cost of family day care

[Kitt3n]

clare - its not usually up to the centre, but up to the individual carer.

when i ws doing it, i would have rathered an "8 hour kid" than a short drop off - but then again another carer might be happy to take on a little one for just a few hours.

[mollycat]

Depends on the individual carer as to the minimum hours she/he charges for. Our scheme used to have a minimum of 4 hours per day, but when we deregulated a lot of our carers changed, some still have 4, others 6 and others 8. I don't mind the 6 hours, as i can fit schoolies in before and after and pick up extra income. I have had a few children in for only a few hours, between shift working parents, one parent would drop off on their way to arvo shift and the other would pick up when they finished for the day, parents still pay for the minimum hours, and depending on your income (and the subsidy you get), it is often not to expensive. School aged children are dearer as they get less subsidy.

Most carers will charge a "holding fee" if you want to keep the place you need to pay for it, when not being used (sometimes this is a % of your fee other times it is your normal fee). If you look at it another way, if you didn't go to work today, you were sick, would you expect sick pay??? is you were entitled. This is the carers income and often they can't fill a place at the drop of a hat.

We also charge for roster days, which we are entitled to, however we cannot charge for days that we don't provide care, ie, if we are sick or on holidays.