Is the childminder right to charge me this way?

That's what I thought hsmm

lucky you were silly not to charge late from beginning and Prob hence why op cm has charged iyswim

Maybe for new year send out a letter to all parents stating that a few have been continually late and from Jan 2015 as stated in contract you will be issuing late fees

And make sure they are high fees. £1 a minute etc

Blondes - that's precisely why I charge for the minutes they're late. Otherwise ... Oh I'm a few mins late, I'll be charged for half an hour, so I might as well pop into the shop / have a coffee / read my book for 20 mins.

luckylopez and your experience demonstrates why Late fees are charged the first time.

You wouldn't turn up late to school to collect children. I do sometimes have places to go as soon as last one is picked up sometimes I want the last hour before I go to bed spent with my own child.

And to clarify it's not always the same parent but usually 2/4 families.

I have at least one parent late most nights. Never by much (less than 15 minutes) but it's so annoying and disrespectful I wish if charged late feed from the start. Though they are in my contract I let the first couple go and now it seems petty to start.

I'm actually really surprised by how casually everyone assumes "occasional lateness" is fine and normal. In three years of using Childcare on a part time basis, dh or I have been late to pick ds up just once when there was a huge traffic jam. We generally get there early as we give ourselves wriggle room in case of problems.

I don't think it's ok to be late ever, except in the most exceptional circumstances. And in fact we and a friend from ds' nursery also act as back up for each other - in an emergency ds would go home with her or vice versa. Again not something we have ever used.

Nursery, childminders etc need to get on with their evening, let staff go home etc at a set time. I see it more like a shop than a consultant - closing time is closing time.

Whoops hit post

In op opening post she said she had to pay half an hours late fee - assuming £2.50/3.50

What does contract say about late fees. Ie if late by a few mins then gets half and hour fee

wondered what would stop parents from Being the whole half an hour late - if they had to pay that anyway?

I still want to know what the late fee was

Op come back

'Outraged, you're making a lot of assumptions - you don't know if she does have other children'

True, but it's a reasonable assumption isn't it? There are very few childminders who only look after one child. Or who have all their children picked up by 5pm. It's more likely to be accurate than your assumption that she'd be done for the day when this child goes early. I would guess (this is another assumption) that she's seen the pattern of lateness before, many of us have and that's why she's taken a 'start as you mean to go on' policy.

'she's pissed off her client and her client may think twice about renewing her contract'

Absolutely. If she wants to change her childcare because she's been charged for 24 minutes she didn't use, at the cost of less than £5 (this is another assumption btw, but one based on general knowledge and the ability to divide things by two) that's up to her and the childminder will have to deal with that. The OP will find that most childcare providers will charge for lateness though.

I think that as your hours were pre-arranged it was OK for her to charge you even when you picked up early. But the six minutes late would annoy me. I think it's pretty bad if it was only once. A childminder as petty as this would make me think again. I can see cm's getting fed up with constant lateness but a one of is totally mean and petty.

It's more than likely she's had a previous family take the mick, and that's why she's been so hot on enforcing the late pick up fee now - we all respond differently once fingers have been burnt once. You're probably a bit unlucky in terms of following a previous family that were regularly late.

From your pov, I can see it looks a bit officious, and I too would feel aggrieved, particularly if it really was an one off, unavoidable. Often these things will settle down once she realises you are 99.9% on time, and if you are ever late again, 3 years down the line, she'll probably be more relaxed.

Ah, I misread. Well sorry but a childminder is self employed, as is a consultant so if you're going to talk about contracts and setting a professional precedence, then you can't backtrack with but but but...

Outraged, you're making a lot of assumptions - you don't know if she does have other children (they may be picked up at 3 or 5pm) and if the OP says she was late the first time by 6 minutes, it's hardly a pattern or indication that the OP will begin to start showing up late regularly.

At the end of the day, she's pissed off her client and her client may think twice about renewing her contract, if she continues to be this petty.

Also you wouldn't expect a teacher to hang around when the bell goes at school, you need to be there on the dot!

I hate late collection fees in my contracts but have never had to use them yet I'm happy to give a few extra minutes here or there

Florentina-glad you mentioned a solicitor,they charge by the minute iirc!

You're right, she IS being professional and should be treated as one.

It is not about the money. Most childminders would prefer to have the children collected on time as they have their routine for their own children once the last child has left.

Asking parents to pay is demonstrating that she is professional woman doing a very valuable job. One would not ask a solicitor to do extra hours for free.

A conscientious parent who values the childminder wil respect the rules. As for picking up children early, ask yourself this. If your boss Said you could go home early one day, but then deducted the money from your salary, how would you feel?

In this case she only picks the child up early 1 day out of 5. Not 4 out of 5.

It's largely irrelevant what would happen with a self-employed consultant tbh because it's a completely different job.

Firstly, the childminder won't be finished for the day because this child goes early as she'll likely have other children. So, in your example the consultant can't actually leave early once a week, she just has her workload slightly reduced.

Our imaginary consultant knows from experience, that if she works an extra 6 minutes without charge, chances are it's likely to become 10 minutes and then 15. Or it's likely to become 6 minutes every night. She want's to start as she mean to go on as she's only been there since September and put a stop to this.

Finally, the 6 minutes late she leaves mean she's now late to collect her children from nursery and faces a big fine for being late. Or she's late to drop her daughter to a football match or whatever.

Would she charge? I think she'd be a mug not to tbh.

agh, bloody phone (apologies for incoherent post with words left out)

If I was a self employed consultant, who was allowed to leave an hour early from my work 4 days out of 5 but was still be paid my contracted salary...and my boss asked me to stay 6 minutes late on the one day I worked my full contracted hours.... would I say I'll have to charge you an extra half an hour for that?

Technically, it would be within my rights to do so and within the agreed contract terms. But would do that? And then claim being allowed off work early 4 out of 5 days is irrelevant?

The hour early thing is irrelevant. If she's there and available to look after your child for that hour, it's not her fault you come early.

I agree with her about the 6 mins late thing too. If she just let it go, next time you might be running late and you might think 'oh a few minutes won't hurt' and it would escalate. Whereas now, you are less likely to turn lateness into a habit because you won't want to charged.

And some CMs charge a pound a minute for lateness!

But ultimately, if this has annoyed you, and you think it will affect your relationship with CM, find a new one.

If you think about it, if she gives all of her customers total freedom to dictate exactly what hours they want ( eg say 8.45 to 4.15, or 8.15 to 3.45) then her comings and goings and admin/ charging will turn into a nightmare, aside from the fact that if a parent wants a 'full day' then she has the right to charge for that and not minus an hour just because you can pick up early ( how will she recoup the loss of the hour from that days space).

I have always used nurseries and often pic kip early, most days in fact at 4.45 to 5 pm, I also have to pay for an early start, half an hour per day despite only needing to drop of 10 mins early!!!

I have also never ever in 8 years Ben late for pick up, I just don't allow that to happen and would be mortified if I was!!!!

If the CM let it go the first time she's opening herself up to being questioned as to why she didn't charge the first time. She has to start as she means to go on.

"I hope you don't give her a Christmas bonus if she's going to be so mean!"

Is she being mean though, or is she just trying to stick to whats in the contract so people don't take the mick?

I always think its funny when people say - "no Christmas present" or "no bonus" - nooo, you short sighted people! This is the person who has sole charge of your precious child for 40 hours a week (or 39 if you pick up an hour early one day a week ) why on earth would you not want to build up a pleasant relationship and goodwill with the person looking after your child?

(disclaimer - as a childminder I would never discriminate against a child because their parents didn't get me a card/present - and most don't! But I always, always get my dc's nursery nurses/teachers the best presents I can afford because I want to thank them for the care they give to my dc!)

I suspect she is trying to nip a possible bad habit in the bud. I think I would have given a warning the first time, a late fee the second. However, is this really the first time you have been late, or the first time she has picked you up on it. Maybe she has noticed a few late pick ups and decided to act this time. Plus, finish time should be leaving time, not arriving time. I find even the nicest parents have a tendency to arrive seconds before their finish time, and then hang around another quarter of an hour. If we didn't periodically have words, they would probably be there half the evening. Worse when they arrive together and start chatting!

She's only been using that CM since Sept, a year down the line and she might well have not fined the OP.