Yearly increase

[sarah3339]

Hi all,

Was wondering if any of you have a yearly increase to your fees?

To cover the cost of living.

Sarah X

[deeb66]

Hi Sarah

Yes I increase my fees on the anniversary of the original contract.

I don't put the rate up by much but everyone is entitled to a pay rise - lol!!

Dee

[bessie]

Hi Sarah

Yes I do this too. You should do this at least to keep up with the cost of living. After all your heating, council tax etc all goes up doesn't it.

Bx

[banana]

Just wondering how you work this?

do you tell parents at the time of signing contracts? I dont have it written in my policies and havnt said anything when signing contracts with parents.

I have thought about it but didnt know how much you would increase by either? I think maybe from £3.50 to £3.70 an hour??? or should it be more. Im not due to increase my rates yet obviously but wondered when it comes to it how it would work? And also - has anyone had parenst leave because of increasing their rates?

[deeb66]

Hi Lana

I use the standard NCMA contract and when I sit with the parent to complete it I enter on the contract that it will be initially reviewed in 6 mths whereby the rates will stay the same and that on each anniversary a new contract will be issued with an annual increase.

I have never had a problem as I think that all parents expect that your rates will go up each year after all they get a pay rise dont they?

How much you put it up really does depend on how much you are already charging in your area - you don't want to charge them too much above the local average or out price yourself when looking to take on more children so you really need to know what the average rates are in your area.

If you already charge £3.50 I think an increase to £3.70 is fair as it is a 5.7% increase and if you were looking after a child for 10 hours a day it would mean an extra £2 a day which is not unreasonable. If you jumped it to £4.00 it would be a 14.3% increase which can be argued as being above inflation and unreasonable - as I said it really does depend on what is happening in your area.

Dee

[angeldelight]

I really must be doing something wrong , I have not increased my prices in years !!!!

Silly me !

Angel xx

[banana]

Thanks Dee. Im not definately going to increase it but as I said it is something i've been considering. Does it also mean then that you have children on different rates? Like say you have had a child for 2 years, a child for one year and then one just starting (just for fun!) Would the one you have had for 2 years be 2 years increase ahead?? What I mean is when you increase prices do you increase them for new mindees also or just on 12 month contracts? I think my worry is that in my area a great deal of minders are charging £3, and wouldnt want to put my prices up much higher than £3.50 for a couple of years until im established, but at the same time I have always had a yearly increase in my other jobs, think its a difficult one to decide!!

Angel - you are toooooo nice!!! lol

xx

[deeb66]

Hi Lana

Yes sometimes you can have children with different rates due to increases at different time of year but when I receive an inquiry I quote the whatever the highest rate is at that time.

E.G - I currently have 3 children at £5.00 per hour and 1 at £4.75. I have looked after the £4.75 child for 20 months and she started at £4.50 per hour but I did some research and found that I was actually too cheap for my area as a lot of minders were charging £5.50 - £6.00 per hour but didn't feel that I could jump to that in one year so put it up by 25p on the first anniversary and is due to increase another 25p next anniversary.

Since then 'my' children have changed and I took on 3 children last year so I automatically quoted at £5.00 per hour which I thought was reasonable (considering what other minders charge in the area!!).

Having said all that 1 child that I took on at £5.00 meets the anniversary next month but I dont feel that I can increase the monthly rate as I feel that I earn more than enough from her already as I look after her for 10 hours a day 4 days a week therefore her parents are already paying me £200.00 per week.

I hope all this makes sense Lana.

Dee

[sarah3339]

i think it's only fair, i have to use public transport which increases every year. In Birmingham off-peak it's now £1.40 one way.

There are also a number of other increases gas, electric, e.t.c. Also every private day nurseries put their fee's up in September.

Sarah x

[banana]

yes all makes sense Dee thanks. ;D

x

[Pauline]

angeldelight said:

I really must be doing something wrong , I have not increased my prices in years !!!!

Silly me !

Angel xx

I used to be the same Angel but have decided that in today's world I need to toughen up!

[tasha]

Hi,

I increase by 50p an hour for full time and £1 an hour for part time at the start of new tax year (well I did this year as it put me roughly in-line with everyone else. I had put this in the contracts and told parents however, of increase. sent out a letter six weeks in advance. Hope this helps.
Tasha