Childminder charging me for her holidays?

onlyroz

I would have thought that a childminder would either charge for holidays, or not charge and increase the fees correspondingly when the child is there. Either way you'll end up paying the same so it makes no odds.

gabyjane

Hi,
I'm a childminder and it varies from person to person so no it's not unusual. I personally only charge half.

GracieP

onlyroz wrote: »

I would have thought that a childminder would either charge for holidays, or not charge and increase the fees correspondingly when the child is there. Either way you'll end up paying the same so it makes no odds.

Exactly, 4 weeks holiday pay would translate to an 8% increase on her weekly fee. I would suggest agreeing to it but asking her to do her best to arrange both your holidays at the same time each year.

thatgirlsam

i pay my childminder when she is on holiday full rates

i get paid full wages when on holiday so i figure why shouldn't she

if i had to pay someone else to look after them it would be different, but either i take the same holiday as her or my family helps out

it helps that i get 6 and a half weeks paid holiday a year

also, i do not want to lose her, i work difficult shifts and she is worth her weight in gold to me

slummymummyof3

My previous childminder made no charge for her holidays and we had to pay half rate for our holidays. It would not have been viable for mew to use her if we had to pay during her holidays - we couldn't always get the same time off as her and would have to make alternative arrangements. We paid if our child was ill or was collected early etc.

warehouse

My wife is a childminder and doesn't charge for holidays. She will charge half rate for the parents holidays. I believe that is very fair.

For those of you who are against childminders, please remember that to look after a single child, (the single most precious gift to any human being), the childminder will be earning less than minimum wage per hour for that child.

galvanizersbaby

I used a childminder briefly when my son first started school for a couple of months.

She only charged me for the hours he was with her but I think this was not the norm from what I read on here and the other mum's I know of that use childminders.
She appeared to adjust the weekly bill depending on when I picked my son up (i.e. if I was an hour early she would deduct an hour)
I said to her that I would rather pay her for the hours we had contracted so that's what we did.

I only used her for a short time as my son managed to get a place at our chosen school with had an after school club attached where he made lots of friends.

OP - if this childminder is your only option I would just go with the charge for holidays as others have said.

I am not anti childminders but would possibly not pick a childminder out of choice for my own children just because I know a lot of the childminders personally in my local area.

I also tend to agree with cannyscots quote 'I've come to have little regard for childminders now as in our village they have ganged together to charge for everything and anything and although some are dedicated at least 65% just want a paid stay at home ,do what they want job. '

LillythePink

My previous childminder used to charge me half price for her holidays (4 weeks per year), but if I took my DD out on holiday at any other time, I had to pay full price. I used to also pay for bank holidays at full price as well.

If my dd was ill, then it was full price, but if my childminder was ill then it was no charge

My new childminder is completely different, she doesn't have holidays throughout the year but doesn't expect to be paid for bank holidays and this year, because she was new to me, I was able not to pay her for the holidays that we had booked and the easter period when dd was at a playscheme.

To be honest, although in one respect I am paying her more, I prefer her as she is lovely, a real mum and I would recomend her to anyone.

I agree with some fees during holidays - it's only fair, it's just when some childminders start charging for extras ie pick up/drop off for school etc that it starts becoming a joke.

clairehi

Hang on a minute - you need to look at the equivalent yearly costs of childcare to see whether one c/ms charges are fair, and if she is more or less expensive than another or nursery.

your childminder needs to cover her living costs all year round, so if she does not charge you during periods she is off, then she will be covering her lost income during this time with the fees you pay the rest of the year.

Eg Say your c/m charges £5 an hour but nothing for her hols, this may well work out more expensive than a c/m who charges £3.50 an hour but expects you to carry on paying during her hols. (I cant be bothered to work it out exactly.) So which one is being "cheeky"?

At the end of the day if you are happy with her as a c/m, and the total overall cost is roughly in line with what other c/ms charge then it seems fine to me however the c/m chooses to structure her fees.

warez22

With my childminder, if I give her a month's notice of any holiday we will be having she doesnt charge. She also gives me a month's notice of any time she has off and again, doesnt charge.

When the childminder is on holiday my children go to an alternative childminder that I do pay for.

Seems I've got a good deal by looking at the other posts.