Holidays

[mogs0]

Mindee 1 comes 3 days a week and his sister comes just in the holidays. They had booked next week off and because they are my only regulars I have decided to go and visit friends. I don't charge for my holidays but charge full fee for mindee holidays. I'd only arranged my time away because I knew the children wouldn't be coming so I'm in a dilemma over whether to still charge for the week.

I would and if mum says anything just tell her what you put above. It's up to you what you do and where you go when they are away.

Don't feel guilty - infact, I wouldn't mention what you're doing while they are away. Enjoy your break

I would charge but only if you are willing to risk the holiday being cancelled at the last minute and you needing to be available as essentially you are charging to retain the place.

The reason I asked is because she mentioned today that they might still bring mindee1 for a couple of hours. It's happened a couple of times before when they've arranged time off then just brought the baby. On these occasions it's been during term time so I've been around anyway but now she knows I'm going to be away I don't know whether I should still charge.

Also, we have an ad-hoc agreement for the older child. She was supposed to be coming 4 full days this week but I got a text last night to say she wouldn't be coming for at least 2 of them and possibly wouldn't be here for the whole week and mum will only pay for mindee 1 which means I'll end up missing out on £200 over the next 2 weeks if I don't charge for next week.

I need to review the contract I think.

I type so slowly!! That's what I was thinking islandofsodor.

If I'm not available I don't charge. If you can make yourself available, then I supposed you can charge.

This seems fairly straightforward to me (I am a Mum, not a CM, and I have a nanny and have never used a CM).

If you are available to work, then you charge. If you are not, then you don't. I would ask the mother whether she needs you to be available at all next week and tell her that, if the answer is "yes" then you will definitely need to charge her for the whole of that week. I know what others are saying about you doing what you like while on time off but the point is that, if the parents are paying you, you are not really on time off. If the friends you are planning to visit are within a couple of hours' drive away and you are willing to drop everything and return if necessary, then by all means charge. However, if your friends are at the other end of the country and once you have gone you won't be able to return at short notice, I am not sure that it would be fair to charge.
Having said all that, I think that it would good if the Mother could commit herself one way or the other.

On second thoughts, perhaps I was a little harsh there. Depending on how long ago all this was arranged (and assuming that it wasn't very long ago) I would certainly be mindful of the fact that you need a regular income and pay you if I was the mother concerned.

I told my cm back in April that we are on holiday for 2 weeks. As per the contract she is charging me a retainer of £15 per day (full rate is £35 per day). I would not dream of telling her at the last minute that we are not going away and I want my dd2 to go to her after all.

I assume that although she is in effect charging me a retainer, she is not sitting round all day waiting for me to drop dd2 round at the last minute.

To me it is about respect and courtesy. I respect my cm and I assume that she has taken it in good faith that we don't need her those weeks. If a major crisis occurred then I may ask her v nicely if plans could be changed (but it would have to be something big like a family funeral or similar)

I think you need to make it clear that you require a full weeks notice of any changes as you do plan in advance for who is attending on certain days.This will then cover you for charging her if she forgets to cancel but also for you if she cancels you are entitled to say no as its too short notice.I would go as far to remind her on the friday what is booked for the following week and hand her the invoice for what is booked.