retainers and holidays

[mia]

Have been reading similar posts with regard to fees, but cant seem to see anything that says whether its acceptable to include in the contract that parents should still pay for their child even when the childminder is away? Otherwise wouldn't it potentially leave us at a loss.

We are only in early stages of the set up process so need to be clear on all of these things from the off set.

Mia

[angela234]

Hi Mia you should charge what you feel happy with. I don't charge for my days off or my holidays unless its the same as parents, i feel that parents have to find other childcare.
my contract says something like

my occasional days off/sickness and holidays if different than parents no charge

Parents holidays half rate (i'm a bit soft here and only charge half)

childs sickness or occasional days off full rate.

Some childminders charge half rate for all (parents and their own)holidays its personal choice there isn't a right or wrong.

I do agree that i do lose out on holidays

As for how much notice; some childminders give parents a list of holidays early in the year, i'm not that organised i had a week in June and told parents at Easter.

One of my parents is a teacher and pays me a retainer of half rate in the school holidays.

I don't know if this helps let us know what you decide

Angela

[lorraine2767]

Hi

I do not charge when I go on holiday, but I try to work it around the parents, and get the same time off as them so then I do not lose out.

Another childminding in my area charges half for when she is away and half for when the children are away.

It just depends my parents def would not pay half when I am away as they would have to sort/pay for other childcare arrangements.

If I have any that are just term time only I charge half for the holidays.

Lorraine xx

[ajs]

it is a really hard decision to make, if you work in an office you are entitled to paid time off, but i think it's the nature of being self employed if you don't work you don't get paid simple as that.
i charge full if parents are away during the contracted time. ie i don't have all of my children through the school holidays so the contracts are for only term time, if a parent chooses to holiday in that time, then they pay full fees, but if i choose to holiday then it's really only fair not to charge.

basically it works that if i am available to work then the charge is made whether the child attends or not, if i am not available then no charge.

most childminders in my area are the same, although some are like angela234 and charge half.

good luck though whatever you decide to do.

[manjay]

As everyone said it is personal choice but I do have a really well worded answer to this one written down. Typically I can't find it at the moment. It is something to do with although whilst we are self employed we are restricted by the law in the amount of children we can look after. So in that way we differ from say a plumber or electrician who could work lots of extra hours to make up for loss of earnings. Something like that anyway. I will try and find it for you.

I have decided myself not to charge for my hols but I may change my mind in the future.

Amanda xx

[deeb66]

Hi Mia

As everyone has said it really is personal choice on what you charge.

I don't charge for my holidays/sickness but I do charge for parents holiday/sickness.

Dee

[manjay]

Here it is; It is from an NCMA handout so if you do decide to charge for your hols you can use this answer;

Do I have to pay my childminder holiday pay?

This is a matter for negotiation. Childminders are self employed but, unlike other self-employed workers (plumbers for instance), their income is restricted as they are limited by their CSSIW registration in the number of children for whom they may care. They are not free to take on extra work at busy times to earn more to cover their time off for holidays. It is best to agree an amount of paid holiday (not more than four weeks in one year) at a rate to be negotiated between you.

I always thought it really cheeky to ask for payment for my hols but then when you look at it like this there is a genuine reason. However as I don't intend to take that many hols I have decided not to charge.

Amanda xx

[deeb66]

Yeah I can see why you should charge but then I do not think that it is fair to do so - sorry but that is my personal opinion.

Whenever I try to work anything out I try to be fair to all parties and not have my cake and eat it too.

I am ever conscious that when I have holiday the parent either has to take holiday themselves or pay for alternative childcare. If they are paying for alternative care then it is costing them double and if they take holiday I know they are still getting paid and some would think why shouldn't we, but then there are loads of other benefits to being self employed!

I just think that you need to be fair to everyone and if you want to be paid for your holiday then that is fine and perhaps you could compromise by saying that you are paid half fee for a set period a year and that parents only have to pay half fee for their set period every year (i.e. 2 weeks).

I agree that it is totally down to personal choice and that everybody has different opinions.

Dee

[manjay]

I have also seen on my travels around childminders websites that some do charge for their own holidays unless the parents show receipts for alternative childcare. I suppose that could be another compromise.

As I said i have made the decision not to charge for my hols but it's hard. Maybe i have been employed for too long!!! No more duvet days when you are self employed!!!!!

Amanda xx

[deeb66]

manjay said:

No more duvet days when you are self employed!!!!!

Amanda xx

Exactly Amanda - lol!!! You will be surprised how many sick days and holidays you DO NOT take now that you are self employed!!!

Dee

[susi513]

Thanks for that quote manjay - I had something similar but it was too wordy and I've lost it anyway.

[donnam]

Hi mia,you must do what you feel but this is what i do.
Full fee for child absence(hols,sickness)
No fee for childminder sickness
I charge 4weeks holiday at full pay
All minders in my area charge holiday pay i have done so for aprox 7years and never had a problem.
Hope this helps.
Donna

[mia]

Thanks to all for the replies.
It may work out a little eaiser for us as my freind and i are basically going in to this as a business together in which case we may be able to make sure our holidays do not combine and be able to cover the abence of the other. I was really only thinking of the important holidays that we both would want which would be christmas and New Year.

[susi513]

It may not be so simple to provide cover for each other - certificates I've seen state standard phrases something like -- x no of children when 1 childminder is present /// x no of children when 2 childminders are present // x no of children when one childminder and 1 assistant are present.

So if an adult is absent, the number of children you're allowed usually goes down.