Feeling guilty about the cost of the childcare I provide? No not really

There has been a lot in the press recently about the cost of childcare and it's supposed increase recently.

So for a while I start to think is this something to do with me and the price I charge (which incidentally is £3.75 per child, per hour).

As I start to drill down into my accounting I really can't see how I am classed as expensive! 

What is often not considered when it comes to Childminders is that we do actually have costs to come off of our hourly rate.  I have often heard people saying 'cor how much they must earn' because they base it solely on turnover.  Anyone can tot up the hourly rate and x by the number of children and draw conclusions....

Yes we do have insurances and statutory registrations yes but these are not the main expense really.  The main expenses are food (as everyone who buys it will know, it continues to go up), buying resources (which vary considerably from next to nothing to hundreds of pounds), petrol (which I need to do certain school runs and to ensure we get out and about) and of course wages if you need or want to employ an assistant.  Oh and by the way I do work 63 hour a week to get the income I do earn and use my home as a workplace, which I don't begrudge but it does need to be considered when you look at one's income.

There are Economies of Scale to be had but these are really only setting wide (so before any pro-childminder agencies get wind), you wouldn't share a Shepherd's Pie across settings, nor would you share a school run probably, nor would you share resources.

My point is that the closer you operate to maximum capacity then the more likely you are make a decent living.  I won't deny that my first year of business I only made £1008, that's £19 a week and 17.87% GP. Pretty poor really!  But with this business it's all about building up and getting known, trusted and respected.

That's not to say that if I were operating at maximum capacity, employing 2 assistants and working with 9 children in the early years every day (I work Saturdays incidentally) that I wouldn't bring quite a respectable income!  Your turnover could top 6 figures if you maximised your capacity and were full all year round.

The thing is with this business is that it is up and down.  Contracts can come and go for a plethora of reasons and while you might be on the up at one time, you might be down another.

It would be ideal to be operating at your maximum capacity at all times (I think lol) but in reality that isn't always going to happen.

This is where I can't really see the government's thinking in bringing a lot of new Childminders into the market to fulfill the supposed demand.  They aren't going to go from no business to maximum capacity in a short space of time.  Perhaps there are Childminders out there who aren't at maximum capacity but would like to be and perhaps we should be putting our energies into helping them achieve their potential instead of diluting the business that is available.