holidays and fees

[Shazy04]

Hi I am a registered childminder and I'm fed up with the negative answers that I'm getting from parents about if they are taking holidays why do they still have to pay! Ive told them that I am still keeping their childs place open for them and cannot accept anyone else and that I only take 4 weeks holidays for myself in a year and I dont charge for this or any other days that I may need to take off. any comments welcome.....

[hectors house]

Tell them that it's standard practice in Nurseries and that you are basically a home from home nursery setting - tell them that they get paid when they don't work unlike you and if they don't want to pay while they are on holiday that they should take the same weeks off as you do.

[Fitrix]

I think the problem is a lot of parents don't want to take time off when we do because it is invariably during school holidays and costs more. However, this must have been pointed out when they started so why did they sign the contract?? I split my fee into 12 equal payments so parents and myself can budget each month without a sudden shortfall.
You always get some who query everything.

[AliceK]

What you are proposing re fees is very normal, certainly in my area anyway. I have never had a parent query this. I explain to all parents that fees are very simple. If I am open and available to work then it is full fee whether their child attends or not for any reason. If I am closed for whatever reason they do not pay. Simple. No-one has ever queried it.
Some parents in your case seem to want it all

xxx

[natlou82]

I agree with the others, your approach is fairly standard, and many childminders also charge for their own holidays also. Like someone else suggested she could take her hold when you do if she doesn't want to pay.

[bunyip]

Hi I am a registered childminder and I'm fed up with the negative answers that I'm getting from parents about if they are taking holidays why do they still have to pay! Ive told them that I am still keeping their childs place open for them and cannot accept anyone else and that I only take 4 weeks holidays for myself in a year and I dont charge for this or any other days that I may need to take off. any comments welcome.....

I do understand and ultimately we all have the choice to set our policies and practices and work to them.

BUT I do find the childcare industry to be exceptionally weird in many respects and this is certainly one of them.

I can think of very few (if any) other forms of self-employment in which people expect to be paid for a service which is not being used.

More to the point, I struggle to think of any other service industry in which the service providers deliberately persist with totally avoidable practices which their customers dislike to such a high degree.

The rational thing for any business to do is to review the overall pricing policy and find a way of maintaining the same revenue without p1551ng off their customer base. But so few CMs seem interested in doing this.

ie. A rise of about 7.5% in fees would allow a CM to offer families a 4 week holiday payment break, making the parents happy and giving the CM just the same income and no griping clients. I have no idea why this simple measure remains anathema to the majority of those in the weird and frankly worrying world of childcare.

[smurfette]

I do understand and ultimately we all have the choice to set our policies and practices and work to them. BUT I do find the childcare industry to be exceptionally weird in many respects and this is certainly one of them. I can think of very few (if any) other forms of self-employment in which people expect to be paid for a service which is not being used. More to the point, I struggle to think of any other service industry in which the service providers deliberately persist with totally avoidable practices which their customers dislike to such a high degree. The rational thing for any business to do is to review the overall pricing policy and find a way of maintaining the same revenue without p1551ng off their customer base. But so few CMs seem interested in doing this. ie. A rise of about 7.5% in fees would allow a CM to offer families a 4 week holiday payment break, making the parents happy and giving the CM just the same income and no griping clients. I have no idea why this simple measure remains anathema to the majority of those in the weird and frankly worrying world of childcare.

I think this is great advice bunyip and I will work towards implementing this !

[Happy17]

I do understand and ultimately we all have the choice to set our policies and practices and work to them.

BUT I do find the childcare industry to be exceptionally weird in many respects and this is certainly one of them.

I can think of very few (if any) other forms of self-employment in which people expect to be paid for a service which is not being used.

More to the point, I struggle to think of any other service industry in which the service providers deliberately persist with totally avoidable practices which their customers dislike to such a high degree.

The rational thing for any business to do is to review the overall pricing policy and find a way of maintaining the same revenue without p1551ng off their customer base. But so few CMs seem interested in doing this.

ie. A rise of about 7.5% in fees would allow a CM to offer families a 4 week holiday payment break, making the parents happy and giving the CM just the same income and no griping clients. I have no idea why this simple measure remains anathema to the majority of those in the weird and frankly worrying world of childcare.

I am led to believe that PACEY ( formerly NCMA) advised their members to start charging for both CM and parent holiday a few years ago. Not sure why, possibly to make the hourly rate look low. If all CM did an all inclusive price as other self employed professionals do it would mean that parents would be able to do a like for like comparisons more readlly.

Each to their own I suppose.

[Simona]

I do understand and ultimately we all have the choice to set our policies and practices and work to them.

BUT I do find the childcare industry to be exceptionally weird in many respects and this is certainly one of them.

I can think of very few (if any) other forms of self-employment in which people expect to be paid for a service which is not being used.

More to the point, I struggle to think of any other service industry in which the service providers deliberately persist with totally avoidable practices which their customers dislike to such a high degree.

The rational thing for any business to do is to review the overall pricing policy and find a way of maintaining the same revenue without p1551ng off their customer base. But so few CMs seem interested in doing this.

ie. A rise of about 7.5% in fees would allow a CM to offer families a 4 week holiday payment break, making the parents happy and giving the CM just the same income and no griping clients. I have no idea why this simple measure remains anathema to the majority of those in the weird and frankly worrying world of childcare.

I think you would be pleasantly surprised how many CMs do exactly what you suggest...it does work...for me at least as I include costs in that fee that I have to pay all year round such as insurances and Ofsted registration

We are all different and CMs continue to be rather cheaper than other providers and very reluctant to review fees every year.....often they follow their association's recommendations on holiday pay but that is not gospel

[Georgiepoo]

I do exactly the same-if I take holiday or am ill then no fees, but if they take holiday or are ill then full fees.
It is not your fault and you are running a business, you need to have a stable idea of your income each month.
Some cm's charge half fees for mindee holidays/sickness but most are full fees.