Charges advice?

[mum2two]

I saw an ad on netmums :thumbsup: for a lady needing childcare for 3 kids from Sept. Ages 7, 9 & 11.

2 youngest go to the school I pick up from, but the eldest goes to out of catchment secondary school. Dh would drive & collect from there.

I charge £3.75 for eldest & £3.50 for siblings. Mum is going to uni, for a midwife course, so days will vary week to week. 7 yr old will be 8 in a few months. So none actually count in my numbers, so we can have them. Obviously I'm meeting them tomorrow night to see what they're like as I can't take on 3 rowdy kids!!

I think £10.75 per hour is a lot to find - especially when you're not earning! It'll be three hours a night, so if they're with me for 5 nights, (which they would be for the fist 6 weeks at least!), that's £161 per week. Loads more in the hols.

Would you charge a discounted rate for them? 3 from the same family? What about the shift work side of it. She said they've told her they'll give her 6 weeks notice of her shifts, so we'll all know in advance, but said some weeks it might be 2 days, & some 5. Inc holidays too...

I'm a real soft touch when it comes to money... Due to their ages, I was thinking of not charging retainers, every day, but having a minimum amount of days per week. So like 2 or 3 days a week she pays no matter what. Can be any days, and if it's 5, she pays the extra. That way I know the minimum I'm getting each week, term time & hols, and extra is a bonus.

Sorry - going on now - but just thinking. If she's doing this, then won't she break up in the holidays? She has said it's all day in the hols, but I thought as she's 1st year at uni, they break up for all the hols too...

Don't want to end up selling myself short...

Any advice?

Kelly x

[SimplyLucy]

Find out if the uni are funding the childcare. It's highly likey that they are. If thats the case I'd charge £3.75 per child per hour!

[Pedagog]

I looked at doing midwifery a few years back, and I am sure they offered to pay my childcare.

[mum2two]

is it like ctc where it's a set amount a week? It's just obviously it's more in the hols...?

Kelly x

[Pedagog]

The uni I was looking at actually had a list of childminders that they used often, and had arrangements with them.

[clairemiranda]

I recently had a mum who was in the first year of training to be a nurse - so a combination of uni and hospital placements.

She got a substantial bursary to pay for childcare - around 90% I think. I had to fill in a form detailing my Ofsted number, and after a few weeks they wrote and requested verification of hours & charges to check that the bursary amount was right.

To start with I invoiced weekly in advance, and the charge varied according to the number of days that she needed me. After a couple of "ooh I don't need you at all this week cos blahblahblah..." I got a bit cheesed off because I was keeping the places open and she wasn't using them and I said I'd need 3 days per week guaranteed. If she wanted more then she paid for it, but if she wanted less then she still paid for 3 days. This worked out fine.

You will probably find that the hourly rate that you charge is largely irrelevant to the parent you are dealing with, as she probably will only have to pay a fraction of it herself. Either way she must have rough idea of what childcare costs and will anticipate pretty hefty sum for 3 kids. All c/m's charge about the same.

[essexgirl1967]

Hi!
I've been reading this thread with interest as I've got exactly the same problem in September. I will be caring for a 10 year old and 7 year old before and after school, plus a 4 year old who starts part time school in september.

The Mum is at Uni / hospital placements as she is doing a nursing degree and her childcare is fully paid by her bursary. We have agreed on £10 an hour for the 3 children for a minimum of an hour before school and 2 hours after school Monday to Friday whether she chooses to bring them or not. Any extra hours if she has an early start or late finish etc are to be paid on top of this.

I have said she can book the children in with me for specified days in school holidays as and when she needs me as it would be a huge amount of money if I charged all day every day whether she needs me or not ( and I don't neccessarily want them all day every day in the hols as they are quite lively, to put it mildly!). It works out I will get a minimum of £150 a week during term time, possibly more if she needs more hours, and I am more than happy about that.

I don't know whether she is going to claim more money than I charge on the bursary application forms, I suspect she is as she asked what was the maximum I would charge in the school holidays. All I will do is keep very detailed financial records signed by mum every week of exactly how much she pays me each week so if the NHS check up I can show exactly how much I have earned as opposed to how much she has claimed from them.

I'm afraid I am rather suspicious of parents claiming money back from bursaries/tax credits etc as have had lots of problems over last 10 years childminding. Hope thsi helps,
Karen x

[manjay]

I have a parent at uni although not nursing. She claims a bursary at the beginning of each term and I complete a form for the uni at the end of the term to confirm how much she has paid. In September I will have all 3 children which amounts to £900 a month. She gets 85% funded. She is doing teacher training and seems to have long hols and not at uni every day. They are term time only and for the after schoolers I charge a minimum of 2 hours a day whether they come or not and I make sure I clarify that term time is our local school term time and not uni term time. So for example she has finished now for the summer but I am charging until 19th July when the children finish school.

[mum2two]

Well she came to see me last night, with the 2 youngest. She was here an hour, and one didn't want to leave & the other said to her mum that she wanted to come here! :D

But she was going to see another minder today. I'm just worried I've out priced myself. :panic:

The other minder is a new one, just started, so would be more willing to compromise on fees etc.

I said to her on the phone we could negotiate charges, with it being 3 kids, all over 8, but I would have to charge for petrol.

After reading everything on here, in the end I said my fees would stay the same, but I would charge no extra for petrol. So £10.75 per hour for all 3.

As it'll be shift work, again because they are all over 8, and not 'taking up' spaces, then I would charge a minimum of 8 hours a week, term time, ( which is just over 3 days - so £86 minimum), and holidays, minimum charge of 1 day, which I think will too be 8 hours, and then when she has her 2 week term breaks, I'll charge half fee - ie £43.

I said this was just so I knew what I was getting minimum, and after talking to her, because I think she'll be using a minimum of 2 days per week with me anyway, so she should never be paying me for them not coming, & less to find when she's on holidays as min 1 day.

I'm really hoping I've not outpriced myself. Like I said - with a new minder desperate to get any work, you always negotiate more than you would like, and say you'll do things you don't really want to do...

Hopefully she'll get back to me soon.

Kelly x

[Mrs.L.C]

If shes gettng funding and she prob is then you dont need to worry about out pricing yourself. fingers crossed for you

[buildingblocks]

I personally don't charge any less for siblings (even older ones who don't count in my numbers). Remember the older they are the more they eat lol and get bored far more easily.

Also friend of mine learnt from experience the hard way if you do give a reduction make sure you state on your contract that the discount only applies if all children are present. She had a parent where she gave discount for older one who was school age and when it came to summer holiday mum sent younger one to grandma's and older one to childminder's and she had to charge reduced rate due to wording on her contract.