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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Original poster

all my mindees were collected about 15 mins late today.

54 replies

ekacpuc · 08/10/2010 18:59

What do other childminders do about that ? Do you charge late fees ? They all blamed the bad traffic which is true but it's a bit annoying.

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Millenium · 08/10/2010 20:39

Does one particular day of the week seem to be more of a problem? If that is the case, maybe there is a tendency for more traffic on a Friday night so their contracts need to be altered.

I do almost always charge for late pickups - I have found in the past that if you ignore 5 minutes, they slip to 10 minutes late and so on and then it becomes more difficult to apply the charge. As soon as it more than about 5 minutes, I add on the extra charge according to my schedule of fees.

pippin26 · 08/10/2010 20:14

It really does depend upon your policies and fee structure.

You could introduce a late fee policy - perhaps £5 per 15 minutes late (rounded up to nearest 15 minutes). Write the policy up and give to parents introducing it in 2 weeks time for example. This will give them ample time to ensure their arrival times can be adjusted.

If late arrivals continue I would however, perhaps ask the parents if they wanted to review the contract. Providing it wasn't over my end of business hours and no more than an extra 15/30 minutes I'd see if they wanted to change the end times. If it was over my official close of business hours I would be charging my enhanced rate (time and half).

I would also be explaining in a newsletter that is attached to the new policy the impact on your family and the minded children of late pick ups etc. and that you would appreciate a call/text to check that late pick is going to occur and that it is ok with you. Perhaps a little fib that you have missed a couple of appointments due to the late pickups......

Original poster
ekacpuc · 08/10/2010 20:03

It's happening more regularly, I think because I'm very relaxed about it. They work in the city and I know its hard to get back on time but maybe if they left earlier ? They do sometimes phone or text to say 'sorry, will be 10 mins late' or whatever, which is helpfull but it's my 10 mins isn't it.

One was 30 mins late last week because of the tube strike, I know it's not her fault but neither is it mine and it impacts on my family if there are grumpy tired children here when they should have been collected.

One came 25 mins late the other day and said 'sorry I'm late, bad traffic'.

The traffic will be worse in the winter as it gets dark early etc and I'm starting to feel angry which I don't want to as all mindees and parents are lovely.

I know some cms charge £1 for every 5 mins of lateness which does seem a bit much but they're taking my relaxed attitude for granted now.

There is nothing mentioned in the contract about lateness and I haven't got a written policie on it.

OP posts:
gingernutlover · 08/10/2010 19:23

what is in your contracts or policies about late collection?

I would expect to pay for the extra time if it was more than a few minutes. It does sound like it was bad traffic locally to you though, if they were all late and all said the same thing.

Is this a one off or does it happen regularly? Did they phone to let you know they were going to be late?

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