Nervous to increase my fees

I have been childminding for 5 years this February and not once have I increased my fees ( currently £4ph)
I am very busy and full but discovered that other childminders in my area are £4.50 some are £5ph
I know as I am a lot cheaper that will appeal to working parents but with the rise in everything over the last few years include food, I feel 50p increase isn't to bad
I am just worried I rock the Apple cart so to speak with my parents and they look elsewhere
Which I really can not afford to lose there business
How would you go about approaching this
I understand nobody likes prices going up but in the last few years bills and expenses have and I need to be able to cover them

If others are more expensive than you your parents will not have much choice to find a cheaper childminder. I think if you haven't increased in 5 years and have had the children for a while I can't really see anyone leaving.

I'm in very much the same position: 5 years CMing; no fees increase in that time; very similar £ph. In addition, I have the majority of families on term-timee-only contracts, so I'm working all year round but only paid 2/3 of the time by 2/3 of families. I also am looking to rise fees next year.

I'm hoping that 2017 is the best year to break it to them. Next year, many families will be able to take advantage of savings from Tax-Free Childcare and the 30 funded hours (so long as it is paid and run in a sustainable manner.) I'll use these as part of my 'pitch' when I explain the fee increase.

We put our fees up 10p an hour every year. I think we are slightly cheaper than some having spoken to colleagues about it recently but I won't go up a huge amount - like you I don't want to risk losing our lovely families...

It's about what's sustainable for you as well :D

I don't tend to raise my fees once an Eyfs child starts. But I know it will come to an end when they leave to go to school. All my Eyfs children are on different rates as they started different years. There is nearly a £1 difference. Maybe you could raise fees for new starters and leave your present Eyfs children as they are. My schoolies are on a fixed rate, higher than the hourly Eyfs rate, but it is nearly twice the hourly after school rate so I know I cannot raise it as I'm pretty sure some lovely families will vote with their feet. So I'm nearly 5 years also without a price increase. If you increase your prices can you sustain the 'difference' that the 30 hour funding will bring when it comes next September. I can't. So I think I will continue as I am for the moment. Think ahead. Best of luck.

I sent this e-mail out a few weeks ago with my November invoices

It's invoice time again I'm afraid, please find attached xxx's for November.

I have spend many hours deliberating how much to increase my hourly fees for January 2017 as I haven't put my prices up for 2 years - I know several childminders who are charging £4.50 an hour and have been doing so for a couple of years and I have looked on some of the average priced Nurseries (Harlequins, Bright Stars & Rainbow) and they seem to be charging £5 an hour and £2.50 for a hot lunch.

I have therefore decided to go with a middle ground and charge £4.40 an hour and £2.00 for a hot lunch (I haven't increased the meal prices since I re-registered 11 years ago) I have looked at various Nurseries menu planners and think my meals are just as nutritious and tasty. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are concerned about the proposed fee increases.

This is one reply I had back "That all sounds fine and completely understandable. To be honest it still doesn't sound like nearly enough considering everything you do and how hard you work. But we live in a strange society where people who work in city firms playing with vast amounts of money get valued way higher than the people who help look after our children. It doesn't really make sense to me...."

On one email I added "In light of xxxx's redundancy I am proposing to keep xxx's hourly rate at £4.20 and only increase the rate for lunch until xxx finds a permanent position. - the mum replied "That's really sweet of you Sarah, thank you so much. It really means a lot to have you around"

So Kittycat I think we all should do a small 10p a year increase like Sarah707 suggests, that way you can tell new parents when they start and they will expect it - 50p an hour may be too big a jump for some parents to afford - I remember 30 years ago when my childminder wanted to increase her fees from 80p and hour to £1.00 but I really couldn't afford it (it was way before any kind of help for childcare other than Child Benefit) and I negotiated with her a staged increase instead, going up to 90p an hour for 6 months and then up to the full £1 when I had persuaded my boss to give me a pay rise.

I e always just put mine up for new starters except this year when the parents got together and advised me what my new fee would be as they couldn't believe I've not put my fee up when they have all had wage increases at work. Such a lovely lot of parents I have :)

Thank you for al your kind advice.
I think at the moment I am going to hold off.
I live in a relatively small village and am competing against over twenty childminder yes twenty :huh: two after school clubs and the current financial downturn we have had, so just feel very lucky I still have income

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Originally Posted by Kittycat

Thank you for al your kind advice.
I think at the moment I am going to hold off.
I live in a relatively small village and am competing against over twenty childminder yes twenty :huh: two after school clubs and the current financial downturn we have had, so just feel very lucky I still have income

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I would give parents notice that after Xmas you are putting fees up by 10p - they surely won't object to that (less than £1 for a whole day)

Must admit after reading all the lovely answers on here I do the same as BallyH! I have families on all different rates and some are on the same as when they started 4 years ago! But new families are on my 'new' rate which I think hasn't changed for a couple of years - might have to re visit this for future clients!

Small village with twenty CMs?! In my area when I was CM, I was the only one in the village and local area (up to 3 miles out). And even then it was very quiet. My village must be miniscule or be full of pensioners, lol!

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Originally Posted by Ripeberry

Small village with twenty CMs?! In my area when I was CM, I was the only one in the village and local area (up to 3 miles out). And even then it was very quiet. My village must be miniscule or be full of pensioners, lol!

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I used to live in a village ( of 10000 people lol! ) and we had over 30 childminders. I now live in a town (of around 3000 people!) and there are 2 of us! The next closest cm is about 6/7 miles away!