Childminders - what is a reasonable retainer fee?

flutterby_lil

Wow that seems very steep to me. We use a nursery and childminder, nursery asked for £50 deposit to secure place which was knocked off the first invoice. The childminder didn't want any deposit to secure place.

flutterby_lil

onlyroz wrote: »

I pay £4.25 an hour.

Mine charges £25 per day from 8 til 5.

Crowdpleaser

i pay a full time place based on 8-6 for dd2 and £4 an hour any extra for dd1, dd1 goes to pre school in the mornings so i pay £3 an hour for her and she attends 6 hours a day. HTH. Btw I found my cm in May and didnt need her until September but we eased DD2 in gently by doing 2 days a week in that time. Both mine adore their childminder x

Bitsy_Beans

Tirian wrote: »

I can see why some people don't bother going back to work after having a kid.

Re: using the space in the intervening time, every childminder we've spoken to has told us that they have some 'ad hoc' kids who they take at short notice. It seems to me that a space is not entirely empty for the lead up time.

Still, it seems that this is the norm so I guess we're going to get skewered for it come what may. Feels pretty !!!!! to me though. For somebody we're going to be paying c. £8-9k a year to for the next few years, I feel a non-refundable deposit really ought to be acceptable.

I entirely agree with the need to prevent people dumping you at the last minute, but the retainer rather than deposit system just seems imbalanced to me.

having been messed about by parents before I would never had held a space for that length of time without financial recompense. it might seem harsh but parents have told me about nurseries requiring up to two months fees in advance so really where ever you go you might find it necessary to stump up a great deal of cash. It is a business and someones livelihood. your child would be taking up a full time space filling that space full time just until april is not likely. when I first started out I assumed naively that I would be able to get work for 3 days a week. Sadly it doesnt work like that and you cant guarantee having a mindee for days or set period to suit you.

Gigervamp wrote: »

Just out of interest, what's the average hourly rate nowadays for childminders? It's been years since I was one.

I charged £3.50. it depends really on where you live.

Gigervamp

onlyroz wrote: »

I pay £4.25 an hour.

Thanks. So, still less than minimum wage.

thatgirlsam

Gigervamp wrote: »

Thanks. So, still less than minimum wage.

But don't forget that a childminder could have 3 full time children under 5, each paying £4.25 an hour.. so in reality that could be £12.75 an hour

Gigervamp

Yes, that's true.

shiprob195

My child minder is £3.85 ph (Midlands). I will only be using her services during the school holidays though, as my little one is now in fulltime school.

onlyroz

Gigervamp wrote: »

Thanks. So, still less than minimum wage.

Not really, considering that my childminder has three kids full time and does the school run for two others (my son is one of the school run kids, along with another girl in his class). She probably makes around £150 a day before tax, so not too shabby...

For my daughter, I pay £730 a month for 8 AM - 6 PM care in a nursery. This has recently been reduced from £1000 a month since she started receiving the early-years funding.

Metranil_Vavin

My childminder is £6.30 per hour, so £63 a day.

We are in London though.