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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

Do Childminders charge for a whole day if child is in school?

45 replies

bluebear · 04/05/2005 12:42

I was told that local childminders would charge for a whole day (£50) even if the child is in school, so would be with childminder before school, and after school only.
Is this always the case?

If the school needed ds to be picked up I would expect to leave work myself and deal with it so I wouldn't expect the cm to be on 'standby' so to speak...and I want to put him into the local holiday club during school hols.

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lunavix · 04/05/2005 22:03

I'd have thought if she charged you - and at such short notice - it would be half pay as per her holidays!

Original poster

bluebear · 04/05/2005 22:11

Wow LGJ - certainly seems cheeky to expect full pay for such a sudden day off (If I don't give a week's notice of holiday at work then I wouldn't get paid for it).

Thanks for your good wishes KatieMac - It's a bit of a longshot as there are very few childminders in this area (I've tried on and off for the last 4 years but ended up with the children in nursery) - now ds will be starting school I was looking at nannys rather than cms because I had been told that the cms would charge for the whole day (both children would come to £100 a day so I thought I may as well get a nanny and have their washing done for the same price ) But if I could find a local childminder, even if they only had space for ds, it would be great.

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Ellbell · 04/05/2005 22:19

My dd1 has just started school full-time, and now I only pay c/m for the two hours that she has her after school. However, I pay £4/hour for that, as opposed to £3/hour which I was paying when she was with her full-time. If she's not at school for some reason (e.g. tomorrow as school closed for election) I go back to paying £3/hour. Dd2 is at nursery school 2.5 hours/day and for that time I pay c/m a retainer of half the normal rate (i.e. £1.50/hour). The reasoning for this is that c/m couldn't have another child during the time that dd2 is at nursery, as it's such a short time, so even though she's not with the c/m my dd is still occupying one of her 'under-5s' places. Because dd1 is now 5 she's not stopping the c/m taking on another, pre-school-age child while she's at school and therefore I'm not charged for that time. Hope that makes sense.

lunavix · 04/05/2005 22:21

bluebear - I must be living in the wrong area! If I had both your lo's full time it would be barely over half what you're being quoted. And I wouldn't charge for the time your ds was at school so it would be much less! I think I need to move to your area!

allatsea · 04/05/2005 22:32

My childminder charges 1 hour for drop off and pick up and then for any hours before or after school.

blodwen · 04/05/2005 22:37

I, nor any other local childminders I know, would charge for a whole day for a school age child. Some charge an hourly rate before and after school; others charge a 'sessional rate' (similar to a minimum charge). If we are asked to pick up a child from school due to illness/accident, we would charge the normal hourly rate for that time. This, in reality, very rarely happens. I think this is probably the norm in most areas of the country (as other childminders who have posted here also suggest). Good luck with your search.

ssd · 05/05/2005 11:18

As I wrote before I don't charge for time at school. But one thing I noticed when it was the last day of school last year was the kids I had after school had to be collected an hour earlier as school closed early and there were 2 of them. I told the mum this, thinking I didn't need to spell it out that I needed an hours extra pay x2. But she didn't bother and as time went on I was too embarrased to ask.......I had to give her notice much later (as she was always late too and a whole host of other reasons). Anyway I guess all childminders need to think ahead as a lot of the parents don't seem to know if the school's hours are being changed for a day and budget accordingly, although the mum I had was scatty in every sense to do with her childcare.

alibubbles · 09/05/2005 13:28

I spoke to the NCMA helpline today and they said they only reccommend before and after school charges, but agree that personal circumstances arise where the parent may not be local and a retainer of some sort could be charged to be on call.

They have not heard of anyone charging full fees and were surprised that anyone would charge full fees.

Original poster

bluebear · 09/05/2005 13:53

Thanks for finding that out Alibubbles.

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wysiwyg · 16/01/2006 21:13

I'm using a childminder for after school care only, with a term time contract. Should I expect to pay for Inset days? Does this count as an extension of school holidays? Just wondered what people thought? Or if there is a standard?

ThePrisoner · 16/01/2006 21:43

I personally tend to regard inset days as part of the school holidays, so wouldn't charge (I will do term-time only contracts, with no retainer or charges for school holidays).

Jensmum · 17/01/2006 12:30

I'm going to sound really daft now but what's an inset day?

Original poster

bluebear · 17/01/2006 12:57

An inset day is a sort of staff training day - usually the first day after the holidays, the kids stay at home but the staff go to school.

I thought I was in a time warp seeing this thread bumped - I never did find a childminder with a vacancy

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jellyjelly · 17/01/2006 13:01

Havent read all the thread but when i done a school run i charged per hour and the parent was to be called if the child was sick.

hana · 17/01/2006 13:03

training day for staff at school
often tacked on to existing long weekends and def on fridays or mondays!!

Daisymae · 02/04/2006 22:35

Reactivating this because I'm in a pickle over twins that start school after Easter. I will take them to school and pick them up and they'll stay til 4.30 pm. From reading previous posts I guess I should charge for hours I have them..
But where am I going to get 2 children from 9- prob 9.30 by the time I get home, to 2.30/3pm.
Otherwise 2 of my places are taken and I'll be paid for 2-3 hours per day.
Twins will be just 4 years old when they start school.
Help!!!

goosey · 02/04/2006 22:44

If they are at school full-time then they can be classed as over fives.

kidsrus · 02/04/2006 22:52

hi daisymae
how i work it is if im required to collect the child if its ill then the parent needs to pay full time, as the places in the day need to be kept free so you don't exceed ratio's.
Are you aware that once a child starts full time education they then come into your 5 and over ratio's but you need to contact ofsted and appeal on these grounds. Then you will have 2 places free all day so 9.30-3.00 won't come into it unless you feel you can't cope with 2 extra after school.
Hope this helps you ive just had to do this myself.

ThePrisoner · 03/04/2006 00:01

So long as rising fives are at full-time "proper" school (not nursery or doing half-days), I'm sure that you don't have to contact Ofsted at all, as they would automatically be part of your 5 - 8 years bracket. No-one I know has ever contacted Ofsted for this!!

jellyjelly · 03/04/2006 07:59

This is covered in the ncma booklets about over 5's not taking under five spaces.

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