Recording clients holiday

[mumofone]

I give customers 4 weeks holiday of which they don't have to pay for each year any more then they do. How do you go about recording holiday? Do we need to get parents to sign some kind of holiday form or do I just track what they've taken and hope they don't argue.
Also I'm realising now that I've said they get 4 weeks holiday, I'm not sure whether that is 4 x 5 childminding days so 20 days or 4x 7 days so 28 days. Oops have I messed up here?!

[Mouse]

Years ago I used to give each family 4 weeks holiday for which they didn't pay.

I specified that this was full childminding weeks only. If they came for 3 days a week they could have 4 x 3 day weeks when they didn't pay. It didn't mean they could have 12 days unpaid a year. If they needed 2 days off one week they could chose to either have the whole week off and not pay, or they would pay for the 2 days even though the child didn't attend.

Each month I noted on the invoice how many weeks they were entitled to, how many they'd taken and how many were left. One family used to take about 8 weeks a year, so each time they were on holiday I asked if they wanted to use it as a free week, or save a free week until later in the year.

[Simona]

I give customers 4 weeks holiday of which they don't have to pay for each year any more then they do. How do you go about recording holiday? Do we need to get parents to sign some kind of holiday form or do I just track what they've taken and hope they don't argue.
Also I'm realising now that I've said they get 4 weeks holiday, I'm not sure whether that is 4 x 5 childminding days so 20 days or 4x 7 days so 28 days. Oops have I messed up here?!

Good question regarding the difference between 4 weeks holidays or 20 days holidays....or 5 weeks and 25 days and so on.

Most parents as employees are given a certain number of days in holidays...these can be taken in weeks or single days.

CMs who only work 3 or 4 days should think before stating they take holidays in blocks of 'weeks' as this would not apply and parents could question this.

Also both CMs and parents are free to take the odd day or two as holiday and not necessarily in weeks block....so take time to reflect on how you wish to put it in your contract.

[JCrakers]

If you are going to give free holidays then I would go for 20days (for full time children who attend 5 days a week) Note it down on a chart maybe.
As mouse said, if the child only comes 1 day a week they would only be entitled to 4 days holiday which is the same as 4 weeks. If the child attends 2 days a week they would be entitled to 8 days off and so on....


I would give a little thought to the decision though (you probably can't change your mind now though but could incorporate it in the future) but a lot of parents get holiday pay through work. My dh gets 25 days paid.

I charge for parents holidays but don't charge for mine as I'm not available and that's not their fault but if they want a week off then I shouldn't lose out on money :thumbsup:

[natlou82]

I pro data it so if the family were 3 days I would offer 12 days. I would note on every invoice dates taken and days left to take.

[NightOwl]

I charge half fee for parents hols and don't charge for mine. I put on contract they have 4 weeks hols at half fee which can be taken as block or odd days. I note down these to be taken between Jan to end of Dec. Any days taken as holiday after first four weeks are paid in full. I note equivalent days on contract, e.g. child attending 2 days = 8 days hols per year. If I omit this on contract I would call a review meeting and add note on. I would ask parent to sign against change. I find it helpful to make note in Attendance Book which days are parents hols or mine. Sometimes make note in margin. Helps jog memory if any queries later. I write down on plain sheet how many days taken (theirs on one side and mine on the other) and keep in their file. Give them a copy when time taken off. Hope this helps. We all do it differently, some cm do hols to match financial year. I do my TT only contracts differently to full/part time contracts but that's another headache to sort out. :-)

[NightOwl]

Also, if child starts part way through year I would work out holidays accordingly. Wouldn't want child starting in October to then have 4 weeks half fee/no fee holiday. :-)

[Sammy Jo T]

I give 2 weeks holiday to parents free but state in my policy it must be taken as a block week and not in days so I don't lose out on money with my part timers. I don't charge for my holiday so I feel this is fair.

Good question about how to record it though. I've asked for holiday requests to put in writing so I guess I could just keep those and mark it in a diary!

[bunyip]

I give customers 4 weeks holiday of which they don't have to pay for each year any more then they do. How do you go about recording holiday? Do we need to get parents to sign some kind of holiday form or do I just track what they've taken and hope they don't argue.
Also I'm realising now that I've said they get 4 weeks holiday, I'm not sure whether that is 4 x 5 childminding days so 20 days or 4x 7 days so 28 days. Oops have I messed up here?!

That's pretty much what I give the parents in terms of unpaid holiday absence.

I record it on a 'holidays' page in the front of each child's diary. Both of us sign and I photocopy it to keep on file with the contract (before they get chance to lose yet another bl00dy diary :panic:) I keep spare blank copies of the page for those who don't have a diary.

I don't write this on the contract as "weeks". Instead, I write it as "days". So a full timer is entitled to "20 days" whereas a 2 days pw part-timer will have "8 days" written on the contract. Easy enough to say these must be taken within the same calendar week, if that's how you want it.

I also note on the contract that the entitlement is "per full calendar year" of January-December with no right to accrue and carry over to the following year.

I've found it avoids disputes if I keep a running total on each monthly invoice of X-days entitlement; Y-days used to date (with dates) and Z-days left to use before 31 December. Stick a reminder on in the autumn to let me know of any holiday they'd like to use by the year end (or they'll lose it.)

You can fine-tune some of the rules to suit. Example: LA funding can get messy under some LAs if they take term-time holiday, in which case, note on the contract that they must take holiday within the school holidays.

[Simona]

Mumofone...sorry to take you back to your OP: how do we record children's holiday?
That would be in your register of attendance...whichever format you use and one per child which you need to keep for a certain period of time after they have left.

There is no need to introduce any other additional paperwork but do make sure you have the holidays arrangement clearly stated in your contract: days or weeks they can take, period it can be taken, any dates you are likely to have off yourself
An off the shelf contract will not have space for all this so somehow you have to make sure this is clear to parents.

The register is where you tick children's arrival/departure, non attendance due to sickness or holiday...at a glance you should know what holidays they have taken and what is left ...remember to divide the holidays they don't pay for from those you charge them...if you use that system.

Good luck :thumbsup:

[TinyTinker]

I give families pro-rata of 4 weeks at half fee - so if they attend 3 days a week they get 12 days to take etc....then if they don't take full weeks you can still work it out.

I use my own design holiday forms that record dates taken, how many days it is, how many days left at half fee for year etc.

If someone comes part way through the year I pro-rata their amount again by how many months left until new allocation of days etc.

I keep log of holidays and days left on a spreadsheet - so can easily see when I get a holiday form in whether they are to pay full or half fee.

we use same principle for our holiday.

[rickysmiths]

It is all recorded in my Pacey Attendance register which I always get parents to sign.