Childminders school pick up charging

[perrinelli]

I was wondering if people generally charge from school pick up time or when they have to leave home? My new cm wants to charge from when she leaves and she's lovely so I don't want to quibble over 15 minutes but I expected it to be from when she takes responsibility for my dc. She is going to school anyway to get her own dc but not sure if this should be relevant or not. Do you think I should query it or let it go & hope she's a bit flexible in other ways like if I'm 10 minutes late.

I charge from when I leave home. I started charging that way before my own started school and saw no reason to change when I was getting them too.

If the childminder was already collecting another childminded child from that school would you expect her not to charge you for that 15 minutes? I guess you'd accept that it was fair that you shared the cost of her travelling time.

Her own children are taking up a childminding space so she is effectively charging herself for the travelling time she is charging you for as she can't have a childminded child in that space. Does that make sense?

You're not paying her a full wage for that 15 minutes, just your own child's contribution to it.

Ok that's helpful, thanks. I'm glad I decided not to mention it. I think I was partly not sure because she lives further from the school then a couple of others I considered and when I was weighing it all up I didn't consider that would affect what I paid! But she seems great and my dc really likes her so I just have to accept the weekly cost is a bit more than I anticipated.

Also think about if she doesn't for some reason have to do the school run, her child has gone out to tea with a friend for instance, would you expect her still to pick up your child in her time for nothing?

If you and your DC really like her then go for it. That's worth every penny extra

I think to charge from the time that you leave home is perfectly acceptable.

Most CM's I know charge a set fee rather than hourly rate for before & after school so it's just pick-up until 6pm or whatever time they finish.

C/ms normally charge from 3pm to allow time to get to school for 3.15pm.....surely we are not worried about paying for 15 mins are we?
Pick up is usually at 6pm but many parents arrive on the dot therefore leaving later than the finishing time....a bit of flexibility would not hurt on both sides.

My childminder charges from school. I wouldn't be happy paying from home as she has others to collect including her own. I get paid from when I arrive at work not from the time I leave home.

I usually charge from when I pick the children up (3 till whenever they are picked up) and by the hour.

It would get too complicated to start charging like that anyway and am not starting messing with that.

In the holidays I charge by the day and meals are included, I worked out that charging by the hour was more expensive. I do a sibling reduction anyway so charging £30 for one child and £19 for the second seemed a bit more reasonable.