Am & pm sessions or by the hour?

[naomiesian]

Oh my goodness I am finding this so hard..
Since I started childminding in march this year I have always charged by the hour at £3.50 per hour, part hours count as full hours. 2 of my under 5s have now left to move on up to school so I have the vacancies available but all inquires have just been for a few hours such as 9am until 3pm and 1.00 till 5pm, so I am now thinking about charging am and pm sessions instead of by the hour because otherwise I will be left with hours that I cant possibly fill and will also be losing money which I really cant afford to do at the moment.
I know many childminders do this and just wanted some advice on if it works.
I am in the process of updating my fees page and I am a little unsure of how best to word it, so far I have


Fees are per child 7am-5.00pm
(Alternate hours by prior arrangement only)
Retainer fee per child - £20.00
Morning and afternoon sessions are charged regardless of how many hours you actually use because it would be impossible for me to fill odd hours


 Babies 0-1 yr

Morning session 7.00-12.00 = £17.50

Afternoon session 12.00 – 5.00 =£17.50

Daily session 7.00am – 5.00pm = £35.00

 Pre-school children 1-4 yr

Morning session 7.00-12.00 = £17.50

Afternoon session 12.00 – 5.00 =£17.50

Daily session 7.00am – 5.00pm = £35.00


 School age children 4-12 yr

Hourly rate: £3.50 per hour.

Daily rate: £35.00 per 10 hours.

Weekly rate: £161.00 per 50 hours.

Does this sound ok? Any advice would be much appreciated
xxxxx

[rickysmiths]

My goodness!

I have always charged an hourly rate. I have always felt this is how I am different from a nursery.

The only thing I would comment is why are you only charging £161 for a 50 hour week? Surely if a child attends 5 mornings and 5 afternoons the daily fee is £35 so the weekly fee should be £175? This is an extremly reasonable fee why reduce it? Day nurseries wouldn't. My fees for a 50hr week have just gone from £200 to £225 I have never offered a discount for a full week, I charge 50p hour more for 20 hours or less a week.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I don't advertise my rates and discuss the "specific requirements" of the parent upon request as they are all so different.

i.e. a parent wants school hours - my minimum charge here is £25

another parent wants 7.45 - 12.30 week 1 and 1.30 - 5.30 week 2. Charged both at £25.00 per week

If you go by your rates then you would get less.

Before and after school are charged at set rates - £14 after school and £7 before from 7.30. If you are starting at 7am I would expect a higher charge than the afternoon rate.

[naomiesian]

My goodness!

I have always charged an hourly rate. I have always felt this is how I am different from a nursery.

The only thing I would comment is why are you only charging £161 for a 50 hour week? Surely if a child attends 5 mornings and 5 afternoons the daily fee is £35 so the weekly fee should be £175? This is an extremly reasonable fee why reduce it? Day nurseries wouldn't. My fees for a 50hr week have just gone from £200 to £225 I have never offered a discount for a full week, I charge 50p hour more for 20 hours or less a week.

The weekly fee should be £175.00 lol its been a long day, thanks for pointing that out hun xxx

[naomiesian]

I don't advertise my rates and discuss the "specific requirements" of the parent upon request as they are all so different.

i.e. a parent wants school hours - my minimum charge here is £25

another parent wants 7.45 - 12.30 week 1 and 1.30 - 5.30 week 2. Charged both at £25.00 per week

If you go by your rates then you would get less.

Before and after school are charged at set rates - £14 after school and £7 before from 7.30. If you are starting at 7am I would expect a higher charge than the afternoon rate.

I am trying to keep my costs reasonable as although I am the only registered CM in the village the school here have just introduced a before and after school club starting in sept and there are also a few people here providing `free` childcare!!
I think if I charge sessions for under 5s if a parent wants care from say 9am till 3pm, charging them for both am and pm sessions would not only be fair but also make it worth my while as such, if that makes any sense :D

[crazyhazy]

Personally I don't like the idea of charging by session, that's too nursery like for me, I want to be more flexible. That said I do consider each enquiry fee wise before meeting the parents. I registered in april and have been lucky to have quite a few enquiries. The only session rate I do is £5 before school and £10 after school sessions, I offer a small discount for a full day or full week, so £3.50ph, £33pd and £145pw.

What I mean about considering each enquiry before meeting is today I have signed up a before & after school mindee, her mum called and was wanting a 7am start and had not been able to find anyone willing, so I agreed to meet her (a couple of weeks ago) but beforehand I worked out what I would want to be paid for those hours, so I worked out £5ph for the 1st hour, £3.50 for the 2nd hour and then £10 for after school, I redone my fees sheet to reflect the extra fee for before 8am, so she could see my charges clearly.

[bekki0405]

I see what you're saying, however I charge by the hour, and take the good with the bad.
I find parents like the flexibility, and actually, having children that go home early suits me, as I have 4 children.
It depends on personal circumstance though I guess

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I do give flexibility but I am a business.

I am also full and have a waiting list so have the luxury of picking and choosing what I want.

If you go by the fees that you are advertising and a parent wanted school hours they would have to pay both morning and afternoon sessions or am I reading this wrong? which would be £10 more than me.

It is hard to find a happy medium and it has taken me 13 years to get there, so expect a few changes and learning curves along the way

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Personally I don't like the idea of charging by session, that's too nursery like for me, I want to be more flexible. That said I do consider each enquiry fee wise before meeting the parents. I registered in april and have been lucky to have quite a few enquiries. The only session rate I do is £5 before school and £10 after school sessions, I offer a small discount for a full day or full week, so £3.50ph, £33pd and £145pw.

What I mean about considering each enquiry before meeting is today I have signed up a before & after school mindee, her mum called and was wanting a 7am start and had not been able to find anyone willing, so I agreed to meet her (a couple of weeks ago) but beforehand I worked out what I would want to be paid for those hours, so I worked out £5ph for the 1st hour, £3.50 for the 2nd hour and then £10 for after school, I redone my fees sheet to reflect the extra fee for before 8am, so she could see my charges clearly.

I am not saying that I would not go outside the hours of 8-6 and I have a few who start at 7am but I have set prices for hours between 8-6 with the rest being reviewed on request, hence the "parent specific requirements"

[naomiesian]

I do give flexibility but I am a business.

I am also full and have a waiting list so have the luxury of picking and choosing what I want.

If you go by the fees that you are advertising and a parent wanted school hours they would have to pay both morning and afternoon sessions or am I reading this wrong? which would be £10 more than me.

It is hard to find a happy medium and it has taken me 13 years to get there, so expect a few changes and learning curves along the way

Im confused lol doesn`t take much though :D
My way of thinking was before and after school care at £3.50 per hour for children 4 and over in full time school and then for children aged 0-4 full time would be 2 sessions at £17.50 per session = £35.00 per day or part time am or pm would be charged just for the session they use between the hours stated such as am session 7am-12.00 or pm session 12.00-5.00pm at £17.50but then if they require care from say 9.00am-3.00pm I would then charge for both am and pm session as they would be taking up the space for that whole day.. Does that make any sense, its been another long day full of fun!!

It will be hard to find a happy medium as I have already discovered and I've only been CM since march this year, the main reason I am considering changing my fees is that I had an enquiry a couple of months ago for care of a 3 year old for 1 day a week wed 3pm-6pm, I decided to tell the parent that there would be a minimum charge of 5 hours a week, they then decided that as they would be charged a minimum they would then want 2 days a week, mon 9am-12.00 and then wed 3pm-5pm so that they used the 5 hours!!
I could see what they were saying but for me to find another child under 4 to fit in the odd hours and days they wouldn`t use me would be impossible..
I will get there in the end :blush: Its just reassuring to know what other CM do xxx