Childminders

[bancodegaia]

A friend in work has 2 kids with a child-minder during the week, she pays the child-minder about 100 quid per child per week, she is allowed 2 weeks holiday per year where she doesn't have to pay the child-minder as the kids are away on holiday with her. The child-minder has 2 weeks holiday at different times to my friend, goes away and still expects to be paid by my friend for childcare even though the kids aren't being minded by her and my friend has to pay someone else to look after the kids . My question is: does anyone else have this agreement with a child-minder where you pay them when they go on holiday and then pay out again for a different child-minder to look after therm during the child-minders holiday? I think if the childminder is being paid to look after kids while taking holiday, they should be the ones who sort out alternative care facilities.

[annie0000]

It's a long time since I had a childminder, but i am pretty sure that under the agreement we had, we both had an entitlement to up to 4 weeks holiday - if it happened to coincide then great, but I could take my child out for up to 4 weeks over the year without paying and the childminder could also have up to 4 weeks off - again without me paying, this was really so that she could take holidays when it suited her and not necessarily when I was taking a holiday. We did however have a great relationship, and she was a very reasonable person. She also only looked after my son, so was happy to take him if he was under the weather as long as I felt happy enough to leave him. Your friends childminder does sound a bit unreasonable, but I guess it depends on the agreement that your friend signed. I would have thought that 2 weeks each unpaid would be a minimum. I know that most employees get paid holidays, but being self employed as a childminder is slighty different!

[skyep]

banco - I would say it would be reasonable to expext a childminder to be paid if the children were away, as the childminder would be down her money. But if the childminder is away herself then she isn't available for work & shouldn't expect any payment! In fact, if it were me doing the childminding, I would probably not take a payment if the child/ children were away on holiday.

[Pippa68]

When I had a childminder the agreement was that if I took holiday I would pay the childminder half the regular amount and if the childminder was on holiday I didn't have to pay at all.

It was the childminder who set out this arrangement and I was totally fine with it. If she went on holiday I had to pay for alternative childcare.

[spanner7853]

I think you'll find most childminders are entitled to do this as most employers pay there staff which is basically what your friend is doing, but it does depend on the individual. I have had a childminder since my son was 4, he's now 10 so she will now not charge me for my holidays and she doesn't charge me when she is unable to have them, which is very rarely. Your friend could ask other childminders in her area? a �100 per week sounds quite a lot as well though I dont know how long your friends child minder has them for.

[annie0000]

spanner, a childminder is not your employee - they are self employed and you pay for their services. I know that the relationship is a bit different, but you wouldn't pay the plumber to take a holiday - In order to maintain their income and to keep your place, I think that it is acceptable for childminders to make a charge when you are on holiday as they are making themselves available to you, you are just choosing not to use them, but for them to charge you when they are making their service unavailable by being on holiday to me seems a bit off. Childminder charges do vary, I know that my local one charges 4.25 an hour -

[bancodegaia]

Thanks for your responses,
I see not all childminders have the same agreement with people who leave children with them, it does seem clear that when the childminder is on holiday they shouldn't expect to be paid as they are unavailable for work. I had a go at my friend as I thought she was being ripped off and now I've got more ammo!

Cheers.

[Goodsoulette]

Its standard practice now, I'm afraid. There would have been a contract agreed to when your friend employed her services so she can hardly complain. How would you like your boss to not pay you for your holiday as you are not available for work?

[bancodegaia]

Thing is, she's not complaining, it was me asking a question as I thought it was unfair and not my colleague.
As to my boss not paying me if I'm not available for work then I'd say fair enough if that was in the contract of employment and I'd signed it but then I'm not self-employed like the childminder.
In another context, if you had a contract with a taxi driver to take your children to school every day would you still pay them for taking your kids to school if they couldn't do it for 2 weeks because they were away?

Not only would you have to pay them for the 2 weeks they couldn't do it but you would also have to pay another taxi driver to do it?

Or do you think as taxi drivers are self employed they should be paid holiday pay as well?

[annie0000]

exactly my point banco. A childminder is not your employee - you don'y pay their National Insurance, contribute to their pension etc, so why should you give them holiday pay unless you have agreed to (not a good move in my book) like all self employed people, childminders are not entitled to paid holidays - they have to manage their charges to ensure that they balance their income over the year like millions of other self employed people have to so. At the end of the day, they are providing a service and only get paid when they are there to provide it. I am very sure that my employer calculates my salary and allows for the fact that I will not be there for a number of weeks - deducts this then evens out the rest so that I get the same amount per year. Self employed people must do that for themselves. Some self employed people don't take holidays because they can't afford to. I guess that it is all about demand and supply, if childminders are in demand, then they can probably call the shots and have some perks that they may not get in other areas where there is less demand or more supply. I am sure that there is an organisation that regulates childminders which will vaty depending on where you live. I am sure that they will advise on what are appropriate fees etc.

[dexdexter]

Hi i am a childminder myself and usually a childminder can charge how they like' usually a childminder would charge the parent if they take the child on holiday while the childminder is working as it is thier buissness and a nursery would charge the same, having said that childminders dont usually charge if they go away oon holiday and are not available to look after your children.If your friend thinks the ch ildminder is charging unfairlly she should ring round some others but people do seem to forget a childminder has to make a living to and she may find this is the going rate for where she lives