sooooo confused!! -bank hols and holidays-

[no1childminder]

hi all, i am sooo confused! what happens with childminders and bank holidays? on bank hols i charge full fee's if the child doesnt attend, and double if they do. this is what happened when i was a nanny and i assumed it happened in (practically) all work places. out of 5 parents 2 have questioned this, asking why on the invoice we have charged for the easter bank hols. what do you do?

Also, what happens with holidays? as i believe, everyone is entitled to 4 weeks paid holiday a year, does this count for childminders? we let the parents chose 1 of these weeks whilst we chose 3. my friend who childminds says she doesnt have any paid holidays at all, if the parents go away its full fees and if she goes away its no fees (she never goes away though). surely everyone needs a break at one time even if you arent actually going away?

we are so confused so please tell us what you do?

CM are self-employed, so rules about how much holiday entitlement you have don't apply in the way that they do to employees. You can set your own rules, but must make them clear to parents when they engage your services.

You are not entitled to holiday because you are a business owner. Your parents are your clients, not your employers. However, in many areas, it is common practice to sharge for bank holidays.

As a parent I would be prepared to pay:
1- paid bank hols, but would expect you to wokr if I needed you to (which would be unlikely). I would not pay double.
2- any days where I didn't show up whether due to holiday or sickness or whatever.

If you are unavailable for work for any reason I would expect not to pay anything. If you want to ensure you never have to work on a bank holiday, I think you should not charge for the day. But,I would be willing to concede this point if it was what all the other childminders in the area did.

Its your business so you can decide the charging structure. But it would probably be best to explain this to parents at the start so people know what they are likely to be charged.

this is a contentious issue on mn

is this not outlined in your contracts?

i charge full fee for bank holdiays and do not work them. i charge half fee for four weeks holdiay per year. this will increase to full fee from next year. ncma rec we take four weeks paid holiday per year. parents can see all this information on my website so if they are not keen, they dont have to contact me in the first place. it is up to you.

As we provide a continous service there is some loophole about paid holidays even as SE - it's on the HMRC or working time regs websites, not got time to fish them out now, but will do later.

But feel free to charge whatever you like and in whatever way you like as long as it's upfront and signed in contracts it's upto service users to agree or go elsewhere.

I would be happy to pay for bank holidays but would expect the service to be available and no extra charge.

I would not pay when you are not available and certainly would not pay for holidays of a s/e person. Being s/e means you dont get the perks like an employee but benefit in other ways.

Many parents I would imagine like to choose when they take their hols and not fit them in with a childminder. Double fees for 4 weeks a year could amount to hundreds of pounds.

its not double fees for paid holidays, its just full fees. its double fees if you want your child to come in on to bank holidays

I meant by double fees, paying a childminders holiday and alternative childcare - many parents simply could not afford to have to pay two separate providers for the same time.

oh sorry, i misunderstood.

My CM used to charge half fees for holidays, and then work out the total bill and divide by 12 so that we paid the same each month, regardless of holidays. In the 2 years we sent DS there, she took hardly any holidays. I have 6 weeks off, so paid half fees during my holidays. Sometimes I sent him anyway, mostly I didn't.

You need to be clear with people when they sign the contract, not just assume that they'll know what you expect in terms of holidays.

I charge full fees for bank hols but don't work, if I agree to work I charge time and a half.
For holidays I agree with parents, either they pay full fees for their hols and nothing for mine, or half fees for each up to 4 weeks. Any more than that and they pay full fees.

I had this problem with parents too - so I rang the NCMA legal advice line

They told me bank hols are statutory holls so we are within our rights to charge for them even tho we don't work

End of

SOlicitor also said that we could say whatever we liked on our contracts - if the parents weren't savvy enough to read the small print before signing that is their look out (his words not mine!)

happymummyofone - being self employed does not disallow us perks - the law for us is the same regarding statutory holidays as for employed people.

It is not a perk for being emplyed it is a perk for being British and/or living in Britain.

hi we spoke to someone at Ofsted and they said they are starting to recommend to all childminders to start taking 4 weeks paid holidays. so because of that we are keeping it as full fees. 1 week the parent gets to choose and 3 weeks we do. which is stil only 3 weeks of holidays really as the other week the parent chooses would not be the same week the other parents choose. after these 4 have been used any holidays taken by parents are charged full fees, and any more we take are not charged for. i doubt i'll take more than 4, never have!

Bank holidays we are choosing not to work now, but these days are charged half fees opposed to full fees we were going to charge at first.

thank you for all advice.