Is my Childminder being unreasonable?

[Tulips99]

To ask for 50% of fees whilst closed to retain my child's place?

I’m sorry but no. Her business has got almost zero overheads - no staff, no rent due, no special supplies/contracts she’s signed that she still has to pay.

Huh? What are you talking about?

Her rent is her mortgage! You know, the payment she has to make each month so she can keep her home and business running?

Or does it not matter if she loses her home?

She is not being unreasonable to ask you to pay
You are not being unreasonable if you don’t pay
There is no correct answer in this scenario.

@Nekoness

We are talking childcare, not your shrubs, bushes, bricks and mortar. Relationships and trust has been established with your most precious person, your child - bonds, real love.

The idea that you “keep” a place open for your child works if there’s a shortage of services. I’m sorry but the sad truth is that she’ll be scrambling to fill places in the future.

Childcare has been hardest hit, many nurseries closing anyway due to lack of government funding (funded hours are not properly funded) more leaving the profession than joining due to the long hours, endless paperwork and families like you who think childcare is dispensible.
Do you really think Childminders will sit there with no pay in the hope it'll all turn out ok? No, they have bills to pay and will be desperately looking for something else, possibly in a supermarket because people love them right now.

This is just another hit.

Really depends if you want to carry on sending your child to her after this is all over.

My childminder has been brilliant with all of this. I was expecting to pay her at least half, especially while I'm still being paid. But she's decided that she doesn't want to risk the health of her own family by having other people's children in her home. The local school are offering wrap around care for all key workers, so she doesn't need to offer a service to them.

Therefore, she's decided to shut the business down. She only has school children before and after school, so she spent Friday during the day driving round all the local factories seeing if they needed work. A company making hand sanitiser took her on straight away as a packer and she started work yesterday, less than 24 hours after she'd said goodbye to the kids she looked after!

I normally think it outrageous for childminders or nurseries to charge if they are not providing the service. However I think things have to be very different for the next few months in order for everyone to get through this. If you are being paid I think you should pay her. I think 50% is entirely reasonable. The only excuse for not paying should be if you are not being paid either. If that is the case I would negotiate.

@Tulips99

Nurseries get the business tax exempt and 80% of salaries paid but this wasn't announced until after the closure. I would expect the food taken off and a refund of sorts in the light of that.

Childminders are self employed and operate from their own homes.

Would you still pay a gardener 50% if they couldn’t work? Would you pay a freelance writer? A decorator?

Actually, yes - if you are lucky enough to be a salaried employee who is still being paid through this crisis, and if you regularly hire the services of a self-employed worker like a gardener or cleaner, then you should offer to pay them at the very least a retainer.

I’d proceed based on contract.

The nursery my sister uses are saying they are open to everyone still. She's furious. Both her and bil are key workers but hes wfh and she's on mat leave so won't be sending them. They are still having to pay while people who aren't key workers continue to send them in

What I would be concerned about is that this situation has put the serious shits up LOTS of self employed people.

I know a childminder very well - she was my dc’s CM for 5 years and we’re very friendly.

She’s told me that she’s job hunting. She can’t risk being without money for months and doesn’t want to risk this happening again in future. Fair enough. She’s scared, she has bills, she has kids.

She’s still currently receiving money in various amounts from families for ‘keeping the place open’.

If she finds a job she’ll be giving notice to the 6 families on her books. Obviously no refunds.

No way in hell would I be paying any CM or nursery at this time with no end in sight.

SE people are looking for jobs. Plenty of nurseries will go bust.

Plenty of the morally superior will be ££££s down in 6 months time and still no childcare space to return to.

I'm not in the UK but I'm struggling with this. I'm also mostly self employed (and my other job doesn't pay in January and February anyway) and also not earning and I can't afford to pay for a service I'm not getting and certainly no one is offering to pay me for not doing my job.

We'll offer something I imagine, because I feel bad, but it's tricky because we're having to use savings to get by too. This month I'm working and getting paid from one job, so I'm happy to pay a percentage of that.

If I were still getting paid for all my work then I'd want to carry on paying too. I'm not though, so I don't know.

No need for a childminder anymore for us, so not an issue. But I've just agreed with my cleaner to pay her 50% going forward. She was very grateful as really worried about her livelihood.

I've offered to buy vouchers from my nail lady, and will talking to our independent local shop as to what we can do to support. My son will continue to have outside one on one golf lessons, and my daughters piano lessons will continue via zoom/Skype. Will also try to use local restaurants/takeaways at least once a week.

For as long as me and DH are being paid we need to help others.

I'm a childminder and I work with an assistant.

I have registration, insurance, compulsory training and, obviously, my mortgage etc to pay. I can claim 80% of my assistants wage, I just need to find that money first.

I have asked for 50% fees and most have agreed. One family is refusing because they want to stick to the letter of the contract so I have issued notice to them. They won't be getting a place back.

I'm still waiting to hear what our nursery are proposing but certainly won't be paying full fees.

I'm still getting paid full but then I still have to do the work as well as look after my daughter full time. It may mean I'm "making a profit" from the situation but then I wouldn't pay the petrol station for the petrol I'm not using driving to work or the pub money for drinks I'm not drinking.

It's an unfortunate situation for them but it is a chance you take when you go into business.

I would pay a small retainer to keep the place but I think they are bluffing if they ask for more than that. Not like they will get new parents to pay anything if they are closed so any payment is a better than nothing.

I think you should pay. My sons in nursery and neither of us is a key worker so we're working from home around him we still have to pay full fees to the nursery to keep his place open for when things go back to normal. Its not their fault they have to close and they still need to pay their staff and bills.

They can't give your place away

Of course they can.

If you choose not to pay the retainer they can give you notice to terminate your contact.

Just like the other way round. If you'd rather not pay a retainer, hand in your notice to terminate the contract.

I was due to sign up for a Childminder to start I 1 month have decided to continue with this as I am still being paid in full so it was an expense already factored in.

I will need her when the schools re open but also I could not feel comfortable in effect profiting by any small means from the current situation.

She wants to provide her service but has been told she can’t she didn’t choose this either.

Ultimately the more we keep people being paid the more we gain re the economy when this is over which it one day will be.

50% is so fair! Our nursery have asked the same. We are fortunate that we are still being paid and can work from home, I want the nursery to still be there after all of this.

It's up to you really. If you don't want to pay her then don't pay and negotiate your place once things are back to normal. It depends on your situation. I don't have any issue with nurseries/CM asking parents to support the business etc voluntarily. But trying to enforce it is cheeky fuckery as their contract doesn't cover such exceptional circumstances.
If you're laid off and earning 80percent of your wages then pay. If you're at home unpaid as you need to look after your kids then I wouldn't pay personally.

I think 50% is fair. I'm a cleaner. I was supposed to clean 11 houses this past week. I had 8 cancellations. Not one offered to pay me a penny, and they all stated that they were working from home, so still getting paid. When this is all over I can envisage a lot of sackings.

Why are nurseries asking for anything though? They'll get the fees of the keyworker's and the staff will be getting the wages covered if laid off. They can ask for 10-20percent but anything more is taking the piss.

Tootsey - I'll pay my cleaner as long as she's happy to come and clean and we can safely allow her to. I still need her even though we're working from home (more than ever actually!). I'll probably cover half if we have to self isolate and I cancel for that. Having said that she's not very reliable unfortunately... if we go into lockdown I don't think I'll pay anything but may increase her rate afterwards.

I have requested between 25 and 35 percent of normal fees to secure their spaces if the parents are still being paid.
Anyone who refuses gets immediate termination of contract. I will not care for the children of people who regard me so lowly.

Nurseries expecting full fees are clearly profiteering from the situation..