Do you pay your childminder sick pay and if so do you also pay this when her kids are sick??

[emmapi]

hi. advise gratefully received -
We've recently started up with a new childminder who we think is great and our child seems happy, which is a relief, after we werent happy with our last childminder. However, she contacted us this week to say that her child (who she looks after alongside ours) was really quite sick (fever, cough and flu) so did we still want our daughter to go to her this week. I asked if we'd still have to pay if we didn?t send our daughter and she said "yes", because in our contract, we've signed with her, we've agreed she will get sick pay. However, there's no mention in the contract we signed with her, that this sick pay covers her kids being sick. I have to take annual leave if I am off work because my child is sick. I suggested she did the same - take it as annual leave, and she didn?t want to. I suggested we swap the days I work this week so she can have my daughter later in the week when her son is hopefully better, but she said she would charge us an additional day for this. I don?t want to fall out with yet another childminder, but it does seem quite unreasonable, especially given that the National Childminding association advised me that childminders don?t normally get any sick pay at all!! Never mind when there kids are sick!! I also worry, that in our contract with her there's no mention of how much/how long her sick pay should cover?what if she's off sick (or her kids) for months and I have to use up all my annual leave and then take unpaid leave from work! That is probably me worrying too much, as she says she's never been sick before neither have her kids (I find that hard to believe, kids are always sick!), but she had glowing references from the other parents she works with so it must be true. Advise gratefully received! I really don?t want to fall out with our childminder as she's fab with our daughter, but at the same time, can I just ignore all this and just hope neither she nor her kids are sick again? What if I then am contractually obliged to pay her for months off sick!!

Childminders and Sick Pay from the Childminders Nannies AuPairs board.

My view is that your childminder should not be charging if they decide to close. However your childminder does not seem to have said they are closing... they are giving you a choice instead.

End of the day you have signed a contract, so need to read the terms of that contract and understand the implications of it. If it's an NCMA contract, then ask on the Childminders Nannies AuPairs board as there will be childminders there who know how the contract is meant to be interpreted.

Thanks for this info, i will look up the website you suggested. It's not a NCMA contract...not sure where she got the contract from, and it just says she is entitled to sick pay, not for how long and doesnt say anything about paying this when her kids are sick. But you are right, she didnt decide to close, she very clearly told us our daughter could still come, but at the high risk of getting sick! thanks.

I don't have to pay my childminder when her kids are sick but do still have to pay if mine are! Apparently its in the contract and all the childminders in our area do the same thing.
I know a lot of childminders are now asking for holiday pay, I luckily have one that doesn't work school holidays and it means I don't have to pay for 13 weeks in a year.
Best of luck. Its so tough when things aren't clear. x