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View Full Version : help, how to charge shifts please



mushpea
18-06-2012, 08:02 PM
how would you charge for a 1 year old and a 3yearold,, they would be on rolling shift, the first day would be 2hours and the next day would be 12 hours but one week it would be monday 2 hours tuesday 12 hours , the next would be tuesday 2hours and wed 12 hours and so on plus the 3 year old attends nursery 4 mornings a week.
they would both obvioulsy be taking up a full time space each but it seems wrong to charge 40hours a week each for 14 hours a week work, I did think charging half hours so charing 20 hours a week each but then that dosent seem enough for two full time hours

cathtee
18-06-2012, 08:10 PM
Hi I know that they take a full time place, but you are only contracted for 14 hours per week so can't really charge for anymore than that. :(

So I would suggest that you charge a full hourly rate for both lo's so:
14x2x hourly rate. I would still charge for the older one even though would be at nursery as the place is theirs. Hope this helps:thumbsup:

mushpea
18-06-2012, 08:22 PM
I would contract them for the hours I see fit to charge,, I am not holding a full time space open for 14 hours pay a week and I know that there are others on here that charge a minimum amount of hours per week for shift workers I just am not sure how many the minimum hours should be as I cant decide., if they are only willing to pay the 14 hours for a full time space then I am not interested in taking them on

Bluebell
18-06-2012, 09:43 PM
That is confusing! - How does it fit in with other mindees you have at the moment? EG do you have any that just do mornings as that would fit in quite well with the older boy who is at nursery 4 mornings a week and he could have the slot in the afternoon without you losing a full day. could the sibling be variation to come with the younger child that way you are only losing one space not 2?

You definitely need to charge more than 14 hours to hold open 5 days a week!

I have a shift worker who does Thursday afternoon which fits in nicely as they start after morning child goes home and then they do 1 of 2 other afternoons. Because it is afternoon only on those days I lose out because I don't charge full day. BUT I don;t charge them for both afternoons and I probably should charge a half fee I also should charge extra because one of the other afternoons is a Saturday but I chose not to - while reserving the right to review it in the future.

In some ways I'm happy with it because I know its difficult for them and now I don't do any other children the 2 days they come the one day they don't come I have off so its not like they are using a space. BUT they do change so sometimes I work on both my days off and am down a child on the day I do mind others and sometimes if I have another day free they swop to that and I don't charge for the original day - which maybe I should!

Its all a learning curve and I really wanted to be as flexible as I could because I know how difficult it is to get childcare especially with shift work but you definitely can't put yourself out like that.

I agree you should charge them exactly what you feel happy with and if they don't like it maybe there is room for negotiation but basically it is your business - explain to them how much you will potentially lose by charging 14 hours for 2 spaces over 5 days!! they will soon see it from your point of view. perhaps you should tell them you will charge 5 full days for both boys and work back from there - then they will be grateful just to have a place! :rolleyes:

mushpea
19-06-2012, 07:48 AM
they wouldnt fit in with my others as the earlist one goes at 1.30pm and I think nursery comes out about 11.30am I think to make it worth my while i would have to charge at least 30hours a week but not sure how they would feel about that,,,

Bluebell
19-06-2012, 11:18 AM
I think they are expecting a lot then!!!

I just worked out that the parents who take up 3 afternoons (and in effect 3 full days apart from the day I have a morning one) pay me less than the child who does 1 full day with me! But this is ok with me at the moment and is what I agreed to although I did say I would have to see how it goes to them.

Do you normally have a minimum day charge ie 5 hours or 6 hours? Or do your children on average come for a certain amount of time. I don't have a minimum but I guess most children come to me for 5 hours. If you charged 5 hours per day per child then that is 25 hours a week or as you say 30 hours a week is 6 hours a day - they are using 14 hours a week so maybe you could split the difference and just double it charging them 28 hours a week. I assume you are talking about hours in terms of EACH child?

Good luck with this and stick to your guns - I think this must be a nightmare for them to find care but it has to be do-able for you!

If the parents could extend the nursery care to cover 1 day a week even that would help because that would be one less day that you would have to leave free!

Bluebell
19-06-2012, 11:22 AM
I think you should also reserve the right to review this arrangement after a couple of months - not just financially but because it means you are working shifts too and although you are likely to be charging for the 2 places in your EY you will only have 1 space left which means on the days they don't come you will have to entertain and play with the one child because they won't have other children to interact with and personally I think that can be harder!
Also maybe speak to Ofsted about whether over time a variation would be an appropriate course of action - although we can decide for ourselves from September it would be nice to know what their thinking would be on circumstances like this!

miffy
19-06-2012, 05:11 PM
I can't see the parents being able to afford to pay for 30 hours care a week for each child when they are only being paid for 14 hours work themselves - it wouldn't be worth working I'm sure (I am not saying you're wrong to charge that just that there must be a point at which it's not viable for the parent to work).

I think Bluelion made a very interesting point about a variation - if you could fill your EY spaces and then have these shift workers as extras the situation is very different.

Miffy xx