Do childminders get paid for Good Friday ??

[pinksmarties]

Just received my pay a week in advance (as is usual) and seen that good friday has not been paid for. I do after school only and hadn't worked out what to do about GF but am miffed that it's been deducted without parent asking me first.
Don't know what to do about other friday mindees now.

Is it normal not to be paid for bank holidays ? what do other CMs do ?

Thanks in advance.

All depends upon what you wrote in your contract

I left it blank because I felt overwheled with the contract at the time and wasn't sure what to do.

There you go then

You are a business woman - you cannot introduce charges retrospectively. Unless you specifically said you wanted paying for Good Friday, the parents are fine not paying.

Think about it for when you next write a contract & 6months or a year after you wrote your existing contracts you can think about asking them if they will renegotiate

TBH I don't charge unless I am prepared to offer care (which I am not on Bank Holidays)

If you left it blank you cannot expect to get paid. You need to outline everything in a contract. Every CM has a different policy on what they get paid for.

OK fair enough but I know that parent does not look at the contract so am a bit annoyed that she just assumed she wouldn't be paying.

She signed it & she got a copy - why would you assume she (or a partner) hadn't read it?

Doesn't really matter whether they've read it or not, they still don't have to pay. My contract states that I don't work and the parents don't pay.

if you're not working why would you expect to get paid?

yy all down to the contract

when you review next then discuss with the parents

each CM is different

eg I don't charge for BHs as I am not available

Yep, you can't argue about this just because you felt overwhelmed with the contract. I remember being overwhelmed by everything when I first started but I made sure I worked it out before sorting contracts. And if I ever make a mistake, I loose out as it's MY mistake.

I do invoices every month in advance of payment being due. This makes it very clear what I'm charging for and what I'm not. Then if a parent doesn't agree, they can come and speak to me.

I personally don't charge for bank holidays as I don't work them but I have a note that says if I did agree to work one, I'd charge double.

You need to do a contract review ONCE you've decided what you are happy to work and charge etc. But if you're not prepared to work bank holidays but expect to be paid, I'd be ready for the parent being unhappy about this and possibly going elsewhere.

You don't sound like you're the one in charge tbh. You are not their employee.

Perhaps you now need to review your contract.

If its not in your contract now then no i am afriad you cannot ask to be paid but perhaps in a while you can review the contract.

have a look at www.childmindingforum.co.uk for lots of help and support

And its a case of here we go again - the comment from Hana 'why would you expect to be paid if you are not working' - that old chestnut. Tons of threads around here Hana where both sides argue their points. As a SE person, own t&c's are set - some minders charge for bank/public holidays some don't - its their choice and really not for other people to comment upon in the manner you have. Not particuarly helpful was it - just rather antagonistic.

generally no as it is a bh

but if you put in your contract that you will be paid for bh then yes

you are se and negoiate what you want and then put the terms in the contract

I personally dont work Bank holidays so I dont get paid(Im a childminder by the way)
as with MY own holidays or if Im sick and cant work I dont get paid,
This is simply because I cant be bothered to have to justify myself when someone turns round with the old chestnut 'why should I expect to be paid if Im not working'
I would find it interesting to find out tho, how many people in 'proper employment ie employed' full time or otherwise, DONT get paid for their sickness or holiday time from work.
Not try to be antagonistic or anything just interested.

I'm a CM and I do get paid for bank holidays.

It is discussed fully with parents at interview and I've never had anybody query it. To my mind it's the same as any other day if parent chooses not to bring their child when I am open. (I open on bank hols if needed by parents except over the Christmas period).

Pinksmarties if you didn't fill out your contract properly you're just going to have to 'suck it up' and put up with not being paid I'm afraid - most of us miss out things on contracts when we first start minding that in later months/years are iron clad in writing, it's a steep learning curve and one of the things you don't seem to get a lot of help with during training. You could always ask for a contract review and chat with the parent about being paid for BHs

OP, should also be invoicing your parents, not just waiting for them to pay you what they think they should pay you. (although I agree that in this case, the parents are well within their contractual rights not to pay you for BHols)

gosh yy No4, I hadn't spotted that

pinksmarties, how are you accounting if you are not invoicing?

Thank you pippen26 and other constructive posts. I am available for work on good friday and if parents don't want to use me on that day then it's up to them but I should still get paid. However I obviously won't carge them as I didn't put it in the contract.

I have an extremely good relationship with all my parents and they are all very happy with me and I know that they don't read the contracts because they've told me. They just sign the rellevent bits and then put them away.

Thankyou all. No more answers needed.

I don't 'invoice' my parents either - I expect to be paid on time and when I am I use the NCMA receipt book which they sign and date and then I use the NCMA accounts book. It has a bit at the back where you fill in payments made by parents etc.

As a CM I wouldn't normally work on a Bank Holiday and would not expect to be paid. I would charge if I was open and available to work even if the parents do not choose to use me that day.

I agree with Katymac, it depends on your contract. When it is up for review you can change it if you decide to be available on BHs.

do your families know you are available to work good friday/b.hol?..if not then the have assumed having seen nothing in their contract that you would not be working and as such have deducted that day, do you charge for your hols?, maybe they are assumiing its classed as a hol, TBH, they really only can assume, if you havent added anything in the area discussing b.hols.

I do charge for b.hols at normal rate..HOWEVER it IS in my contract and bec ause all of my mindees are part time i try to swap their days round so they dont miss out, however i am within my contractual terms t charge and not work as this is what we have agreed to from the off.

Contracts are tricky little buggers to work out, i have reveiewed many of mine when issues arose, if i was you i would issue a newsletter for all families explaining that you ARE available to work bank hols there for if parents decide not to bring child, normal fees apply.

Good Luck

As Katymac said at the beginning, it all depends what you have in your contracts. I have to confess that even after 10 years of minding, I still find things I need to include or an area that I need to tighten up on so each year, the contracts I offer all my parents change slightly. I charge for all B/Hols but do not work them. When I was employed (as opposed to self-employed), I was paid for B/Hols and did not work them so have applied the same principal to my childminding. All of my parents over the last 10 or so years have been happy with my pricing. If they do require service on a B/Hol (and I if I am available), I charge double-time. It also depends on what the common approach is in your locality. If most people do not charge for B/Hols then you may be disadvantaging yourself if you do something different. Do you have contract reviews with your parents - maybe every six months, so then you could introduce your request for a change.