Employing a childminder queries

73trix

A couple of questions please.

Are you obliged to pay for holidays? What happens if you decide to take a few days off and don't need minder, do you still have to pay her? If my baby gets sick, again assuming I would then be staying at home to mind him, would I still pay the minder?

Basically, do minders get paid for the hours they work or do you pay them regardless of whether you need them every day??

All new to this and starting to think about it for when I return to work. Yikes...

Moonbeam

www.childminding.ie is a great resource.

You and your minder agree to a contract and this is what you stick to.

You can put anything you like in this contract but usually you pay the minder by the week or the month and it is a fixed amount whether you decide to send the child or not.

Are you thinking of a nanny(minder in your home) or a childminder (minder in their home)

lazygal

I only know of people who have their children minded in the minder's own home. We have an arrangement whereby I pay if I decide to take holidays, as the minder is technically available for work during this time, and I don't pay when she takes he holidays. So if I'm at home because a child is sick I pay for the full week, even if the child misses a day or two. This would be common with the parents who use minders I know. You really need to get all of this arranged beforehand though.

alroley

A friend of mine who minds 4 kids(from same family) in the kids home gets paid if the parents take holidays, if parent decides to stay at home and for bank holidays, but she doesn't get paid for her own holidays.

Digs

Yep as all previous posters said it needs to be agreed in the beginning.

Just as an example here's our arrangement is:

My minder takes four weeks holidays a year. Two unpaid and two with half pay. We try to work the bulk of our holidays around this as if we take holidays at different times, she naturally is available to work so we still pay her.

She had to take one personal day in the year and a half we've been with her which I paid her for.. It's kind of swings and round abouts in my opinion as she is happy to take my daughter if she is sick. To be fair she's rarely sick though.

Outside of that we pay her for bank holidays and Christmas etc we fell on our feet when we found her so I don't mind paying here and there for odd days and she's very good in return.

lazygal

The goodwill element is really important. It's not an issue if we need to drop them off early or collect them later than we usually would, at very short notice. So I feel paying for the weeks of a bank holiday and for the time we chose not to send them is completely off set by the flexibility. I know people who are charged an extra fee by a creche if they are earlier or later than the agreed times.

73trix

Thanks everyone. HOping for a minder to come to our home.

lazygal

If the minder is in your home they'll be your employee, so you'll be liable for organising the payslips, tax and PRSI, paid holidays and all of the other things that go with employing someone.