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View Full Version : Help r.e shifts and rates?



hoochi
08-05-2008, 11:30 AM
hi im new to this and have an hourly rate of £3 however i have been asked to fo shifts e.g 1 weel 10am till 9.30pm and the week after 10am till 7.30pm mon to fri would you charge additional at the end of week say extra£10 or extra per hour after 6pm advice please x

deeb66
08-05-2008, 11:44 AM
In those circumstances I would probably charge the basic hourly rate for 10 - 6 and then increase your rates for 6 - 7.30 and 6-9.30 iyswim.

I would definately charge it by the hour and half hour (due to 7.30 & 9.30) so that it keeps it simple.

HTH

Don't forget to pop into the 'Say Hello' section and introduce yourself to the members :)

katickles
08-05-2008, 11:46 AM
I haven't been asked to mind that late tbh. My latest pick up is 6:30 & thats every other week. I don't charge extra for that additional hour though.

I have read lots of posts on here where people do charge extra for unsociable hours, early morning & late at night, but at the end of the day its upto you. Its your business so you can decide. Working until 9:30 from 1st thing in the morning will be a long day!

What age group is the child, just thinking that if they are only young they will possibly be wanting there bed before 9:30 - so something else to think about. What kind of things do mum & dad usually do with them at night?

Hope it works out for you though :)

hoochi
08-05-2008, 11:56 AM
hi the child is 8yrs old and i will have my own 2 children , 7 and 2yrs but i have no other minded children therefore can not be picky if you get me i never went back after maternity leave so even though i have been registered a while i have never minded full time, hence the new part, thanks for invite about the forums to be honest i havent had a good look around but from what i can see it loks really interestig i will poop in and introduce myself

disney
08-05-2008, 01:42 PM
Hi welcome to the forum ! i:D

i think that i agree with deeb66 about charges . hope it goes well for you . i personally dont think i could do those hours , but hey thats me im getting on a bit and mine have all gone by 5.30 pm . but you need to to do whats best for you and your family .

Jinx
08-05-2008, 02:16 PM
hi the child is 8yrs old and i will have my own 2 children , 7 and 2yrs but i have no other minded children therefore can not be picky if you get me i never went back after maternity leave so even though i have been registered a while i have never minded full time, hence the new part, thanks for invite about the forums to be honest i havent had a good look around but from what i can see it loks really interestig i will poop in and introduce myself

Is this just for school holidays then? Or am I missing something?
9.30pm is quite late for an 8 yr old in my opinion. My 7 y old is in bed by 7.45pm, sometimes earlier, (depends how tired I am!) Be careful it doesn't disrupt your own kids bedtime routine.

:thumbsup:

Jinx x

Teresa
08-05-2008, 03:23 PM
i have a mindee that i have sometime till 9:30 pm. i charge £3.00 per hour upto 6pm then £5.00 an hour after, i hope this helps

hoochi
08-05-2008, 08:22 PM
hi well its from school till either 7.30pm one week then 9.30pm the week after and in school holidays its 9.30amtill 7.30 and 1.30 till 9.30 so its very long hours i agree with you all mine are all in bed by then even my eldest so it will be a bit wierd but i cant really get out of it as when she rang she asked if i had any vacancies for an 8yr old and i said yes so im bit stuck but like someone said after 6pm is usually my time with my kids homework etcx

susi513
09-05-2008, 10:19 AM
You're not stuck. you can get out of this if you wanted to. Just say you close at 6pm and cannot provide care after this time. You do not have to take on any family you don't want to. Even if you've already said yes, you can say that you have reconsidered the impact on your family time and you're sorry but you can't provide evening care.

If you're not registered for overnight care you can use the excuse I use -my policy is not to provide regular care past a child's usual bedtime. I'm not registered for overnight care and I don't think its fair on the child to keep them up late. Except perhaps as a one-off in an emergency - if one of the parents is in hospital or something like that I would probably try to help.

I charge £4 per half hour before 8am and after 6pm.

For shift work I have had arrangements where the parents paid 1/2 fees to reserve the whole week (as childcare could occur on any day of the week). So the bill for each week was calculated at full fees for each hour booked between 8 and 6pm plus 1/2 fees for the remainder of the week between 8 am & 6pm, plus £4 for each 1/2 hour booked before 8am and 6pm. I didn't charge to reserve hours before 8am/after 6pm because they are not preventing me care for another child during that time as I'm not usually open. iyswim.

For shift workers, some people have arranged a set weekly fee for a specified number of hours per week and given some flexibility over when those hours can be. Eg you could put in the contract that earliest time would be 10 am and latest time would be 9:30 pm. The set weekly fee is the minimum charge even if no hours booked and, obviously additional charges apply if they book more hours than contracted for.

You do not have to provide discounts for shift workers. If they need you to keep a place open for their child you cannot use it for someone else. So its not unreasonable to charge full fees for the entire week, if they may require childcare at any time. Even if you get plenty of notice of which days/hours they don't need its not likely you'll get anyone else to fill in the gaps.

If you do take it on, make sure you include the earliest and latest bookable times in your contract and a minimum weekly fee (in case they only want a couple of hours or even no hours at all sometime).



Susi

hoochi
11-05-2008, 05:37 PM
hi suzi i have spoken to the parent and she know has cover for the late nights so would only want me every other week so how would you charge for this as i cannot take a child on every other week if you ge me or does it nor matter as the child is 8, also when its term time it would be 3.30pm from school untill 7ish and in school hols 10am till 7ish so would i charge a day rate even when child is at school as im keeping a place open or just cgarge for after school collection then day rate during hols im so confused x

Mollymop
11-05-2008, 05:41 PM
I would not worry so much about the one week on and off as she is over 8, so I personally wouldn't expect extra payment for those days she is not with me.
I think you should still charge extra for out of hours.

sarah707
11-05-2008, 05:48 PM
What I did when I was deciding my rates was...

- found out what other local minders charge via their CIS adverts;

- found out what nurseries / before and after school clubs charge;

- look at the parents and the jobs they do and make an honest assessment of what they can afford (I try not to discuss money until we are face to face);

- decide on an hourly rate and, for some families, but not all, offer a slightly cheaper daily rate... so maybe £3.50 an hour or £26 a day. I would offer this to families who are giving me a lot of business;

- consider whether or not they need overtime and set my overtime rate... so if they go over normal collection time, then I might charge £5 an hour (to the quarter hour) ... trouble being if they are on a daily rate you cannot charge overtime... so if you are at all worried they might take the mickey, then just offer an hourly rate;

- think about if they need unsociable hours and decide what you want to charge for that;

- think about whether to charge for bank holidays / holidays etc. Again you can research this on the CIS site.

Hope this helps :D

hoochi
11-05-2008, 05:59 PM
thank you so much im really starting to flap x

hoochi
12-05-2008, 01:11 PM
me again sorry but when you pick up after school do you just charge for after school or full day as i will have child thru day in school hols so i am keeping a place open so to speak

Noodles
12-05-2008, 01:20 PM
Hi i only charge before and after school hours as they are not taking up a place because all over 5s are at school. Just charge full days if you have them in the holidays :)