Heaven Scent
10-05-2008, 04:43 PM
I hope you don't think I'm being cheekie but I'm struggleing with my rates bit as I only started minding last Sept I set mine at the lower to mid end of the scale for the minders in my area. I want to be taken seriously and begruge parents taking the p**s with me so am thinking of changing my rates for any new parents from September and am wondering how others base their charges and what you actually charge in away so that I can let parents see how I am really rather fair.
Right I charge as follows,
£3.50 Per hour,
£30.00 Per day,
£125.00 Per week,
£7.00 Before School,
£10.00 After School
Daily rate is for 10 hours of care 8.00 am - 6.00 pm, £4.00 per hour outside of these hours. Night rate £2.50 per hour for care 9.00 pm - 7.00 am, again £4.00 per hour either side of these hours. There are possible reductions for siblings. Weekends and Bank Holidays are to be negotiated. Fees include all meals and school runs (time and mileage).
At the moment I have parents who are on £125 rate from 7.30 for youngest child the same for oldest child with 20% disc so I'm being paid £225 per week for 50 hours minding for 2 children - what does everyone think of that?
The other change I made is to my before and after school for a second child in a family to whom I have given a 20% disc to also but they come at 8.00 and don't have breakfast but do have tea and I charge £30.00 per day for the youngest child but gave a £7.00 disc on Thurs because child goes to playgroup from 9.00-3.30 but I don't include any meals for her on that day and now impose a £2.00 charge because parent insisted they would never be here for tea because she would collect at 4.30 but never turns up until gone 5.00 just so she gets value for money - I now charge £8.80 per day for the school aged child which is inclusive of a 20% disc and this includes tea (which is sometimes a dinner) but not breakfast so she is getting a £8.20 per day disc on my advertised daily rate for before and after school Idont know how I came up with the figure but its based on the fact that she told me she would be here at 4.30 and the children would be rarely having tea. My rate above is till 6.00 and was set having looked at what the out of school clubs charged plus I added a bit for fuel. This mother gets 2 children minded for 4 days for £147.40 which includes all but 1 meal for younger child (surprisingly she doesn't ask me to give her breakfast) plus 4 teas for the older child I also add my £2.00 extra for younger ones tea on a Wed. I do offer these two toast and juice when they arrive in the morning but they never have anything - I wouldn't charge if they did. I would only charge for the older one if mum asked me to give them breakfast. I also said that on oddd occasions when mum works on a Friday I'd charge her my weekly rate for youngest but would be same £8.80 for older one. youngest is on an annual contract and older one on TTO contract so Older one will be charged £30.00 -20% per day in hols except when mum works a Fri when I will charge £225 for the two in the hols - this mum and the other dad both work for the same very large drugs company and despite the fact that they don't know each other they could cross paths at any time and one day the mum and dad from the respective families came to collect at the same time and I observed the father reading the other mums ID and take note he spent ages at it so I'm trying to be careful - this mum also asked me to give her a reduction for when she is on hols and I explained that I couldn't as I charge all the other families (2) and had to be fair to them and her reply was how would they find out as she wouldn't tell them. - I stuck to my guns on that one.
I would really appreciate your opinions on this If you dont want to state publically what you charge then I would be obliged if you would PM me. It would also help if you mentioned where you are based as I'm in a country town south of Manchester on a commuter link. I presume charges may be higher closer to the city centre and higher in London and perhaps less in a more rural area I'd love to see how charges go in different areas of the country or indeed in Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland. It could be a bit of a survey for us. I am also very interested to see who offers special daily and weekly rates and what minimum hours people impose. Plus whata people charge for overnight care and who gives discounts for siblings and how much and for how many siblings etc etc. I feel there are some huge discrepencies around the country. I do feel whe should be able to charge a little more (pennies) per hour if we have Quality first or if we have a higher than satisfactory rating say 5p for good and 10p for outstanding plus another 5p for having quality first etc. The only trouble with this is that if we ever loose our rating for whatever reason then we would have to take a pay cut and as Ofsted are not very consistant then it could be due to no fault of our own. Perhaps best to leave sleeping dogs lie.
Also another thought that occurred to me is that when schools and colleges get outstanding reports they no longer have to go through full inspections every three years but are trusted to do self assessments and merely undergo irregular mini inspections where the inspectors look at their paperwork. Does that apply to childminders? - I don't know because my rating is good but do you ourstanding people know one way or another. If its not the case then surely its yet again another injustice isn't it.
Anyway a long thread but I didn't mean it to be - just need to get my head around my fees changes so that I can change them on the CIS website ready for any calls I may get for care from September. Not altogether sure of the second family as the playgroup have told me that mum has put the little ones name down for full time at the play group. If she does what would you charge? As I said before I give her a £7.00 disc for the one day that she attends all day but it would mean holding a place open between 9.15 and 3.00 4 days a week while she is at playgroup. At my hourly rate 9 hours would be £31.50 and I charge £30.00 and she does come late some days so I'd have to charge her till 6.00 so She is not doing too badly as it includes all meals. I know she will badger me for a discount but I'm not happy being taken for a ride especially since I asked her weeks ago what her intentions were infront of the Dad of the other children as he wants his older one to go to playgroup ( a different one) five sessions per week from Sept (that was the day he noticed the other mums badge) and although she has spoken to the playgroup she hasn't told me - I asked dad the other day and he said he didn't know what was happening - I don't believe a word of it I think she wears the trousers and he is a bit afraid to put his foot in it because of the webs of lies she weaves - I don't get it she just feels that she is in power if she plays her cards close to her chest. Very much like the other family who never tell me when they will he at home while I'm minding - what it one of their children had an accident and I couldn't contact them because I believed they were at work when they are in fact at home. - Minutes wasted trying to trace them could affect their children badly in the case of an emergency. The only reasons I feel they don't tell me is 1 they feel guilty and 2 they feel they are pulling the wool over my eyes - which they are not - merely ruining any respect I may have for them - I don't play their games and don't see the point in it. - this is the reason I want to make sure I'm getting my due financially. I'm also going to make a change and add a policy about this and put a note in my info pack about the importance of openness and honesty between parent and childminder.
Thats it - this must contain enough material for several threads.
Right I charge as follows,
£3.50 Per hour,
£30.00 Per day,
£125.00 Per week,
£7.00 Before School,
£10.00 After School
Daily rate is for 10 hours of care 8.00 am - 6.00 pm, £4.00 per hour outside of these hours. Night rate £2.50 per hour for care 9.00 pm - 7.00 am, again £4.00 per hour either side of these hours. There are possible reductions for siblings. Weekends and Bank Holidays are to be negotiated. Fees include all meals and school runs (time and mileage).
At the moment I have parents who are on £125 rate from 7.30 for youngest child the same for oldest child with 20% disc so I'm being paid £225 per week for 50 hours minding for 2 children - what does everyone think of that?
The other change I made is to my before and after school for a second child in a family to whom I have given a 20% disc to also but they come at 8.00 and don't have breakfast but do have tea and I charge £30.00 per day for the youngest child but gave a £7.00 disc on Thurs because child goes to playgroup from 9.00-3.30 but I don't include any meals for her on that day and now impose a £2.00 charge because parent insisted they would never be here for tea because she would collect at 4.30 but never turns up until gone 5.00 just so she gets value for money - I now charge £8.80 per day for the school aged child which is inclusive of a 20% disc and this includes tea (which is sometimes a dinner) but not breakfast so she is getting a £8.20 per day disc on my advertised daily rate for before and after school Idont know how I came up with the figure but its based on the fact that she told me she would be here at 4.30 and the children would be rarely having tea. My rate above is till 6.00 and was set having looked at what the out of school clubs charged plus I added a bit for fuel. This mother gets 2 children minded for 4 days for £147.40 which includes all but 1 meal for younger child (surprisingly she doesn't ask me to give her breakfast) plus 4 teas for the older child I also add my £2.00 extra for younger ones tea on a Wed. I do offer these two toast and juice when they arrive in the morning but they never have anything - I wouldn't charge if they did. I would only charge for the older one if mum asked me to give them breakfast. I also said that on oddd occasions when mum works on a Friday I'd charge her my weekly rate for youngest but would be same £8.80 for older one. youngest is on an annual contract and older one on TTO contract so Older one will be charged £30.00 -20% per day in hols except when mum works a Fri when I will charge £225 for the two in the hols - this mum and the other dad both work for the same very large drugs company and despite the fact that they don't know each other they could cross paths at any time and one day the mum and dad from the respective families came to collect at the same time and I observed the father reading the other mums ID and take note he spent ages at it so I'm trying to be careful - this mum also asked me to give her a reduction for when she is on hols and I explained that I couldn't as I charge all the other families (2) and had to be fair to them and her reply was how would they find out as she wouldn't tell them. - I stuck to my guns on that one.
I would really appreciate your opinions on this If you dont want to state publically what you charge then I would be obliged if you would PM me. It would also help if you mentioned where you are based as I'm in a country town south of Manchester on a commuter link. I presume charges may be higher closer to the city centre and higher in London and perhaps less in a more rural area I'd love to see how charges go in different areas of the country or indeed in Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland. It could be a bit of a survey for us. I am also very interested to see who offers special daily and weekly rates and what minimum hours people impose. Plus whata people charge for overnight care and who gives discounts for siblings and how much and for how many siblings etc etc. I feel there are some huge discrepencies around the country. I do feel whe should be able to charge a little more (pennies) per hour if we have Quality first or if we have a higher than satisfactory rating say 5p for good and 10p for outstanding plus another 5p for having quality first etc. The only trouble with this is that if we ever loose our rating for whatever reason then we would have to take a pay cut and as Ofsted are not very consistant then it could be due to no fault of our own. Perhaps best to leave sleeping dogs lie.
Also another thought that occurred to me is that when schools and colleges get outstanding reports they no longer have to go through full inspections every three years but are trusted to do self assessments and merely undergo irregular mini inspections where the inspectors look at their paperwork. Does that apply to childminders? - I don't know because my rating is good but do you ourstanding people know one way or another. If its not the case then surely its yet again another injustice isn't it.
Anyway a long thread but I didn't mean it to be - just need to get my head around my fees changes so that I can change them on the CIS website ready for any calls I may get for care from September. Not altogether sure of the second family as the playgroup have told me that mum has put the little ones name down for full time at the play group. If she does what would you charge? As I said before I give her a £7.00 disc for the one day that she attends all day but it would mean holding a place open between 9.15 and 3.00 4 days a week while she is at playgroup. At my hourly rate 9 hours would be £31.50 and I charge £30.00 and she does come late some days so I'd have to charge her till 6.00 so She is not doing too badly as it includes all meals. I know she will badger me for a discount but I'm not happy being taken for a ride especially since I asked her weeks ago what her intentions were infront of the Dad of the other children as he wants his older one to go to playgroup ( a different one) five sessions per week from Sept (that was the day he noticed the other mums badge) and although she has spoken to the playgroup she hasn't told me - I asked dad the other day and he said he didn't know what was happening - I don't believe a word of it I think she wears the trousers and he is a bit afraid to put his foot in it because of the webs of lies she weaves - I don't get it she just feels that she is in power if she plays her cards close to her chest. Very much like the other family who never tell me when they will he at home while I'm minding - what it one of their children had an accident and I couldn't contact them because I believed they were at work when they are in fact at home. - Minutes wasted trying to trace them could affect their children badly in the case of an emergency. The only reasons I feel they don't tell me is 1 they feel guilty and 2 they feel they are pulling the wool over my eyes - which they are not - merely ruining any respect I may have for them - I don't play their games and don't see the point in it. - this is the reason I want to make sure I'm getting my due financially. I'm also going to make a change and add a policy about this and put a note in my info pack about the importance of openness and honesty between parent and childminder.
Thats it - this must contain enough material for several threads.