Childminding fees and holidays...payment? any help please?

I was a child minder when my daughters were small and now my eldest daughter is a child minder whilst she has her own daughter young.

NCMA (National Child Minder Association) guide lines are that if the child is away the child minder is paid, if the child minder is away there is no charge and that is how I operated and how my daughter operates. HOWEVER, your daughter will have signed a (legal if on the original-not-photocopied NCMA paperwork) contract and will have been given a copy, check the exact details.

If she has signed agreement to the payment there is nothing you can do BUT if holidays and payment have not been detailed clearly you may take advice.

Let me know and I'll check through my daughters' paperwork to find any useful telephone numbers.

That sounds awfully unreasonable. I think things have changed since I used a childminder for my son - there were a group of them you used to cover things like holidays and you just paid the "temporary" minder - although they probably shared the money.

Heather is obviously right though - if you've signed paperwork. And also, do you want to lose the childminder? It used to be really hard to find a good one.

Hi all I have also posted on mumsnet thanks....daughter has not yet signed contract....and is questioning the payment...I feel there is some thing not quite right here!think there has been a heated discussion via grandsons dad.....
Also have found out that little ones are left in the car on the drive when they are asleep and are supposed to press a buzzer! when they wake!!! the car is out the front the Childmindr sits in the conservatory round th the back of the house...... we! have never evern left our grandson in car without him actualy bing in our view to see him the moment he wakes....thanks all..
Heather I seem to think there is some thing about paying the C/M when on holiday but cant comment yet as dont know full details.no doubt at the end of the day we may be minus a C/M but to be honest..it doesnt fele right.. some how....

This doesn't sound right to me particularly if the children are expected to sleep in a car. I think the NCMA should be contacted direct, children are too precious to be placed in danger and I would want to know a lot more about this childminder.

Yes me too ElseG we are looking into it....I was intending looking after grandson some time ove the hols but Hubby is not well and daughter startes work at 7-00.am so was going to be difficult.... it is the first time w ehave had to use a child minder..thanks all.

Slightly different (though similar principle?) but we used a friend's nanny one day a week for a couple of years. If she went on holiday we didn't pay her on the basis we had to pay someone else in her absence. If we went away we paid her (on the basis that it wasn't fair that she shouldn't earn just because we decided to go on holiday) and this worked perfectly for all parties. Although we didn't have a contract we also paid her on the very rare days she was sick (3 over almost three years so can't complain) because it felt like the right thing to do. We are still very good friends to this day.

I know that some daycare nurseries close for a week or two in the summer and that this is incorporated into the monthly fee structure (I guess it's aggregated in some way) but it does seem pretty outrageous to me that this childminder (who has been hired on a short term basis) would charge for when SHE is away essentially meaning the parents will have to shell out twice.

I'm self-employed and I'm paid by my clients to do work for them. If there is no work or I choose to have some time off, then I'm not paid. Can't see why the childminder should expect a paid holiday. I should have thought that even if there is a contract, she would be in breach of it. In addition, leaving sleeping children in a car, even with doors or windows open, is worrying on several counts. There doesn't seem to be much minding going on.

I would think leaving children to sleep in a car is child neglect and she should be prosecuted , never mind paid.
I am so pleased that I live near enough to my daughter to look after my grandson 3 days a week when she goes back to work in October. How could anyone trust this woman with their child.
As for paying her while SHE is on holiday !!!!!

Is this a registered childminder, inspected by OFSTED? I would be very upset if my GCs were to be left sleeping in a car by someone who was supposed to be responsible. If I touched her with the proverbial bargepole it would be to beat her with it!

yes she is OFSTED REG... will be speaking to daughter later..as she on nights....her ex (grandsons dad) has finished work early to go and see about things!! daughter only found this CM at last minute as didnt have enough time to hunt around....and daughters friend had her child there for 3 yrs. and did remark that the CM was very greedy where money concerned...thanks again

I was a childminder when our children were small and things were very different then but if it was me I would be getting as far away from this childminder as possible, as quickly as possible and if she does leave children asleep in the car then she should be reported.
I was once asked to take a child at very short notice who had been left alone by the c/m - she ended up with severe sunburn, dehydration etc. - all this and she was only 6 weeks old and it was the first day her Mum had left her. That person was prosecuted.

I wouldnt use a cm if children are left to sleep in car.My grandson sometimes does this while I am minding him and I either take the carseat in[with him asleep] or carefully lift him into the house.As for the payment my daughter pays her cm a retainer [half fees] in holidays but nothing if cm herself is away.

Hi alll thanks for all the comments and advice......luckily daughter hasnt signed contract...we will be getting things sorted a.s.a.p thanks again..