Part time care....

[Tracie Morrison]

I have a family coming by tomorrow looking for part time care for their 13mth. I *think* they are looking for a morning here/afternoon there over 3 maybe 4 days, mum said on phone that they were speaking with grandparents as to what days/times they can have child then would be able to let me know what childcare they needed.

My question is what to charge them, as they will be taking a space that I will not then be able to offer out on those days do I charge for the whole day/50% fee for the hours in day that I dont have her? Will potentially be my first starting mindee (have a sept start schoolie YAY!) I dont want to scare them off but dont want to sell myself short either... what to do??

[sing-low]

You could consider having a daily rate (I.e. Minimum you're prepared to work for).
It's hard with part-timers as they do take up a full time space, effectively. At least LO is over a year old so you've not filled your one baby space. Most of my enquiries are for Mums going back to work so LO is usually under one.

[QualityCare]

I do things differently, if a parent inquires about a part time place l say yes if l am willing to accept that l will be paid for the time used l do not charge for time not used if l want more money then l say no and wait for the right hours to come along. I have had a family for 6yrs mum works 4 days, l have children 3 set days and grandparents 1 day, l charge for the 3 days used, if grandparents go away or want to swap l can take the children also they will have children if l need time off. My advice would be to decide if you want a part time child and then try and pin parents down to set days with you and set days with grandparents tell them that continuity and routine is far better for their child and he will be a lot happier knowing his routine and who will be looking after him bits of days here and there are unsettling.

[Tracie Morrison]

I do things differently, if a parent inquires about a part time place l say yes if l am willing to accept that l will be paid for the time used l do not charge for time not used if l want more money then l say no and wait for the right hours to come along. I have had a family for 6yrs mum works 4 days, l have children 3 set days and grandparents 1 day, l charge for the 3 days used, if grandparents go away or want to swap l can take the children also they will have children if l need time off. My advice would be to decide if you want a part time child and then try and pin parents down to set days with you and set days with grandparents tell them that continuity and routine is far better for their child and he will be a lot happier knowing his routine and who will be looking after him bits of days here and there are unsettling.

Im not concerned with only having LO 3-4 days, my thought with regards to fee's was because I will prob just have LO 4hrs one day, 5hrs the next, and maybe 2-3hrs on day 3. I was wondering whether to charge my day rate irrelevant of how many hours, or whether to charge a retainer for the remaining hours of the day, or indeed just to charge for the hours I have LO? What does everyone else do?

[tigwig]

I charge the minimum amount I would be prepared to earn per day. For me its usually £25. Have once done it for £20 but it suited me then for the child to finish really early and all my other places were full.
You have to think carefully about making the right decision for the long term rather than being so excited to take a child on you practically work for free!
Think about how you will feel weeks down the line if you let the parents take up the full day space and only earn a fraction of the income you could earn if it were a child wanting all day then have lots of enquiries you can't take on. Don't do anything you regret!

[Tracie Morrison]

I charge the minimum amount I would be prepared to earn per day. For me its usually £25. Have once done it for £20 but it suited me then for the child to finish really early and all my other places were full.
You have to think carefully about making the right decision for the long term rather than being so excited to take a child on you practically work for free!
Think about how you will feel weeks down the line if you let the parents take up the full day space and only earn a fraction of the income you could earn if it were a child wanting all day then have lots of enquiries you can't take on. Don't do anything you regret!

That is exactly my train of thought tigwig... I want to care for the child, but dont want to regret later what I agree.... Im thinking that I will remove my usual fee's from my contract details document that I usually give to prospective parents and wait to hear what hours they need then tell them I will forward my fee for them to discuss/agree?

[Snowwhite]

Yes my minimum amount is around £25 for a session, & that is morning only childcare or afternoon only and isn't any less if parent only wants 2 or 3 hours one morning or 4/5 hours the next. Explain to parent that the minimum fee is in place so you don't fiancially loose out,as you could be turning more hours from someone else. Although you can just do less hours the 1 day but put the fee higher than your usual hourly fee

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I consider a minimum figure for the day but if they go over school time I add on my after school rate because they take up that space.

Maybe see what they want first and go from there.

You need to decide a rate beforehand so consider what you are willing to have a potential full time place used for.

[Dragonfly]

I charge the going rate around here £3.50 but only if the hours wanted is above 3 hours, if 3 hours or less I will charge £ 5.00 per hour. I know everyone is different but this works for me.

[Kaybeaa]

I charge a half fee and a full day fee. My half day fee is 830 until 1.30, or 1,30 to 6.30 and is 20.00. If parents decide to pick child up at 12pm instead of 1.30 for example I still charge the 20.00. Same with full day fee. This runs from 830 to 630 but if parents come at 5pm they still have to pay full day fee. It's so much easier to work our invoices this way and parents always been happy.

[Tracie Morrison]

I charge the going rate around here £3.50 but only if the hours wanted is above 3 hours, if 3 hours or less I will charge £ 5.00 per hour. I know everyone is different but this works for me.

I was possibly thinking of something similar x

[Tracie Morrison]

You need to decide a rate beforehand so consider what you are willing to have a potential full time place used for.

Yes thats where Im thinking...

[Tracie Morrison]

I charge a half fee and a full day fee. My half day fee is 830 until 1.30, or 1,30 to 6.30 and is 20.00. If parents decide to pick child up at 12pm instead of 1.30 for example I still charge the 20.00. Same with full day fee. This runs from 830 to 630 but if parents come at 5pm they still have to pay full day fee. It's so much easier to work our invoices this way and parents always been happy.

This is really interesting... what would you do if a parent wanted you to have a LO for 3hrs 3days a week, would you still charge the half day rate, or a higher than norm day rate?
at the moment I have a sheet printed which summarises my contract details, and also my fee's. On this sheet I currently put my hourly rate, a full day rate, then for schoolies a morning session price and an afternoon session price... should I give potential parents this or not.... Im now thinking not as potentially causes problems if I want to price their request a little different??

[shortstuff]

I charge by the hour but if I am not happy to work the hours that are being requested I will say no.

I also have to say that sometimes it suits me to have children here who leave before the afternoon school run. I have 1 every week day who leaves at 2.15 and it suits me brilliantly as he goes home for his nap too.

[Goatgirl]

When offering part time contracts I charge either for minimum hours a day (6) or over the week (30). However, I can only afford to do that as I have a long term full timer and another long term child doing a definite 30+ hours a week. If the hours were very few but fitted in and I could afford it, I would probably charge my higher/ad hoc rate £5.00 rather than the usual £3.75

In my fees and charges policy I have advertised my normal hourly rate as being for "full time hours" and that different charges may apply in various circumstances.

Personally I have avoided half day and full day rates so that I know exactly when children are to be collected, dropped off etc. and sometimes with the combinations of children I have managed to have a big chunk of a day off or to finish early. This I like!

Before you make any decisions I would work out what that space would earn you if taken up in full, so you can see exactly what you are losing by charging less. Its very common for new childminders to take on families at the beginning at very flexible rates and regret it later.
Think very hard about what you can accept, or whether you would prefer whole days rather than a few hours here and there. Hours that differ a lot between days can be very unsettling for the child too, so that point may help when discussing with parents.

Good luck
Let us know how you get on

[Simona]

I have a family coming by tomorrow looking for part time care for their 13mth. I *think* they are looking for a morning here/afternoon there over 3 maybe 4 days, mum said on phone that they were speaking with grandparents as to what days/times they can have child then would be able to let me know what childcare they needed.

My question is what to charge them, as they will be taking a space that I will not then be able to offer out on those days do I charge for the whole day/50% fee for the hours in day that I dont have her? Will potentially be my first starting mindee (have a sept start schoolie YAY!) I dont want to scare them off but dont want to sell myself short either... what to do??

Have you thought of 'sessional' care?
Say 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm...parents would have to pay for the 5 hrs and that would allow you to sell the other half of the session maybe to an after school child

[Tracie Morrison]

Have you thought of 'sessional' care?
Say 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm...parents would have to pay for the 5 hrs and that would allow you to sell the other half of the session maybe to an after school child

Thats pretty much what I ended up going with Simona, I spoke with my nearest local CM and she said she charges a flat minimum half day (5hr) rate for a part time LO. I am thinking that I may add in something that says full day care is chargeable if cares goes beyond 3pm as it stops me offering place to a schoolie?

.... the meeting went well and it seems the grandparents may now not be covering any care, so they are potentially needing 3 full days, mum is now waiting for employer to define her hours and then get back to me....

[Tracie Morrison]

Before you make any decisions I would work out what that space would earn you if taken up in full, so you can see exactly what you are losing by charging less. Its very common for new childminders to take on families at the beginning at very flexible rates and regret it later.
Think very hard about what you can accept, or whether you would prefer whole days rather than a few hours here and there. Hours that differ a lot between days can be very unsettling for the child too, so that point may help when discussing with parents.

Good luck
Let us know how you get on

This is the bit that causes me so much thought... trying to look forward and not sell myself short, but at the same time really wanting to start working as Im soooooooo bored! x