Holidays

[natalieatk]

Its very hard deciding whats right but its your business and you do what suits you i guess.

I charge half for mine and the same for theirs..however my parents tend to take a LOT of holiday. One family who just take more chnaged what they were willing to pay me a while back. I politely showed them (as highlight in my diary) their 8 weeks holiday and my 20 odd days off. The others are ok BUT have started realising that i get paid more in the hols so they will take that time off! I 'should' say it's 4 weeks for both parties at half fee and anything else over is full for them and half for me..does anyone else do this?

Yes 8 weeks at half is far to many! At the moment my holidays are free and theirs are half 4 weeks max! One parent has took all their 4 weeks and I know will want more in the summer holidays which I will charge full fee for! That's what's wrote in their contract!

My new changes stated above will come in to affect from 4 weeks written notice! And only to those with holiday allowance left! Those who have used all 4 weeks will have to wait til contract review x

[loocyloo]

I charge no fees when I am off - usually about 4 weeks a year. Families are charged full fees for any holiday they take when I am available to care for the children.

However, I have just put my fees up & I have included half fees for my holidays in the increased fees. (parents have been told fee increase is due to increased costs)

[LittleVoice]

I have informed parents that I will have up too 4 weeks off a year, as well as the week between xmas and new year all of which i will take unpaid. If parents wish to take different holidays they will be charged at full rate.
I also dont work bank holidays but if a contracted day falls on it then I still require payment. Afterall, the majority of parents who work get paid bank holidays so why shouldnt we?! Only 1 parent questioned why should she pay when im not here and when I said that too her she instantly said sorry i didnt think of it like that!

[mr man]

I have 6 weeks of a year, set weeks following school hols, spread out nicely and I DO NOT charge. Rest of weeks charged weather with me or not.

I don't work bank hols and don't charge. Keeping it simple and keeping it fair.

[sharraie]

I have always gone with 4 weeks unpaid for me which I take during school holidays i.e 1 wk Xmas, 1 wk easter, and 2 wk summer holidays, and parents 4 weeks @ half fees if they don't take same weeks as me... Just about to sign a parent up and she's backed out because she doesn't want to pay for any of their holidays, which they take separately - they each take 2 weeks off in the summer hols, so 4 weeks then, and they do the same easter, Xmas etc.....

She made me feel very guilty for wanting half fees but after reading this thread I'm sticking to my guns

Thanks

[daddydaycare]

I'm new to the life of a childminder and my policy for sickness, holidays or any kind of absence is simple

If I am unable to provide the childcare then the client does not pay
If I can provide the childcare but the client does not attend then they pay standard full rate.

To me this policy makes sense and should balance itself out but your the experts, am I being nieve???
If so what are the flaws??

Thanks

Alan

[natalieatk]

Alan that's quite straight forward! I think I may just do that rather than mess on with no fees here n there do you charge for bank holidays? I used to bit decided against it now as I would prefer to have that time off and has to many parent moan about it

[adedwards68]

I know it our business do our rules so I just want to point out that not all parents get paid when taking holiday leave. My hubbie is self employed and does regular work for his customers but when he takes time off he doesn't get paid

[scottishlass]

I'm new to the life of a childminder and my policy for sickness, holidays or any kind of absence is simple

If I am unable to provide the childcare then the client does not pay
If I can provide the childcare but the client does not attend then they pay standard full rate.

To me this policy makes sense and should balance itself out but your the experts, am I being nieve???
If so what are the flaws??

Thanks

Alan

Yeah that's how I do it too!

[scottishlass]

I'm new to the life of a childminder and my policy for sickness, holidays or any kind of absence is simple

If I am unable to provide the childcare then the client does not pay
If I can provide the childcare but the client does not attend then they pay standard full rate.

To me this policy makes sense and should balance itself out but your the experts, am I being nieve???
If so what are the flaws??

Thanks

Alan

That's what I do too!

[tiredandemotional]

I'm new to the life of a childminder and my policy for sickness, holidays or any kind of absence is simple

If I am unable to provide the childcare then the client does not pay
If I can provide the childcare but the client does not attend then they pay standard full rate.

To me this policy makes sense and should balance itself out but your the experts, am I being nieve???
If so what are the flaws??

Thanks

Alan

That's exactly what I do. As a parent myself, I would feel very uncomfortable charging a parent whilst I took a holiday, personally I find that very cheeky! After all we are self-employed, not employed. That is our choice and there are some (very few perhaps!) benefits of being SE so we can't pretend we are employed and expect the same benefits. But I do know some very popular childminders who do it so some parents must be happy with that arrangement. As others have said, as long as they know and accept your rules then that is fine. TBH I always worry and hold my breath when sending an invoice for time they haven't attended - through illness or their holiday outside of mine. But no one has every questioned it and always paid, so I am glad my contracts were clear enough. I also don't work, and don't charge, for bank holidays and 'close' between Christmas and New Year so don't charge then.

[JMcG]

Like some others here I charge no fees for any days/hours I'm unable to work due to holidays, sickness, appointments etc. I then charge full fees for any days/hours that I'm available to work but a child does not attend.

I just thought this was very simple & fair. For me it also means that I can choose when I can afford to take holiday and I'm not worrying about how a parents holiday will effect my income that month as they quite often give very little notice. They also have the money they would have paid me available to pay for alternative care if they need to & often they do as Ill arrange care through other childminders we see regularly & the children already know.

I don't charge for bank holidays if I don't intend to work but parents know that if they were stuck that I can work by prior arrangement, contracts say at double my usual rate.

It very interesting seeing what everyone else does!

[Chimps Childminding]

I currently charge half fees for parents holidays (up to 4 weeks), but my mindees have been with me for quite a while, and if I take any new ones on I am going to change that to full fee.

I don't charge if I am not available for ANY reason, sick, hols, etc as my parents use another childminder (not always) so they would in effect be paying twice!!

Child/Parent sick is full as it is usually at short notice anyway, so no way of filling the space

[natalieatk]

Changing mine from 1st sep to

My holidays no charge
Child/parent holidays full fee

Bank hols half fee.

Does anyone thing that's ok

[JMcG]

I think that's fine. I battle with myself over the bank holidays but decided to keep it no service = no charge.

[JMcG]

Whoops. Hit send too soon! Half fees does seem fair though if its a parents normal contracted day as its most likely they are getting paid for the day!

[wendywu]

I'm new to the life of a childminder and my policy for sickness, holidays or any kind of absence is simple

If I am unable to provide the childcare then the client does not pay
If I can provide the childcare but the client does not attend then they pay standard full rate.

To me this policy makes sense and should balance itself out but your the experts, am I being nieve???
If so what are the flaws??

Thanks

Alan

This is me as well, but i do charge for Bank Holidays. I take 6 weeks holiday a year.