some cms have a higher rate for under ones or a discounted rate for over 8s, for example.

If you can't see any differences between your request and the other families then can you tell her you contacted her on the recommendation of x and you thought her rate was £25? How did you find out those rates?

ayla99 · 11/01/2009 11:36

Sorry you already said they are same age, so ignore what I said about ages. Think its worth checking what other people in your area are charging. If they are all nearer the £25-30 mark then ask her if she can price match or book someone else. If they are nearer the £50 mark then it may be that she hasn't raised her prices for a while and has discovered she's behind the times.

TheOtherMaryPoppinsDiets · 11/01/2009 11:41

wow that is a big difference, I was going to ask if maybe it was this - I have a few families on different rates as I only put up my fees yearly from my business starting ( or on years anniversary of taking on new children ) so it's entirely possible that I have 3 different pricings going on at one time - but that is only differing by 10p an hour not double the whole fee! Unless it's like Ayla99 said ^^

vInTaGeVioLeT · 12/01/2009 01:05

i tend to treat my "friends" a bit better than this!
i recently offered a discounted rate to take my friends two kids - i don't normally do discounts but she is my friend, i definately wouldn't charge her more for the privilege of my friendship!

i'd have a chat with her and if she doesn't budge try elsewhere.

maxybrown · 12/01/2009 11:18

That is a lot of oney anyway, even if she had no ther children. Ridiculous!! £30 a day is about average regardless!

Flibbertyjibbet · 12/01/2009 11:30

Perhaps she is not keen on having an extra child and thought she'd offer you a rate that will make the extra hassle worth her while? If she has school age children of her own then your child may be just one too many for her and turn it into 6 weeks of hard slog. So maybe she doesn't really want the work?
Perhaps you are wanting longer hours than the other children which will cut into her private time and she is looking to be compensated for that?

rookiemater · 12/01/2009 11:33

Depends if she has the other children normally as if so then the £50.00 per day may be an occasional child minding rate rather than a regular one IYSWIM.

It's a bit off but at the end of the day she is running a business, incidentally how do you know how much she charges for the other children ?

Really depends if you can get cheaper child care elsewhere and where you think your DD would be happiest.

nomoreamover · 12/01/2009 11:49

It may be that she has taken an average over a set period of time and that is why the other person appears to be paying less...

You may not be a permanent contract and therefore some people do charge more for short term / ad hoc contracts because you are taking a space that could be used by a regular permanent client...

Or it could be that the money is substituted by some other means ie work vouchers / a partner / ex partner / social services

Or yes she might just be charging what she thinks you can afford.....

Either way - you shouldn't really be party to the terms of someone elses contract....! And if its the latter reason - then I agree with some other posters - not the best friend in the world! But the terms of her business are her business - and it can be difficult to work with friends in this sort of capacity. You can't expect special treatment because you are chums...but then nor should you expect to be "done over" because you are either. Talk to her openly about it - she'll explain her reasons but don't expect her to tell you about the other persons personal circumstances......

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