Holidays

[emz31]

Hi.im just wondering how many holidays you take a year.and do you charge,xx

[AgentTink]

The amount I take each year changes depending on what I have got booked.

My charges are as follows:
2 week shutdown over Christmas - full fees apply for contracted days.

Bank holidays - available to work any that don't fall in my holidays so charge double if needed by parent if not needed I charge normal rate for day.

All others holidays I don't charge.

I am strong believer in do what works for you and your business. As long as it is made clear to parents from the very beginning before they sign up then there should be no issue further down the line. I am always reminding parents of my holidays as part of my newsletter/parent updates. It always clearly states which ones have a charge and which ones don't.

[amanda1309]

I take 7 weeks a year and I don't charge for any of them.
I don't work BH so I don't get paid for them. X

[lisbet]

At the moment my service is open term time only. As stated in my contract, I charge for the bank holidays that fall outside school holidays and would work them for no extra cost, but no parent has ever asked me to so far...

If I start working all year round again, I think I would take 6 weeks holiday a year at no cost to parents; to recharge my batteries and give my own 3 children some time where their house is their own.

I feel very lucky to be able to take so much time off, and take my hat off to CMs working long hours with minimal holidays

[AliceK]

I don't charge for my hols, I keep it simple, if I am open and available to work then I charge, if I am closed for whatever reason then I don't charge.
I have just made a note of my holidays for this year and I have booked 20 days but I always need to take other adhoc days at shorter notice eg for hosp appts etc so usually I end up having 25 days.

xxx

[lollipop kid]

I take 5 weeks paid holiday each year, plus the paid public holidays.

I give parents a list of my 25 days holidays at the end of December or the beginning of January each year for the year ahead. I co-ordinate these days with the school/nursery holidays. Once I have issued my holiday dates, they do NOT change. I know that my existing parents will use these to plan their holidays almost straight away to get the best deals.

My thinking is that by giving parents as much notice of my holiday dates as possible, then they can co-ordinate their paid leave with mine, thus they won't ever be in a situation where they need to pay for childcare for any dates while I am on leave.

(I don't close between Christmas and New Year - I just take the days in between as paid holiday. For example, I stopped work on 19th December 2014, and started again on 5th January 2015 using a combination of holiday leave and public holiday leave to cover the dates in between.)

I've been doing it like this since I started and it works for me. (I initially got the idea from an old NCMA handbook when I first started, and by asking what other childminders in my local area do for holidays. If you haven't asked those childminders around you already what they do, then I'd say this is a good place to start.)

If I need to attend a family funeral or something else that requires unplanned leave, then I give the parents as much notice as possible and don't charge for that day/days. (This has only happened once, and the parents were lovely about it and insisted on paying me anyway!)

I also ask my parents to allow me one week's paid sick leave in any one contract year and I reserve the right to use this if any of my children are sick. Then I do everything in my power not to go sick. (I've only had to use 3 sick days since I started minding in 2008, and that was for when my son was horribly ill and I needed to call an ambulance for him - they managed to rehydrate him after several hours at hospital, otherwise it would have been a drip and hospital admission, all thanks to the dreaded Norovirus that a parent had brought into my setting without warning me!)

Hope that helps,

L

[Angela234]

For years i used to take between 2 and 3 weeks but no more last year i took 5 weeks i dont charge for any time i dont work and i dont work bank holidays so dont charge

[emz31]

Agent tink what do You put in your newsletter...iv always struggled with how to start it off.xx

[emz31]

And when I review my fees etc in September il have to consider charging for hols...cos if we was working for someone we would get them paid for us..that's how I see it xx

[lollipop kid]

And when I review my fees etc in September il have to consider charging for hols...cos if we was working for someone we would get them paid for us..that's how I see it xx

Totally agree - parents get paid for their holidays and Public holidays. You need to earn a living, but also need to have a certain amount of time off, otherwise you would not be able to carry on providing care for their children without your health suffering. Parents also understand that you have bills to pay. If you can find a way to co-ordinate their leave with yours (or vice versa, as I do), then they don't have to pay for childcare twice.

Think of the scenario:

Parents go on holiday at dates different to yours. They need to pay you for the child's space.
You then go on holiday at dates when the parent is still working. They need to pay for childcare to cover the time you're not available. Basically, they are then paying for childcare twice during this scenario.

Alternative 'Win-win' scenario: you and parents go on holiday at the same time. Parents get a holiday and only pay once for childcare.

Hope that makes sense and is helpful. (That's how I sell it to parents anyway, and I publish these dates on my website for all my parents to see.)

L

[emz31]

The parents I have at the minute would take off the holidays I take off....so would they still have to pay when I book my holidays.iv wrote down two weeks off one in April and one in July.and hand them the notification form.which I will do tonight.

[emz31]

I also have a baby starting in april but mum takes time off when schools are off..but stated to keep place open during hols it's half fee..

[lollipop kid]

Hi there, I understand where you're coming from.

Personally, once I've drawn up the list of dates, it does NOT change to suit particular parents. As a childminder, you support several families, so it is not possible for you to co-ordinate your dates with the leave chosen by families.

The way I do it, I select the dates (always to coincide with school holidays, as when the little ones start school, then these are the only times the families will be able to take time off anyway - they won't be able to take their holidays during term time then, so this is good exercise for them in organising their holidays during school holiday times).

You're still taking the same number of days off during the one contract year, so whether a family join now or in October, it will still work out the same for them but the dates MUST remain the same as your circulated list.

I would not (and do not) change dates for new families who have joined after the dates are set. Otherwise, you risk upsetting all of your existing parents.

I'd suggest you should draw up a list of dates now for the remainder of the year and stick to it! (Otherwise, you're in the other scenario situation that I described in my earlier post.)

It's up to you to try ways that work for you. But going forwards, you're going to come up against the same issues all the time. I know in my first year, I didn't take any time off as new parents were joining at different times, so while they were off taking their holidays, I was still working to support the remaining families. Not a good move! I was shattered and I would never ever attempt doing that again! Everyone needs a break.

Hope that helps.

L

[emz31]

Do you include the weekends as part of the week off if you take7 days off.

[lollipop kid]

The holiday days I take off are just working days. Most of my parents are part-time, so if a holiday day falls on one of their days, then it is payable. (I invoice in batches of 4 weeks, so the parent just continues to pay for that 4 week period as normal, even if it includes holiday days or Bank holiday days.)

Unless you actually work on weekends (i.e. have children on these days), then no, they should not be included in your holiday days.

L

[alex__17]

I have in contracts I take 4 weeks plus bank holidays and don't charge, but I do charge for parents holidays.
I probably dont take all 4 weeks over the year I closed over xmas and am having 2 weeks in june, but dont have much else planned probably odd days here and there