Is the childminder right to charge me this way?

Wow. That's a nanny rates

Maybe look into having a nanny

£12ph for a cm is the highest I've heard. I'm in South east and some charge £7/8 but average is 6ish

Well you will certainly try not to be late again!

I think it harsh but I suppose it was her legal right to do it.

If I was you though I would now feel there was a mark against her!

Harsh I know but generosity can work both ways sooooo if I was you I would ask her if the hour your pay her for if you can use it as a potential ten minute extra on each day incase you are late! If you're not late fine, but if you are then you're covered

She charges £12 an hour? Bloody hell, that's steep. I'm in the SE in London commuter belt and my cm charges £6 with no late fees if it's within a reasonable time.

If you are not usually late, pay on time etc then I think charging you is a shitty thing to do. And it's a bad business decision.

OMG £12 p/h that is one expensive childminder. What part of the country are you in? Is this the standard rate for childminders in your area.

£6 ??? And that's half an hour fee. You pay £12 ph to your cm?

Or did she charge you £1 per min but in your opening post you said you had to pay half an hour ?

This wouldn't work with my CM and I would honestly find another. Anyone who travels on PT in London knows 6 minutes is nothing.

Having said that I pay for full time which is 9 hours and regularly collect at 7.5 hours. When I travel for work DH has to collect and then it's usually a 9.5 hour day.

And the suggestion of no bonus at Christmas. Well I'd probably go this way if I was not allowed any flexibility. I'm paid a bonus to go above and beyond at work. Which includes the odd overtime.

Really glad for my lovely, flexible CM!

Sorry,I should have said a SOME people.

Some childminders don't mind and are happy to offer this level of flexibility. For others, it doesn't work for them and they take steps to discourage it.

Neither is wrong if it works for both childminder and parent.

It's unfair to accuse a childminder of meanness and being unreasonable for implementing a policy that is very common for all childcare settings. Lateness obviously doesn't work for this childminder so the Op will need to ensure she's on time in future, or rethink her childcare if it doesn't work for her.

The reason CMs and nurseries have late fees is because parents regularly take the piss, not just now and again but a lot of them do. In fact, people take the piss generally with child minders, nannies, au pairs, if you don't then that's good but there will be 3 parents behind you that will. The fact that someone mentioned up thread that there should be no Christmas bonus for the OP's CM just because she dares enforce something that is in their contract shows how little regard some people show their children's carers.

People are willing to pay their washing machine engineer more money and respect than they do to the person who looks after their child.

There will be a reason she fined the OP, probably because she's been shafted before.

That's true Culler I couldn't do it if I had as many children as you but I only have a few regular children who come every day/week and then the occasional one offs.
My family need me too but it makes no odds to them if there is one extra child at the dinner table. My little girl gets upset if her favourite playmate doesn't come or goes home so she isn't suffering.
And as I said it isn't a regular thing and nobody take advantage. They just know I am flexible and there to help.

I think if it was a one off she was being a bit unreasonable. If you are late regularly then fair enough as she is supposed to finish as per your contact.

For those that saying you wouldn't ask a teacher or solicitor to stay after hour well yes but-come on who finishes on the dot every day of their working life. No one here ever had to stay back late -6 mins late? I would think so and pretty regularly . I am not saying it is right but it is a realistic part of working life. The OP didn't rock up hours late it was 6 mins and a 1 off. I think most childminders are aware that occasionally due to work/traffic etc this may happen. However if it is a regular thing then that isn't fair and she should pull you up on it.

You have to be fair and consistent, however you decide to run your business. I absolutely would never do what purplehonesty does because I have 13 children on my books and simply could not offer that service to everyone.
I have a very wonderful relationship with all my parents and it stems from me being very honest and doing exactly as I say I will do, so if they are late I charge them for it. If they text and say I'm late because of this and this, I will use my common sense and depending on how late I may not charge (say less than 5mins) but I would never ever say ahh it's ok, go and do your shopping first before pick up- I would never get to rest if I did this!! I'm running a business, I'm not a charity. My own family needs me too.
I really didn't like the comments about looking for other CMs and not giving Xmas bonus- that's silly and shows lack of respect for the person who is looking after your most treasured "possession" (couldn't think of better word) don't forget CMs can give parents notice too if the arrangement isn't working for us!!

It's true what hooker says tho she may have had families take the mick before.
I did have a family who dropped off at 7.30 and gradually got earlier and earlier. That was annoying as they once arrived while I was in bed and once in the shower!! Thankfully the child went off to school fairly quickly.

Hmm that seems a bit off. I'm a CM and don't charge late fees but I have great parents who are very rarely late and one who picks up early all the time, sometimes three hours early if she finishes work early. I still get paid as she has booked the hours and likes to pay in advance. So I would never charge her if she was late.
One other parent was once an hour and a half late as her car broke down. I bathed her little boy after he had some tea and put him in his pjs so he was ready for bed. It never occurred to me to charge her.
I have such good relationships with my kids and parents tho and sometimes I think if you haven't got that, maybe you have the wrong childminder.

I will often say to them, if you need to, do your shopping before you pick up the kids and they can have tea here. There is nothing worse than dragging a tired and hungry child round tesco because you've nothing in for tea!
I must be too soft but I try and help out my mums as much as possible because I know what it's like to have to go to work and juggle kids.

I look after one mum's older child too occasionally in the school holidays but I don't charge for her as she is nice company and likes to help out with the kids and plays with them. It's like having an assistant for the day!!

I still get paid and make a good living so to charge people late fees and be awkward would be silly. Nobody takes advantage either and they always offer to pay for extra time but I never accept.

Unfortunately, if late fees are in your contract then there's not much you can do.However,if it was me(I'm a CM),then I would probably let it go(I understand that the rush hour is bad/there may have been a broken down car etc etc) if it hadn't happened before.As others have said,she may have had families in the past who have taken the mickey,and now starts as she means to go on with new families.

you wre/are too nice, no way would i be going into work an hour earlier and finishing an hour later and saying nothing, tho diff as im a nanny

Tanith I did that in the early days too. I'm much more business like now.

Yep! I was shocked when I worked it out (spurred on by a very irate OH who was getting fed up of the early morning start - he wasn't working with me then).
She was one of my first parents and I was naive and too nice for my own good.

tanith your parent got 2hrs free childcare a day?

I agree blondes-late fees should be high.

When I first started childminding, one of the parents started being a few minutes late. I left it: it was only a few minutes, after all, and I felt embarrassed and mean mentioning it.
Then it gradually crept up. I didn't feel I could say anything, having left it before. She started arriving earlier, too. Earlier and earlier.
Until, in fact, a contract that stated 8.45am until 3.30pm had stretched to 7.50am until 4.30pm!

I was horrified when I realised - she'd done it so gradually that I hadn't really noticed. It was very hard to address it by that time, too. Lesson learned the hard way!

That's why childcarers charge late fees: because some parents will shamelessly take advantage given half a chance.

I'm not sure why so many people are saying the childminder is being mean. She is running a business with certain mutually agreed charges that are written into the contract so she is perfectly entitled to follow these. She didn't just shove the child out the door at the contracted finish time, instead she continued looking after that child until the parent turned up.

It you have a mobile phone contract with 100 free minutes a month and go even 1 minute over you instantly get charged. How many people have actually called up their mobile phone operator to say 'excuse me but as it was my first time you should have just given me a warning'??