CM's holidays.

[Hando]

I have the final meeting with my CM to sign contracts tomorrow. She seems lovely and I'm happy I found her to be honest.

I haven't used a CM before, so just wanted to run this past you guys. i do not want to pay more than I normally would be, but do not want her to think I'm scrimping and taking the mickey by asking to pay her less.

She has told me she takes 4 weeks a year holiday, and requires full pay. She charges £1 per hour less than other CM's and says because she charges full pay for her holiday she won't put her fees up in the next year and hasn't for a couple of years. Seems fair to me.

Problem is, she will be taking these 4 weeks during school holidays, so I will have to find alternative (expensive) arrangements.

Anywho - My work is shift work, so how many hours she has dd will vary each week. Term time it will be 2-4 days (between 8-16hrs) per week and holiday time it will be 3-4 days (so 30-40hrs) per week. There is a big difference of course as my dd is in full time school.

She has requested as my hours vary so much that the amount I pay her as full pay for her holidays is the average weekly cost, seems fair to me. I assumed she meant the average over a whole year ie 13 weeks school holidays and 39 weeks term time. But she seemed to think I should pay her the average of school holiday weeks over a year, as all her holidays will be taken in school holiday times.

I am clarifying this with her tomorrow. Am I wrong to not want to pay her for 30-40hrs per week @ £6 per hour when this is only 1/4 of the weeks in the year, and in fact less than that as she will be away 4 out of the 13 holiday weeks each year.

I know ultimately she can decide her own criteria as she is self employed and offering me a service on her terms. BUT I wanted to see if this was standard practice. I will be paying her 30-40 hrs @ £6 = £120 - £180 PLUS alternative holiday club childcare for 1/3 of the holiday weeks each year. Seems like an awful lot to me.

I'm no childminder, but full pay implies that you will not be financially worse of for taking your holiday time, so I would think she is right, as long as her taking holidays in summer is ok.

Whether it is ok is down to you.

its amazing how different cms work and I suppose its down to market rate in each area.

I have 3 weeks annual leave and dont charge parents a penny for that as my service is not available on those days. I charge £3.oo per hour (dream of £6.00)

It does sound a lot to me but I havnt put up my prices this year either..

good luck with your choices though..

£3 per hour? I'm huessing you're up North somewhere? I'm not in central London though - we're in SE London.

£6-7 per hour is normal round here..

If you would prefer to pay a slightly higher hourly rate and not pay her for her holidays, why don't you suggest that. Just make sure you both make it clear what you want/understand, so there are no problems later.

Up North we do seem to charge less. 2.5 years ago I was still charging £3.00. (I managed to put it up by 15p per hour since then and now charge £3.15) but most other CM round here are charging £3.50. It also seems that the longer we have been CM the lower our fees are (but the wiser we are to other contract issues). I know that the newest CM here have the highest fees. They are most likely living in the real world

As regards holiday pay - I always thought that when hours were variable then the holiday pay was worked out by taking the amount earned over the previous 13 weeks and dividing by 13 to give an average weekly amount. I think this is actually the law. But maybe someone who knows for sure will be able to clarify.

Lisa I am shocked that you have been quoted £6-7 ph for our area. Most CMs I know are charging £5-6 and most do not charge for holidays or charge only half fee. This is not just me but all the local CMs I asked to see if they could help you? It is important that you are happy with who you have looking after your little girl though and if this CM is one you are happy with then thats the important thing - did you contact the CM I emailed you about?

I thought child minders were self employed, and as such were responsible for saving up their own holiday pay?

You wouldn't put up with it from a builder, would you? "I charge £70 per day and I am taking 2 days off for each month I work, for which you are going to pay for my non existant labour"

Why don't you just use afterschool care>? If you have to find alternative holiday care anyway, then just use the childcare attached to the school

It seems a bit steep to me too when you consider the cost of additional care. Have you thought about having a term time only contract? Then putting your DC into a holiday club.