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Childminder charging me for her holidays?

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  • I have no patience for children unless they're in absolute angel mode, so I can admire childminders. Just was surprised at anybody self-employed (not in anyway limited to childminders) trying to have their cake and eat it.
    I'm not bad at golf, I just get better value for money when I take more shots!
  • thatgirlsam
    thatgirlsam Posts: 10,451 Forumite
    I have no patience for children unless they're in absolute angel mode, so I can admire childminders. Just was surprised at anybody self-employed (not in anyway limited to childminders) trying to have their cake and eat it.

    i do think you have a point there

    but isn't childminding a bit different as far as the self employed thing goes

    if you were self employed as say, an electrician you could take on as many jobs as was physically possible to try and re-coup your losses for your time off

    childminders have limited earning potential.. they can only have a set number of kids at any one time ( rightly so ) meaning that can they never work that 'little bit harder' to get the holiday loss back?

    im by no means trying to start an arguement, more thinking aloud than anything else

    if i have got that completely wrong then im sure someone will correct me :D
    £608.98
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    £154.98
  • Childminders are not classed as running a business in the same sense, for example many housing associations and social housing departments stipulate that a business cannot be run from the house, however in this instance childminding does not count as a business. I tell you its a minefield out there !!!
    'we don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing'


  • thatgirlsam
    thatgirlsam Posts: 10,451 Forumite
    Childminders are not classed as running a business in the same sense, for example many housing associations and social housing departments stipulate that a business cannot be run from the house, however in this instance childminding does not count as a business. I tell you its a minefield out there !!!

    yes it is/was :rotfl:

    i lived in a council house so i had to write a letter for permission to CM, and im sure i had to sign something to say that this wouldn't be a nuisance to my neighbours

    i had to change my insurance though , can't remember but is it to business purposes??
    £608.98
    £80
    £1288.99
    £85.90
    £154.98
  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,343 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    i do think you have a point there

    but isn't childminding a bit different as far as the self employed thing goes

    if you were self employed as say, an electrician you could take on as many jobs as was physically possible to try and re-coup your losses for your time off

    childminders have limited earning potential.. they can only have a set number of kids at any one time ( rightly so ) meaning that can they never work that 'little bit harder' to get the holiday loss back?

    im by no means trying to start an arguement, more thinking aloud than anything else

    if i have got that completely wrong then im sure someone will correct me :D
    Maybe an electrician might be able to, but not all self employed no. A mobile hairdresser for example who has set customers and works to appointments. Her customers go on holiday/into hospital/are not well that day can't make that day cos they are off out somewhere, then the hairdresser has a blank in their book, that they can't fill. And they don't get paid as they don't charge mrs moggs for the shampoo and set they didn't do. If it's a shop they will still have overheads and they couldn't seek out a new customer to take their place as when she's back it's Mrs Moggs slot.


    The only chance of re-gaining that money is if they get a random phonecall, asking if someone has got a space as a one-off. Same if they are working in a salon where the majority or all bookings are appointment only. Very frequent in 'villagey' old lady type hairdressers. I should imagine the same applies to chiropodists/beauty salons and so on.
  • Thanks for all the replies!
    Just to answer a few questions. She never mentioned this charge in any of our meetings but to be fair I never asked. I only noticed when I reading through our contract before signing it.
    I haven't queried it with her because I wasn't really sure how to bring it up. I don't want to come across I'm not happy about and I really don't want any bad feeling before we've even started (DS hasn't even started with her yet)

    I don't particularly agree with it but like others have said it's not all about the money. She's the only childminder around who is willing to have DS as early as I need her and at pretty short notice (I work shifts and sometimes don't get my rota till the week before)
    The fact she's so flexible (and has come highly recommended) is a big plus for me. The positives definitely outweigh this one little negative (for me anyway!)
    Future Mrs Gerard Butler :D

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  • thatgirlsam
    thatgirlsam Posts: 10,451 Forumite
    Spendless wrote: »
    Maybe an electrician might be able to, but not all self employed no. A mobile hairdresser for example who has set customers and works to appointments. Her customers go on holiday/into hospital/are not well that day can't make that day cos they are off out somewhere, then the hairdresser has a blank in their book, that they can't fill. And they don't get paid as they don't charge mrs moggs for the shampoo and set they didn't do. If it's a shop they will still have overheads and they couldn't seek out a new customer to take their place as when she's back it's Mrs Moggs slot.


    The only chance of re-gaining that money is if they get a random phonecall, asking if someone has got a space as a one-off. Same if they are working in a salon where the majority or all bookings are appointment only. Very frequent in 'villagey' old lady type hairdressers. I should imagine the same applies to chiropodists/beauty salons and so on.

    i get what you are saying but a hairdresser for example has much more chance of filling an empty space for a week than a childminder does

    people want their hair done randomly, or book an appointment on the off chance

    a hairdresser does not need to worry about that amount of clients as they don't have these rules

    if a hairdresser was only allowed to have 3 clients at any one time then they may be much more worried about booking these spaces to someone else

    CM's need regular clients from the very nature of their job and given that they are limited to only having a certain number

    again, im thinking aloud :D
    £608.98
    £80
    £1288.99
    £85.90
    £154.98
  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,343 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    i get what you are saying but a hairdresser for example has much more chance of filling an empty space for a week than a childminder does

    people want their hair done randomly, or book an appointment on the off chance Not if 99%+ of their custom is pre-booked regulars as I said in my post above.

    a hairdresser does not need to worry about that amount of clients as they don't have these rules But unless they find a random 'one-off' person they can't fill their gap as it's being held till mrs Jones comes out of hospital.

    if a hairdresser was only allowed to have 3 clients at any one time then they may be much more worried about booking these spaces to someone else If they are mobile or a very small salon, they only book 1 client at a time. I don't really follow your way of thinking here.

    CM's need regular clients from the very nature of their job and given that they are limited to only having a certain number

    again, im thinking aloud :D
    Same as many other businesses. Personally I'd rather CM's 'standarised' what they do/what they charge for across the board. Instead of every single one having a different variant. For example

    I have overheard 2 childminder's giving parent's notice in the school playground. :eek: Personally I think that is out of order.
  • Spendless wrote: »
    Same as many other businesses. Personally I'd rather CM's 'standarised' what they do/what they charge for across the board. Instead of every single one having a different variant. For example

    I have overheard 2 childminder's giving parent's notice in the school playground. :eek: Personally I think that is out of order.
    It's not something I would do BUT for example I had one child who was dropped off by his older sister. I rarely saw his mum unless it was at school and terminating a contract is something I'd prefer to do face to face rather than over the phone.
    It could be that a similar situation exists with these CM's - just a thought.

    As for the analogy of hairdressers and plumbers - my gut feeling is these professions don't set their charges to break even in the hope that if they do enough then they'll eventually make a profit - there must be some element of a mark up in there. With CM's that's not possible as the market forces dictate charges are low.
    Well that's my feeling at any rate :)
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  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,343 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    It's not something I would do BUT for example I had one child who was dropped off by his older sister. I rarely saw his mum unless it was at school and terminating a contract is something I'd prefer to do face to face rather than over the phone.
    It could be that a similar situation exists with these CM's - just a thought.

    As for the analogy of hairdressers and plumbers - my gut feeling is these professions don't set their charges to break even in the hope that if they do enough then they'll eventually make a profit - there must be some element of a mark up in there. With CM's that's not possible as the market forces dictate charges are low.
    Well that's my feeling at any rate :)
    Personally I'd rather CMs gave notice via phone, than in the playground where strangers (ie me) can over-hear them.

    Hairdressers are also dictated by local markets, what other hairdressers charge. whether there cliental is in an affluent/deprived area of the town. What their rent is (if a shop) and so on.

    Using another example I've turned up for my chiropody appt at 2pm and my chiropodist has said I've been quiet since 10.30 one of my clients cancelled yesterday cos she's doing xxxx and another rang in this morning to say she was sick. She's then been stuck earning no more till I turn up, whilst paying her overheads. Rent/heating/lighting.
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