Charging for holidays

**Denise r** · 29-09-2009, 10:56 AM

Hi Everyone,

I use the NCMA contracts and on there you write what you have agreed with the client/parents the holiday entitlement that they can take and what charge and also how much holiday you will be taking annually.

I was talking to a friend about the subject and she said her friend who is a childminder states that she will take 4 weeks unpaid holiday a year and should take their holiday then and if not they have to pay full price.

So my question is what do childminders generally do? I originally agreed that both of my clients can have 5 weeks each a year (and pay me 2/3 of the daily rate) and I will have up to 4 weeks unpaid. I had only just started but now looking at it 17months on and experiencing the peaks and troughs, there seem to be more troughs! This means for 10 weeks a year I only received 2/3 of my weekly rate and also have another 4 weeks when I don't get paid!Please let me know what you do

Thanks

Denise

**singlewiththree** · 29-09-2009, 11:41 AM

I do what a lot of people do on here

Full fee for the child's holiday

No fee for my holiday.

As I'm on a term time only contract with my mindees I therefore don't get paid holidays as I take them in holiday time and they don't have to pay me for holidays.

Otherwise you could get parents saying they are on holiday when the child is ill so that they don't have to pay full etc. Its amazing what some parents will do.

**Princess Sara** · 29-09-2009, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by singlewiththree

I do what a lot of people do on here

Full fee for the child's holiday

No fee for my holiday.

Same here. Haven't had any problems so far. I haven't taken holiday yet though.

**little daisies** · 29-09-2009, 12:05 PM

i charge full fee for the childs holiday no matter how many they have and i also charge for 2 weeks holiday for myself. i only usually have 2 days though

**Daftbat** · 29-09-2009, 12:19 PM

I charge half fee for children's holiday so long as i have had four weeks notice, full if not. I don't charge for my holidays.

**The Juggler** · 29-09-2009, 12:57 PM

I charge full fee for parent holidays and I take 4 weeks paid. Even if I didn't charge for my holidays I would charge the parents. Otherwise as you say you end up with a significantly reduced income over the year.

You could suggest you have done some market research and due to the recent credit crunch you don't want to put up rates but as of xx date (I would suggest the schedules contract review date) you will be charging full-fee for parent/child absence/holidays.

LOL

**margimum** · 29-09-2009, 01:53 PM

I don't charge for my holidays. I usually take 4 weeks total in the year. I charge half for parents holidays. If you charge full for parents holidays you run the risk of not getting a break as parents have holiday from work and still bring children to you! (obviously unless they're going away?)

**heidi p** · 29-09-2009, 06:47 PM

Hi
I used to have 4 weeks unpaid hoildays and mindees paid full for their holidays but I was finding when I booked my hols they would take theirs the same time which meant I would lose out on money. So now I take 4 weeks paid hols and charge half fee for holidays they take at different times to mine.
No-one has said anything so I presume they are all happy with this arrangement
Heidi

**tashaleee** · 30-09-2009, 10:11 AM

I take 4 weeks holiday at half fee and close down at christmas with half fees also being due. Parents holiday is a minimum of 4 weeks at half fees - some request more due to having families living abroad that come for extended visits so we negotiate this ..... all works well and my parents are all happy with this

**Minstrel** · 30-09-2009, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by heidi p

Hi
I used to have 4 weeks unpaid hoildays and mindees paid full for their holidays but I was finding when I booked my hols they would take theirs the same time which meant I would lose out on money. So now I take 4 weeks paid hols and charge half fee for holidays they take at different times to mine.
No-one has said anything so I presume they are all happy with this arrangement
Heidi

Hi Heidi

just interested to know how it meant you lost money???

**mississmoomoo** · 30-09-2009, 05:50 PM

I would feel cheeky asking for money whilst wasnt working and I was on holiday

, I know if I was an employee I would get 4 weeks paid but Im not an employee working for someone else, Im the Employer and its my business and I know that for example if I had my floors done by someone running a small business I would be a bit miffed if they asked me to pay them for an extra few weeks work while they were taking a few weeks break.

I charge a retainer fee while they take their holiday at half the normal rate. I have a little girl that comes 4 full days term time and will becoming only 2 days in the holiday, and Im not sure whether to charge a retainer for the 2 days she isnt coming over the holiday period, what do you think?

**jelly15** · 30-09-2009, 06:08 PM

I am only just registered and in my prospectus I state "I will take two full weeks over the Xmas period and the first two weeks over the school summer hols and all bank holidays. I do not charge for any time my service is not available, however, if parents decide to take holidays that do not coincide with my own I still charge full fees, you will apriciate that I need to hold a childs place open for them."

Different ways suit different people and you have to do what suits you.

From Jelly