FINALLY found a CM.. but....

[Hando]

Ok, as some of you know I've been CM hunting for a while. Today I found a lady with a space as of next week. She sound snice on the phone, I've seen pics of her setting/garden, her ofsted report is great and shes really local and charges average rates.

I arranged to meet with her one day next week to talk specifics, let my dd meet her, discuss rates, holidays etc.

Anywho, I just looked at her website (wont link for obvious reasons) but she has her holiday policy on there saying that she is "legally entitled to 4 weeks paid holiday per year". For the 4 weeks she is away I will be charged full rate fees. Is that normal for CM's to do? I know she has the "legally entitled" bit wrong. I have been self employed for years and we are legally entitled to diddly squat!

So I have to pay her full fees for her 4 weeks a year holiday and find / pay someone else to have dd. Also full fees payable when i go on holiday- although this is what i understand to be pretty standard with CM;s, and understandable of course.

"Legally entitled to" is wrong

She is wrong about being legally entitled.

However, I used to send my DS to a childminder and I was quite happy to pay half fees for her holidays. I was also quite happy to pay half fees for any holidays that I took, too. The purpose of statutory annual leave is to ensure that people have adequate time-off from work, and as I benefit from holiday pay etc I wanted my childcarer to benefit from the same. The last person I'd want to look after my child is someone exhausted and stressed because he or she can't afford time-off!

I realise that I am in the minority on this one but I get lots of annual leave so had enough to cover the meagre amount of time she took off.