Childminder- what to expect?

[mima08]

Dear all, I am looking for some information on what to expect when looking for a childminder. I will be needing a childminder for my 1year old (he will be 16months then)as of June this year and just wondered about a few financial questions:

- Holiday arrangements: am I required to pay when we go away on holiday? And when the childminder goes on holiday?

- Sickness: I appreciate I will have to pay if my child is ill and cannot go, but what about if the childminder is ill? And what constitutes ill? Of course I would not sent my LO if he was seriously ill, but he has colds pretty much most of the time...

- entrance fees etc for playgroups: are these generally in addition to the childminder's fees?

- notice period: what are the standard notice periods you have to give if you wanted to take your child out?

Are there other things I need to consider?

thanks for any advice!

mx

[mouseysarah]

You might find the National Childminding Association website helpful - some info there for parents about choosing a childminder.

Mine charges us if she is open but we don't send our son because we are away or he is ill. We don't pay if she is on holiday or sick (only happened once). The fees include food, groups and other activities. Her rule is that she won't take children with d&v or with something infectious like chicken pox, but she will happily take him with colds etc as long as we are happy to send him. Our notice period is 4 weeks.

As far as I know those are all fairly common approaches but as childminders are self employed they can set their own terms and so it does vary.

[pebbles]

Our childminder is entitled to 4 weeks holiday a year however she's never actually taken this amount (she's wonderful). She gives us a huge amount of notice so we try to take the same weeks as we would pay her while she's on holiday like any other job i suppose, paid holiday.

If we take our children out at other times we pay her as that is our choice.

Her ?45 per day is for lunch and tea and all other costs - groups, ice creams etc

In the 4 years that I've used her she has never had a day off and from speaking with other friends they all have the same feedback. I'm not sure about her t's and c's and whether we would pay for her sick leave but i would think we would??

We have just had to give our notice as my youngest starts nursery in Sept so I will no longer need her so if you are on the look out for one I honestly couldn't rave about mine more - she is just fab :) PM me if you would like her details

[minimac]

I have to provide food for mine (but no bad thing I think as means I know what he's getting and some cm's don't feed what I would choose to feed a young toddler). We have to pay her 4 weeks hols, and up to 5 days sick leave and bank holidays also if we are on holiday or boy is sick.

She tends to do groups that don't cost but I think if there is occasional fees she'll pay. We pay ?55 a day - seems fairly standard although there are a lot out there charging considerably more or a bit less.

You'll work out pretty quickly whether you're happy with a cm - sorry to say but I found some pretty shocking ones but as soon as I met mine I knew immediately. She loves children - we are newish to it all but so far so good!

Good luck

[mima08]

Hiya - thank you all for the information, very enlightening. I was surprised about the paid holidays, as normally self-employed people don't have paid holidays (oooohhh, I am finding out about that one at the moment....different story) but I guess, otherwise the daily fees would just be higher.

It's great to have a benchmark, although even by judging by your posts, it seems to vary a fair bit - and those extra costs quickly add up. I am trying to find a way of making childcare economical - I am just starting out being self-employed and thus watching the pennies...Guess that's very standard, too!

Pebbles - have pm'd you!

Thanks again

mx