New member- do these fees sound ok??

[Vikkileeds]

Hi everyone,

I am new to this site but finding it very helpful so far. I am in the pre reg stage and trying to decide on fees/hols etc.

I have decided on an hourly rate. The holiday side of things is confusing me, what do others do??

I am thinking about having 6 weeks hols a year and charging my families half the rate for these weeks. I was going to add each familiy's bill up for the year and divide it by 12 so they pay the same to me each month regardless of how many days in that month or if I am on hol.

Also I am intending to charge full if children are off sick but they don't pay if I am sick, does this sound fair??

Any help/ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. x

[Minstrel]

Hello and welcome!

I can only tell you what I do personally as obviously we all work differently.

I charge hourly and have a basic rule that if I am available to work then full fee is due (child's illness or holiday). I have chosen not charge for my holidays or illness as I think it's hard enough for parents to find and pay for alternative care.

I also charge per calendar month as I don't like the thought of having to work it out (ie who owes who) when the contract ends.

Lots of minders do charge the way you do though, ie for hols or averaged out over the year so there will be plenty of help about should you need it.

Maybe ask the local CM's to you to see what they do. You don't want to price yourself out of the market.

[Daisy1956]

I do the same I charge in I am working but not for my own hols or illness but everyone has their own way of doing things.

[jane5]

I am going to charge full price for their holidays and sickness and no charge for mine.

I am also thinking of charging full or half days for under 5's so I dont get stuck with say 11 till 3 taking up a full time place but only paying for 4 hours.

I'm going to charge monthly as said above so that I dont have to find any fee's due to parents if the contract ends.
Its up to them to budget their money and and as someone else said on this forum, I'm not their savings club lol:laughing:

[Andrea08]

hi, if you are charging full for the childs time away for sickness and holidays you shouldnt charge full for yours...

if you charge half for childs time away then you can charge half for yours

and as for 6wks a yr as a parents i wouldnt pay it.. 2 wks in the summer and 2 at christmas ..

its up to you but there is a lot of compertision out there and parents follow their wallets lol

i charge full for childs time away and nothing if im ill and on holiday ... use sto charge half but i didnt take a holiday so missed out and as for charging and deviding by 12 mths its ok if they with you for 12 mths if not one of you is missing out...

have a good think about it as fees should be set for all families using you for a full yr b4 you should change things.. so what you decide your stuck with..

good luck xx

[Vikkileeds]

Thank you for your replies. I am now thinking twice about charging for the year and dividing by 12 as the more I think about it, it would be difficult to work out who owes who at the end.

So do most people work out each child's fees monthly? And send an invoice say the week before?

How many weeks do most of you take for holidays? And do u tend to take full weeks at a time? Also does anybody else charge half price for hols?

Thanks again x

[Vikkileeds]

I've just wrote a reply not sure where it has gone!!

How many weeks do other CMs take as hols? & do u tend to take the whole week off as opposed to odd days?? Does anybody on here charge half rates for hols?

I have decided against doing the fees for the year and dividing by 12 as it will become complicated if somebody leaves.

thanks for replies.

[gigglinggoblin]

I work term time only and do not charge a retainer for any weeks I am unavailable, I dont think its fair they have to pay me and someone else. I know I would not have been able to pay that. I charge half for up to 2 weeks hols per year in term time and after that its full fee. Their sickness full fee, mine (or any reason I am closed) no fee

[Chimps Childminding]

I charge full fee for parent/child sick, half fee for their holidays and nothing if I am off sick or on holiday. I know at least one of my parents uses another minder if I am off (June next door :D ) so would end up paying twice for me having a holiday - I think not :rolleyes:

I usually have 2 weeks off at Christmas, one at Easter and one or two in the summer - and notify parents at the beginning of the year of as many of the dates as possible, and as much notice as I can if I do not have exact dates to hand at the beginning of the year.

That said, its your business and you can run it however you want to :thumbsup:

[misst104]

Hiya,

I charge full fee for mindees holidays and sickness but no fee for my holiday or sickness (or closed due to sickness of my own children). I take 4 weeks holiday a year (no fee as above). I dont think the parents I have at the moment would be happy with me taking 6 weeks a year to be honest.

All my parents pay a fixed monthly fee. i work out the weekly fee and times by 48 then divide by 12 to come to a final amount. Parents seem happy with that arrangement and it means I have the same amount coming in each month. If I am sick then I refund that days fees ( payment is in advance each month).

I charge by the hour or part thereof.

works for me :)

x Jo

[sarah707]

I've just wrote a reply not sure where it has gone!!
.

Welcome to the forum Vikki.

As a new member your initial posts are moderated - this means you have to wait for a moderator to come along and press a few buttons.

This is to stop spammers and other unpleasantness on the forum.

The owner and moderators are all childminders so we work during the day and are not always around to authorise posts straight away.

That's why there might have been a time lag :D