earnings

[jackie13]

Hi, me again! this may be cheeky to ask but what do people actually earn each week? I am a bit worrie dbecause i live by myself, theres only me paying the bills and i'm worried that i wont come out with enough after paying tax and for outings and food etc. I know what kind of fees i can charge but i know this wont be the amount i come out with to pay the bills! I currently earn £250 net per wk as a nanny, is it realistic to expect to earn this amount childminding? I also know i wont be allowed the full 6 mindees, more like 3 or 4 at any one time as my hopuse is very small. I hope some of u can give me some clues regarding this!

[sarah707]

It's almost impossible to share that kind of information because we are all different, with different children coming odd hours.

If you have a full timer 40 hours a week at £3.00 an hour, plus a couple of part timers, you will be making a good living.

if you have 4 or 5 part timers, all 3 days a week slotting around each other and your local rate is £4 an hour, you'll be doing well.

If you take on a family of 3 children, 1 during the day and after schoolers and they suddenly leave, you're up the creek.

Sorry it's really not a simple question to answer.

Hth :D

[mumx3]

I dont want to sound negative but....

I think the bottom line is that this job is unpredicatable. You can be full one week and within a month lost all your mindees. The current economic climate is making things very difficult for parents and redundancies do happen, as well as siuations where it becomes not worth the parent working to pay a childminder.

If I was the sole earner in my house then I couldnt do this job. It is simply not reliable enough for me to guarantee I can pay the bills.

In September I earned over £1200, but in October I earned less than £300 in the whole month! Simply because one mindee reduced hours and another's father was made redundant. I have just taken on 2 new mindees and In November I am set to earn £800 IF everyone pays on time. Right now I am still waiting for fees from two families.

I combine the childminding with another job as well which is very well paid. I work one day a week in my other job and childmind the rest of the time. It really helps having a guaranteed income and the rest of the time I can combine working with looking after my own children.

To earn £250 a week clear I would need to work flat out and be full all the time, something I cant see that I would be able to sustain. I am sure others can and do earn that much, but not me.:(

[sweets]

i'm in the same position as you i think, i was a nanny and then my long term job finished and i didnt want to start again in another house and with another family, the family i worked for just didnt need me any more as the children had got older and it was a mutaul dicision for me to leave, i loved working for them they were great and their house had become mine as well really.
i made the decision to childmind , but like you am single and have bills to pay, it worried me at first but i made sure i had alittle bit on money behind me for started up, i was lucky in a way as i already had 2 mindees to start with as i nannied for them as well as the families children as part of a nanny share, they were only part time but it did mean i had half an income. this was last oct and i did nt get another mindee till the february after. iwas at the point of looking for another job as didnt think it was working out, but then along came lots of others at once and i am now full with under 5's! i dont really want to do school runs as i find them tying and have done them for so long as a nanny!
just having 3 under 5's a day is enough for me and earns me a decent income, i can pay the bills etc and there is always a decent amount left over.
its hard to give you a figure of earnings as areas differ in their charges. i always put a bit of aside each month for chance mindees leave and my earnings drop.
dont worry to much about the size of your house as mine is tiny and they let me have the full quota of children, which in my opinion is wrong really as there is no way that 6 children could play happily in it, luckily i just have the littlies though and its fine.

[TheBTeam]

I am allowed potentially 3 which for long full time hours could be as much as £180 each per week, and you can make around £80-£100 a week for up to 3 before and after schoolers in this area, which even with expenses can be a very good income when you are full I work with my husband and our income comes in a variety of different amounts so when one leaves although we notice it we are not currently crippled by just the odd leaver!

That said we had a period in March where we lost 3 under 5's and 2 over 5's and this lost us over £700 per week, so that we noticed!!!!

[jackie13]

i'm in the same position as you i think, i was a nanny and then my long term job finished and i didnt want to start again in another house and with another family, the family i worked for just didnt need me any more as the children had got older and it was a mutaul dicision for me to leave, i loved working for them they were great and their house had become mine as well really.
i made the decision to childmind , but like you am single and have bills to pay, it worried me at first but i made sure i had alittle bit on money behind me for started up, i was lucky in a way as i already had 2 mindees to start with as i nannied for them as well as the families children as part of a nanny share, they were only part time but it did mean i had half an income. this was last oct and i did nt get another mindee till the february after. iwas at the point of looking for another job as didnt think it was working out, but then along came lots of others at once and i am now full with under 5's! i dont really want to do school runs as i find them tying and have done them for so long as a nanny!
just having 3 under 5's a day is enough for me and earns me a decent income, i can pay the bills etc and there is always a decent amount left over.
its hard to give you a figure of earnings as areas differ in their charges. i always put a bit of aside each month for chance mindees leave and my earnings drop.
dont worry to much about the size of your house as mine is tiny and they let me have the full quota of children, which in my opinion is wrong really as there is no way that 6 children could play happily in it, luckily i just have the littlies though and its fine.

Hi, thanks for your reply, glad its not just me! I feel that 4 children could be happy in my house but i'm worried they wont even allow that!

[jackie13]

Thanks for all your replies. I know its unpredictable, i'm so worried about it i dont know whether to go for it or just look for another nanny job. I am also applying to foster so even more unpredictability (is that a word?!) but childminding is the only thing i could do alongside it really as i need to be around so thats why i have been looking into it. I want to get the ball rolling but i havent even sent the forms off to ofsted yet as i'm scared about it all! It doesnt help that iv got alot of debt so i need regular earnings, its not just household bills, and i have no savings and no spare money to save each month! Ideally i'd like to get a full timer, have one foster child under 5 and 2 before and after schoolers, i think i would be ok then but like you say there might be a time when i have none! Aarrrggh!! :panic:

[Pudding Girl]

I have applied for fostering too and have been told I wouldn't be allowed to foster and CM at the same time so if this is your long term plan, check with your future agency/authority before you make a mistake.

As to earnings, remember that it's said that we lose 1/3 to 1/2 in expenses so take that into account too.

[jackie13]

Some agencies allow it and some dont, my authority does allow it although i am worried that it might put parents off using me as a childminder as you cant predict what kind of behaviours fostered children will display.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I think it depends on where you live and unfortunately it is as unpredictable as that.

I have been childminding for a few years and this month can support my family, next month who knows?

[chels55]

you just never know from one month to the next. i have been lucky up to now, if one has given notice i could easily fill the space before they leave. But one will be going to school in september and another will go to nusery in January. I have not had many enquiries this year and there are lots of new childminders in the area, it is a small town and there are 52 childminders here, some have no children while others are full

[jackie13]

I am really thinking now that i'm not going to do it! I'm not a quitter but its a lot of work and money to shell out when it might not work out. Hhhmmmm i'm stuck now cos i really wnat to foster but it wont pay enough and i cant really do much else at the same time. Iv got a lot of thinking to do havent i!!

[Pudding Girl]

Have you investigated if you can claim working tax credit?

[Madminder]

I am really thinking now that i'm not going to do it! I'm not a quitter but its a lot of work and money to shell out when it might not work out. Hhhmmmm i'm stuck now cos i really wnat to foster but it wont pay enough and i cant really do much else at the same time. Iv got a lot of thinking to do havent i!!

If you are happy working with special needs children, or children with behavioural problems then try private foster agencies. They pay more ( which is good) but more importantly if you are single, is that the support is 24/7 365 days a year, and it is immediate when necessary. None of this waiting days for a social worker to get back to by which time you have either gone mad or sorted the problem!

My SIL and BIL foster for a private agency and have two foster children, none of their own. Neither of them work, enabling them to both be there for the children, and the income from fostering pays all the bills and mortgage and allows them to take holidays too. They have even moved house and got a mortgage based purely on their fostering income, though this was before the credit crunch.

These children are often hard work as they have been given up on by the LA foster agencies but for all that they are very rewarding too.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[jackie13]

Hi, i looked in to private foster agencies but I want younger children and they tend to deal with older ones and like you said with more severe problems. i think i'm just going to look for a nanny job now and see if i can foster for respite care at weekends, my LA doesnt even pay for 6 months! The more experience u have the more they pay so hopefully i can build my experience that way and work at the same time. Its something ive always been interested in but maybe it will have to wait.