Is my Childminder being unreasonable?

[Tulips99]

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

The government is expected to announce support for the self employed any day now, so I doubt childminders are going to starve.

I know plenty of self employed people and none of them are expecting their customers to keep paying them when they can no longer provide a service.

Setting up a small business is always risky and many fail even when times are good. It's not the customers responsibility to keep them afloat in hard times.

But those things are on contract with caterers and suppliers, they don't just nip to Tesco every time they need to buy more biscuits!

Pretty sure the caterers and other suppliers contracts would be cut, seeing as there are no children to feed atm

No, I don't think its unfair. As others have said the business will still have costs, insurance etc to pay, if you can afford to I would pay this cost until things improve.

With attitudes like these, as well as the entitlement of parents using the funded childcare and moaning over paying the extra supplement while still getting paid themselves it's no wonder childminders are leaving the industry in droves!

Good luck trying to find flexible home based nurturing childcare after this, especially any that will jump through all the funding hoops so you can get your not free childcare!

We don't have multiple clients, we have three pre school spaces, that's it! It's such a personal service it's so sad to see people talking like we are a disposable piece of rubbish.

We are a key part of your children's lives fgs!

Be kind!

Setting up a small business is always risky and many fail even when times are good. It's not the customers responsibility to keep them afloat in hard times.

How else do you propose they survive without customer support?

But she's not choosing to close - she has no choice. How do you suggest she survives if nobody pays her?

And I'm not choosing to take unpaid leave from work - I have no choice. How do you expect me to survive when I have to use my savings to pay for childcare I cant use.

And I'm not choosing to take unpaid leave from work - I have no choice. How do you expect me to survive when I have to use my savings to pay for childcare I cant use.

@pennylane83 have you missed the government memo?! you will be paid 80%

And I'm not choosing to take unpaid leave from work - I have no choice. How do you expect me to survive when I have to use my savings to pay for childcare I cant use.

My comments aren't aimed at people who genuinely have no way to pay. More towards people who can pay but don't want to.

How else do you propose they survive without customer support?

The government will ensure they have food and a roof above their head and if that's not good enough then plenty of supermarkets and delivery organisations are hiring.

& if you mean how will the business survive, they'll easily be able to pick up where they left off as they have so few overheads compared to other small businesses. If you want to support the self employed in these difficult times then I suggest you keep paying your local independent retailers as they're the ones that may literally lose their business over this. If you're happy to pay a childminder to NOT look after your child then logically you should also be happy to pay a barrister to NOT make you a coffee or a hairdresser to NOT cut your hair.

LucieLucie - I expect the PP was referring to unpaid leave to look after her children. This isn't covered by the scheme.

my comments aren't aimed at people who genuinely have no way to pay

Very naive. Without childcare, no one has a way to work and no one has a way to pay in any sustainable way. Everyone is in a vulnerable position. It doesn't make sense for families to use their cushion, if they're lucky enough to have one, burning through savings to pay a Childminder to do nothing. That is not the answer because it can't last and leaves two families in difficulties sooner. It's the government's job to help in this scenario. If they won't or can't, it's still not really possible it realistic, outside the rarified world of MN to turn your Childminder into a charitable cause at the very time you're not earning yourself. I have no idea who these people are who 'could pay but won't' but they're in a very small pool of diminishing size.

And I'm not choosing to take unpaid leave from work - I have no choice. How do you expect me to survive when I have to use my savings to pay for childcare I cant use.

@pennylane83 have you missed the government memo?! hmm you will be paid 80%

@LucieLucie The 80% pledge is for businesses who have no choice but to close up and send staff home. Not for businesses that are open. Me being able to work or not has no impact on my employer staying open therefore if I can't work due to childcare issues I won't get paid. So, my point still stands.

@nokidshere

My Childminder charge a full fees during all holidays whether child there or not

Those people suggesting you can cancel and then find another childminder- do you really value your children so little that you would think about changing their childcare just to save you somr money? I would fight tooth and nail to keep my childminder because my children are teacher to her and she is great .

*attached not teacher

doesn't make sense for families to use their cushion, if they're lucky enough to have one, burning through savings to pay a Childminder to do nothing.

If people cannot work due to the shutdown they are being paid at 80% of their full wage. Why shouldn't they use some of that income to support the business they rely on 100% when times are good?

Because otherwise they'll go back to work and have no childcare.

@Myfriendanxiety You must be feeling very optimistic about how quickly this will be resolved. I doubt my son would even remember my childminder in a year or however long it takes to get back to normal. Of course this also depends on the age of the child.

There also seems a real inability to distinguish between the responsibility one has to an employee and to someone who is self employed. If they're an employee then yes, there is a responsibility to think through how they will manage and come up with a solution if at all possible. That's the deal. With a self employed person you're paying for a specific service, the contract is different and the ethical context is different. You may still care deeply and do what you can, but it's not a question of personal responsibility, regardless of the Childminder's position, in the same way that the Childminder's responsibility to you is much less and their freedom to act autonomously is much greater.

"
If people cannot work due to the shutdown they are being paid at 80% of their full wage. Why shouldn't they use some of that income to support the business they rely on 100% when times are good?"

Only if laid off and only for 3 months for now.
They don't know if it will have to last longer and lead to unpaid leave.
I also expect a lot of employers to make redundancies, now or in 3 months. So some people won't have jobs to go to anyway.

@skinrash I absolutely value my cm & pay full fees for 48 weeks of the yr & 50% 4 weeks of the yr. Each time I have qualified for the 15 hours I pay a top up eg she gets £6 an hour from the LA & I pay the additional £2 an hour. I just think there should be some give & take.

The way I look at it I am saving money on transport to work, coffees, lunches, nights out etc. My job is secure so I paid my cleaner this week even though I am self isolating.

She didn’t say thank you or even ask if I am okay😂. But she did collect the money which I left outside for her.

Every where would do the same, how do you expect her to carry on living? Also be grateful you arent at a nursery as they charge full price.

But some of these parents will also be self employed with no income. Why is it that Childminder’s get special treatment?!

I’m self employed, contracts cancelled due to Coronavirus
I’m not entitled to anything really, despite other people getting 80% of their wages.

I will not work (in the role I am trained for and spent a lot of time and money training for) for months now.

If I have to not work, not get paid and also look after my children full time - making it harder for me to get a different job - why on earth can someone else expect money from me for doing nothing.

I’d be happy to pay a months fees now, in advance of the first month back to the child minder or something like that to help out.
But not just money for nothing. We’re all in the same boat, not sure why they get special treatment and I would get screwed twice effectively

Im sure the child minder, like the rest of us SE can go get a shop in the supermarket or something similar.
Or perhaps the government can be arsed to help out the SE instead.

I think 50% is reasonable tbh.
Some are asking for full amount.

@Yeahsurewhatever my childminder isn't staying open because she has keyworker kids but only 2 part time. Fortunately she can keep her assistant on subject to the governments PAYE announcement actually reflect the truth but she can't pay her bills for £60 a day for 2 days a week. She will likely have to close but will probably end up not reopening. We would've paid her but my self employed partner has just been told he can no longer go into work. We will still try to give her something but I don't know if it'll be enough to keep her open.