Is the childminder right to charge me this way?

I can say then I would probably not charge you then but do know CM's who would.

My current CM only charges for the hours used - so if I get away from work early and go and collect the girls then I won't be charged for those hours. If I decide to take a week off work which isn't during my CM's holidays we are not charged for that week. I know that this is extremely unusual. And for most CM's not financially viable.

In most cases, you pay for what you book. Even when you arrive early, you still need to pay.

If this was the first time you were late and you called to let her know then I think she has been a bit unreasonable charging you - though technically if it is in her contract she is within her rights to do this.

The difference in your story to the original post is you called and there was a problem on motorway.

I have no idea if there was a reason why you OP was late out of her control or she called to say she was late.

Yes I would and that is how our nursery operates. I was late tonight by 5 minutes. I called 30 mins before and said it was possible I would be late I was on the motorway in traffic. I won't be charged. If I did it regularly or was very late I would be and fair enough. I find it a bit odd that people think it's ok to effectively be punished for being a few mins late, ONCE. It's like going straight to a warning in a workplace for being 5 mins late for work! In that case, a disciplinary process would only start for repeat offending. It just seems weird to me that the first time the OP is a few minutes late she's slapped with a charge.

Would you expect that from any other childcare setting, Mama?

One of my parents works at an after school club. They have a penalising late fee with no excuse accepted. The local nurseries do the same.

Really wasn't serious about the Christmas present as its not in the contract (hence the ). The point about this is that firstly, the OP needs to pay for the whole day. That's a place her child has if the Op chooses to collect early, so be it.. I would expect nothing else and this is what I do with my CM (just after school pick ups for me) and I am sure everyone else does too. It's a place with her just like a nursery place. What is wrong is the late fee charge for 6 minutes. Or to be honest even 10 if it's a first offence OR a very isolated incident. That maybe in the contract but it's petty. Stuff happens, people are late. Just like the CM could be late for school pick up as there is a traffic jam. It happens. Just like if there was a school closure because of snow, I would expect my CM would still want to be paid even though she wouldn't look after my DS. It's swings and roundabouts and some give and take makes for a better relationship.

I find the threat of removal of Christmas bonus laughable. Gifts are not an expectation I have certainly not even on the radar of why I do the job.

Oh dear, that bad?

Sorry Dame if I said it would definitely out me!

There's also the question of ratios. If someone is running late, it can cause a childminder to go over her numbers if she has an overlap or overnight care.

There are other ways of being flexible. I know childminders who are flexible on days, on payments, on notice period, on holidays, on other charges.

My own practice is to have a higher rate and no overtime or late fees. There are those who would find this unacceptable and accuse me of overcharging. They would prefer a childminder like the Op's childminder who charges late fees and expects them to arrive on time.

Talking about withholding Christmas presents for implementing a clause in the contract (and therefore mutually agreed) - now that is mean!

Dying to know what the strong difference of opinion was!

I am flexible with my parents. They know they can request an early drop off, or phone to let me know they're running late. They also know they will pay for it and are happy to do so. They accept that I have to make arrangements for my DD's school bus drop off if they want to come early and they also know that I have to leave at closing time sometimes, because training courses start half an hour later, or DD has to get to after school activities.

Well as I've said before, I have a great CM. We have had a very strong difference of opinion once, so much so that the CM thought I would remove DD and send her to a nursery. She was visibly upset at this thought and that is why DD is still there. She's doing it because she loves kids. It's not just a chance for her to stay home with own as I think it is with some CM.

I'm glad I've got a CM who enjoys and is good, at her job.

OP if you are fine with your relationship with CM don't worry what the rest of us think! It has to work for you and your family.

I'm glad my child-minder isn't that pedantic.

I agree that she is entitled to charge you, but for the sake of a good relationship, I think a word of polite warning would have been better on the first occasion.

I pay my child-minder by the hour, but we work out all the hours and holidays for the year and arrange a monthly payment. It has generally worked out that I pay her an extra hour each week, due to school clubs changing. As I have a national job and can get stuck on motorways, this compensates for the odd time that I am late (3 times in 12 months by about 15 minutes). Over the last 12 months, she has been paid £208 extra, which has more than compensated for the 3 lates. We communicate constantly and agree on payments.

If I am working from home, then I will let her know the day before that I will do the school run. I obviously still pay her. This generally happens once a week.

We are flexible with each other and I would never take advantage of her, but she knows that and is very flexible back.

I wouldn't have a child minder that wasn't flexible and charged for a one off late pick-up.

"I've never had to charge late fees (although they are in my contracts) as I've only ever had very occasional late fees," - I meant late parents - d'oh!

"Possumpoo" No its very, very different. If a parent annoys the person that looks after the child then (my fear as a parent would be that) the child may not be looked after as lovingly. I would expect them to be professional, but that does not have to include cuddles/extra attention to detail that goes above and beyond that.

Worst case scenario for me - in your flipped situation - is that the child's parents give their (6 weeks) notice and I call the parents on my waiting list and start interviewing. I'd rather that than be annoyed by parents taking me and my care for granted.

There needs to be mutual respect and turning up late, not paying on time etc etc is not showing this.

Well thank you. I guess I must have more respect for the people who care for my child than you do.

mamababa - in that case, lets hope giving the OP's baby a cuddle when he falls over (and all the other million little kindnesses/care above and beyond CMs show to their mindees each day) is "in the contract" too.

Again, why on earth would you try and antagonise/not get on well with the person looking after your baby?!

CMs are self-employed and sure charging for 6 minutes may not have been a well-thought out plan if its caused the OP such upset, but as has been said, we don't know if the OP has had late-collecting parents in the past, was advised to charge by her local council or a childminding forum or whatever. But at the end of the day I think it is very wrong to imagine that the CM was sitting there gloating at her ill-gotten gains! She may have felt awkward and upset about charging, but not wanted to set a poor precedent.

I've never had to charge late fees (although they are in my contracts) as I've only ever had very occasional late fees, but I have had to threaten to charge late-payments fees as 1 set of parents permanently messed up their payments (4 of them - 2 sets of childcare vouchers, plus top-up fees from each parent!) and paid some fees late.

I felt sick about the situation and each month had to spend ages trawling through my online banking trying to identify which payment was for which month (and for which parents as other parents used the same voucher companies and sometimes combined payments) - as some were so early/late/missing that it was hard to tell which was which - and then had to contact the parents to ask them to pay. It was really, really awful and I did feel it affected my relationship with the parents as I felt that it showed little respect for my care of their child! The same parents also permanently were messing up breakfast time by being 10-20 minutes late in the mornings.

Thank goodness they left, but it has impacted how I treat my other parents. I've had a new family start and I've been really strict over a missing payment and variable drop off times - again they may think I'm being a cow, but I can't bear to go down the route of being aggravated by inconsideration every bloody day when I have to feed 4 or 5 babies/kids and get 2 of them to school every day.

'Annoy the person who looks after their child'. WTF, how about we flip that stupid statement and say it's amazing how many CM are prepared to annoy the person who helps them pay their bills.

Stupid comment hey.

Mama - to quote a pp 'would you ring up your phone company and complain about being charged for going over your contract?'

If not, why?

It's better business sense to treat lateness as a black and white issue and begin as you mean to go on. The OP is unlikely to be late again. Upthread other CMs are being taken advantage of because they've been flexible.

And it's extraordinary how many people are willing to annoy the person who looks after their child.

She is perfectly entitled to charge you the full amount for the days and really the late charge but I would be really pissed off if my CM did this. If you were regularly late fair enough but once for 6 minutes?! She gets the benefit of you being early one day a week, yet she doesn't give you the benefit of the doubt for a few minutes? Things like late fees are in contracts yes, but a a bit of give and take is fair. I wouldn't give her anything for Christmas either as its 'not in the contract'

£12 per hour is the out-of-hours cost.

Oh £12ph late fee. That makes sense not £12 ph whole day fee