Petition against childminders charging for bank holidays!!

[jackie 7]

I would love them to hand back pay for holidays and they take much more than we do. I charge 1/2 rat for bl and my hold. I don't force parents to use my services and so far I have never been questioned on it. Let them hand their holiday pay back and I will stop charging.

[Ripeberry]

And it should be made illegal for employed people to be paid whilst they are enjoying a bank holiday. Unless the poor OP has to work every single one of them. What a joke. Stop wasting my time.

[MrAnchovy]

No of course the electricity supplier is not directly comparable, I introduced it to try and highlight the position from the point of the customer. Everyone has heard the expression "the customer is always right" - he is not of course, he is often wrong, but when he is telling us how he feels he IS always right, because it is how he feels.

Of course I don't think that it should be "illegal" for childminders to charge for bank holidays, this is not the sort of thing that laws are for, and I'd be surprised if the petitioner is serious too - but he is probably frustrated at being treated as though he doesn't have two brain cells to rub together by people he wants to give his hard-earned money to.

[mazza58]

I do charge for bank holidays as I feel that it is the only holiday that I do get paid for and if the parents are getting paid for bank holidays then why cant I. I do not charge for any other holidays that I take, but i do charge parents for their holidays unless they take them the same time as me, so i do feel that I am being fair

[FussyElmo]

To be taken seriously, after signing a contract, is not to go and start a petition demanding your way of thinking.

I wouldnt dream of telling my window cleaner his preferred method of payment was wrong and then go and set up a government petition.

[TooEarlyForGin?]

But Mr A - as someone said, most parents get paid for bank holidays, but aren't expected to work for them, so lets face it if he made it law , we could turn it around. What's silly is that he is not forced to sign a contract, he has a choice, most of us don't have any REAL choice about electricity or water.

[pat75]

Imagine how much government could save by not paying for b.h. and people's holiday for workers in public sector. Why should they be paid if they don't work.

[MrAnchovy]

To be taken seriously, after signing a contract, is not to go and start a petition demanding your way of thinking.

Perhaps he hasn't signed a contract - perhaps he is frustrated because all childminders with vacancies in his area charge for Bank Holidays - and perhaps he only wants Mondays and resents the fact that he would have to pay 10% more per day of care than someone who only wants Tuesdays.

I wouldnt dream of telling my window cleaner his preferred method of payment was wrong and then go and set up a government petition.

You might do if he charged you for not cleaning your windows.

Don't you realise that this kind of "customer hatred" is a major factor in support of the idea of Childminder Agencies? If you want to remain independent, professional businesses you need to act like every other professional by only charging for what you provide and act like every other business by listening to your customers.

[FussyElmo]

Perhaps he hasn't signed a contract - perhaps he is frustrated because all childminders with vacancies in his area charge for Bank Holidays - and perhaps he only wants Mondays and resents the fact that he would have to pay 10% more per day of care than someone who only wants Tuesdays.



You might do if he charged you for not cleaning your windows.

Don't you realise that this kind of "customer hatred" is a major factor in support of the idea of Childminder Agencies? If you want to remain independent, professional businesses you need to act like every other professional by only charging for what you provide and act like every other business by listening to your customers.

Thank you for that but I already dont charge for bhs and my holidays. Im also TTO and dont charge a retainer.

If you dont like a service you are paying for then you walk with your feet and go somewhere else - you dont start a petition and demand what you want unfortunetly life isnt like that.

[Marshmallow]

Well said !

Only 10 signatures so far (not doing too well ;-) ) .... I bet she wouldn't tell her boss, not to pay her for bank holidays and holidays as she is not 'actually' working.

[justgoodfriends]

Actually I think Mr A has a point... which other self employed service providers would expect to be paid for BH's? Yes you can argue that parents are paid for them, but what if they're also self employed?

[JaneyB]

I don't charge as I don't work - I am a private business and choose to work or not - I don't expect people to pay for holidays I take. In the same way - this person has choice over using the service of the childminder / nursery. Give notice and leave it if not happy. Ridiculous petition.

[wendywu]

I dont know why everyone gets so irrate over BH as there are plently of CM who charge full for their holidays and charge for training days.

Yes i am self employed and i do charge for BH and i dont work them, but if my parents require me to work from 7.30 to 6.30 5 days a week to cover their working hours i consider it give and take.
I work well above the average working week. In fact if you took the statuary holiday entitlement of x your working days by 5.6 i would need to take about 100 days holiday in a year.

I am not free to come and go as i please i can not even take as many unpaid holidays as i would like.

[rickysmiths]

I don't think it's a joke - I think it is a heartfelt plea from a childminder's CUSTOMER saying that he (he gives his name as David) is not happy with one aspect of the service he uses. How would you feel if your electricity supplier cut you off on Monday and still expected you to pay for the electricity you haven't used? Would you want the electricity supplier to listen to your complaint and think about how they can improve their service, or would you expect them to treat you with contempt?

Yes but if I don't use any elec or gas one day i still get charged my basic service charge for the day for the honor of having the gas/elec piped into my house.

I still pay my Council tax when I go on two weeks holiday even though I am using none of the services that it pays for.

I pay a standard fee even if I don't use any water.

I continue to pay car insurance and road Tax even if my car doesn't leave the drive for a week.

I still have to pay my Ofsted fee, Public Liability Ins, Employers Insurance, IOC membership, pro rata for the whole year, 365 days even though I don't work for 25 days a year. They don't take 25 days worth off!!! oh and plus 8 BH if I can't charge for them.

I can see where this parent is coming from but as I am prepared to work on BH I don't see why I shouldn't charge if the parent has the day off. The vast majority of parents are paid for BH anyway.

Childcare is cheaper now than it was 20 years ago in % of salary, and there is more help out there than ever via Tax Credits and Salary sacrifice for parents to help with the costs. Maternity benefits are far more generous than they were 20 years ago and there are now Paternity benefits. We are also paying less tax than before.

I think it is about time some parents were realist about the fact that it is not cheap to have children, that they are their children and their responsibility and that if you have children life and life style can not carry on at the levels they were before they had children. The kind of car, number of holidays, meals out, hair do's, clothes etc have to change and golly dare I say, reduce!! If you have children you have to make sacrifices and compromise.

The trouble is so many parents want it all. My dear mum would say 'they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!'

[rickysmiths]

Actually I think Mr A has a point... which other self employed service providers would expect to be paid for BH's? Yes you can argue that parents are paid for them, but what if they're also self employed?

This is rubbish. Self Employed people usually charge a much higher hourly rate than cms could ever charge and they build in cover for their holidays and sick etc.

Even with 3 under 5s most cm could charge anything like the £30-50 that a lot of SE tradesmen do charge.

I pay my mobile hair dresser the equivalent of £45ph, my window cleaner is similar, a guy I had doing some work in the garden before Christmas charged £100 for a 5-6 hour day. I pay mt dd Clarinet teacher £30ph she prob earns around 1500pm just teaching 3hrs in the evenings, thats 15 hrs a week and she works during the day as well.

[rickysmiths]

Perhaps he hasn't signed a contract - perhaps he is frustrated because all childminders with vacancies in his area charge for Bank Holidays - and perhaps he only wants Mondays and resents the fact that he would have to pay 10% more per day of care than someone who only wants Tuesdays.



You might do if he charged you for not cleaning your windows.

Don't you realise that this kind of "customer hatred" is a major factor in support of the idea of Childminder Agencies? If you want to remain independent, professional businesses you need to act like every other professional by only charging for what you provide and act like every other business by listening to your customers.

Ok I'll behave like every other self employed business then.

From Monday my hourly rate is going up to £40ph per child, (I am far better qualified than your average window cleaner and I have more overheads) and I won't charge for my holidays, BH or any Training Days I take. (But of course I will be getting all of them paid because it is built into my now much higher hourly fee so who is kidding who?)

Nor will I give any more than Friday for Monday as notice that I won't be working as I will be away for two weeks.

I will charge a full hour if a parent is late collecting whatever the excuse.

I will suspend childcare immediately if I am not paid.

will stop caring for families if I feel like it, with no repercussions, I have lost count of the number of window cleaners who have come and gone over the years with no warning or reason given!

I will charge for every min of extra time a parent wants to use me.

I will finish on the dot and I will not start early!

I will sit all the children in a row for half an hour in the morning and afternoon while I take a coffee break and for an hour at lunch time.

Shall I go on?

[JCrakers]

Think we should be taking this one seriously...there's a lot of people who have signed that one....pmsl

For goodness sake... I don't charge but don't see the problem with charging

[Ripeberry]

Actually I think Mr A has a point... which other self employed service providers would expect to be paid for BH's? Yes you can argue that parents are paid for them, but what if they're also self employed?

Well it's just tough . They should understand even more than an employed person. Lots of CMs charge double for working a BH. I think my gas man would charge double for coming out on a BH. And in the great scheme of things, is it really putting people out THAT much? Even the cattery charges double for any BH time! But people won't bat an eyelid at that as it seems their cattery owner is more precious than their childminder.

[MrAnchovy]

You are (nearly) all missing the point.

It doesn't matter how good your arguments are for charging for when you choose not to be available, PARENTS DON'T LIKE IT.

At a time when the status of childminders as independent professionals is under threat do you think it is wise to insist on doing something your customers don't like?

[FussyElmo]

You are (nearly) all missing the point.

It doesn't matter how good your arguments are for charging for when you choose not to be available, PARENTS DON'T LIKE IT.

At a time when the status of childminders as independent professionals is under threat do you think it is wise to insist on doing something your customers don't like?

Then the parents shouldnt sign a contract then. If I were to use an accountant and I didnt like something I would find another accountant. I would not be rushing to get a petition demanding that ALL accountants change.

This thread has proven alot of cms DONT charge for bh's and their holidays.