QUick question about childminder rates....

[lamandler]

Does anyone know roughly how much a local childminder might charge per hour for two children? A 3 year old who will be at pre-school in the morning and a 10 month old.

I just calculated a nanny wage and I need a plan B!

Depends on the childminder. Some may charge for your 3 year old even whilst at pre-school others may be happy not to. Roughly I would say £10 per hour with sibling discount and charging whilst 3 year old at nursery.

If not charging, it might be £6/hr for 10month old, and £5/hr for 3 year old. Whereabouts are you looking. Are you near twickenham?If so feel free to send me a direct message and we could chat further, Im a local minder.

The Childminders in Whitton, Twickenham area mostly charge £6 per hour. I myself work with my husband and we charge the £6 per hour for only the hours used. Sibling rate £5 per hour. All inclusive.

If you are around the Barnes area I've heard they charge £10 per hour.

Some Childminders charge for holidays. Some don't.

Look around at a few childminders to see whats about. You will have a gut feeling about the people you visit and know which ones would work for your family.

Depends which part of the borough you're in. I am a childminder in the Twickenham Green area and charge between £6 and £7 per hour. I have vacancies coming up if you are interested! Whitton and Hampton are around £5-6 per hour, Richmond you could be looking at £8 per hour plus. I was under the impression that for parents with 2+ children who are not getting tax credits, a nanny would probably work out cheaper than a childminder. But I suppose it depends on what hours you need someone for.
Some childminders will give a sibling discount for the second child of around £1 per hour on the normal rate, and this will usually be for the older child. Most childminders will charge you for the hours your child is at pre-school, this is because we can't fill the space during that short time so would be losing money compared to having a child full time.
Childminders can be flexible with their rates, and you need to talk to a few childminders face to face to find out exactly what price they'd charge.
If either parent can get childcare vouchers through work, you can use these to pay Ofsted registered childminders, and you can make significant tax savings in this way.
On 18 June, there is a Meet the Childminder event in Twickenham, where you can meet lots of local childminders face to face. You can also find out more from Richmond Childminding Association.

my old child minders charged £5 per hour (regardless of nursery time out etc) per child (though that was a couple of years ago so it might have gone up but no more than £6 I wouldn't have thought. Obviously no ta or NI or entry fees for play groups etc or meals to pay on top though. You would also need one able to pck up and drop off at pre-school.

Thanks everyone, looks like it would be the same (or just slightly more) as a nanny's gross wage. And I wouldn't have to drop off and pick up so that would save at least my sanity!

£6-£7 per hour per child seems quite usual in the Richmond area.
Childcare.co.uk Childminder Search Results TW1 3BZ

A nanny may well be a similar cost, though I expect a nanny would be higher once you have taken all costs into account - Mumsnet: Nanny Costs discussion, April 2011

I found this message thread due to you posting on the Mumsnet Childcare Board with regard to hiring a nanny and you have hit a classic problem with regard to nannies - some don't understand how taxation works.

When a nanny works part-time for two or more families, then one employer will be their primary employer and the others will be secondary. The primary employer will get to use the nannies personal tax allowance... the secondary will not. This won't make a difference if all employers have agreed a Gross salary with the nanny. Alas some nannies don't understand Gross and want to agree a Net wage (their take home pay after tax deductions). This is a big problem, as if you are the secondary employer you can't work out in advance how much it will cost you to employ them, as you don't know what tax code will be allocated to the job. It may be that the entire income is taxed... so a taxcode like BR is used.

For anyone reading this in the future... please do come over to the childcare board and post a message about hiring a nanny if that is something you are considering doing. Regulars on the board are often happy to help and point out the potential pitfalls. Do not agree to hiring a nanny on a Net wage (even if you are using a nanny agency and they are recommending you discuss wages as Net)... come talk to us first over on the childcare board.