New childminder, how much to charge

[ChristinaL]

Hey I live in Crawley and am in the process of becoming a registered childminder and I have a mum coming to meet me on Friday. If things work out she would want me to mind her 2yr and her 3yr. Hours required would be 7am - 6:30pm. The 3yr would be going to playgroup/nursery part time. Have worked out this would be 57.5 hrs per week for the 2yr old and 36.5 hrs per week for the 3yr old.

In those totals I havn't included the 21 hours the 3yr old is at playgroup/nursery should I be including and charging something for those hours???

Also how much should I be charging per hour, ie should I charge different rates per child, should I charge more for the unsociable hours, and lastly should I give a sibling discount???

Doing some vague maths it sounds like this woman will be parting with a lot of money so really want to check I am not being greedy as I am completely new to this. Thanks in advance.

[mama2three]

Youll find that the majority of minders charge whilst a child id at playgroup / nursery etc , especially if youre dropping off and picking up!

As for charges you really need to be finding out what is the 'normal' charge for your area , through other cms , look on fis or direct.gov.uk or ask your do.

sibling discount is down to you , some do , others dont....many see it as 2 full places and no less work than 2 unrelated children ( often more!) so no discount. Again its worth finding out what others local to you would do as the parents often see several minders before making a decision.

For these hours I would probably offer a day rate , plus a little extra for the unsociable hours each end..what are your ' normal' hours going to be?

These are incredibly long days , you will be incredibly tired so make sure you are charging enough not to resent it in the future once the newness and excitement wears off!

Good Luck x x

[Stillgoingstrong]

Well done getting the chance to have 2 mindees already :clapping:
I did used to give a discount for siblings, but don't now as they are taking up a space that I could get full pay from someone else . I charge for the time they are in nursery if its a couple of hours, but it looks like yours would be going for longer, so personally I wouldn't charge BUT the child would not be my responsibility for the time in that case, so if anything happened at nursery they would have to call Mum ,not me. Yes, it probably does look like you're charging a lot but thats a lot of hours and its 2 children, and dont forget tax credits or vouchers will prob cover a lot of it. I charge my usual hourly/day rate 7.30 - 6, outside this I add £1 an hour. Good luck:thumbsup:
Oh, and if I don't charge for the time they are in Nursery I charge for the time until I get back from dropping them off, and when I collect I charge from the time I leave my house to get them:D

[Millenium]

It it was me, I would charge a set hourly rate for both children and as my working hours are 8.00 to 18.00, I would charge my premium rate for the time from 7.00 to 8.00 and from 18.00 to 18.30 - my premium rate is double time. I do not offer sibling discounts.

You will almost certainly not be able to fill the slot when the 3 year old is out of your setting, so I would charge that as normal. That seems quite a lot of hours (21 per week) for a playgroup/nursey at that age???

So in summary, based on £4.50 per hour, I think that adds up to £585 for a standard week. Not sure what your locality's typical rate might be so if it is £4, then the weekly charge would drop to £520.

As it is a big full-time enquiry, you could consider waiving any premium hours charge as something to negotiate on.

[The Juggler]

i would charge half fees or full for hours at pre-school.:) if you're keen to get started out might be worth offering this discount and keeping mum but explain you can't do it for nothing as you are holding the space for her when she needs it (inset days/holidays) so you can't take anyone else on.

[ChristinaL]

Thankyou for replies. I met the Mum this morning and I dont think it went well.... I detailed fee's as advised online and by other local childminders and she just sat there shaking her head whilst writing them down grrr. I asked for £4 per hour per child (no discount for nursery time) and advised that I would charge £5 per day per child for meals and snacks as they would be with me for 11.5 hours per day and therefore that would be 3 meals plus snacks!!! She just told me that as that would be well over £2000 per month it wouldn't be worth her working and she stated that other childminders she has spoken to dont charge for nursery time or for meals. Should I negotiate, does anyone think I am asking too much?

[The Juggler]

Thankyou for replies. I met the Mum this morning and I dont think it went well.... I detailed fee's as advised online and by other local childminders and she just sat there shaking her head whilst writing them down grrr. I asked for £4 per hour per child (no discount for nursery time) and advised that I would charge £5 per day per child for meals and snacks as they would be with me for 11.5 hours per day and therefore that would be 3 meals plus snacks!!! She just told me that as that would be well over £2000 per month it wouldn't be worth her working and she stated that other childminders she has spoken to dont charge for nursery time or for meals. Should I negotiate, does anyone think I am asking too much?

Don't negotiate hon, if anything I would offer to charge a bit less for food maybe or put your rate up and offer food inclusive.

She is asking for unsocial hours in here and you are not charging her an increased rate before 0800 or after 1800 - I would point that out to her. In addition, I'd point her towards tax credits.

£4/hour for the southeast is very reasonable these days. Maybe charge 1/2 fees for nursery hours? That would mean you earn 1 1/4 hrs less per day??

[PixiePetal]

I would go to half fees for nursery time and offer free snacks and drinks but they can bring meals if they would like so no charge there - no other offers!