CM policy for lateness

[rocketjam]

Childminders, do you have a policy for parents picking up their child late? Or just a contractual rule?

I am having problems with a parent being consistently late, it's supposed to be 6:00 pick up and it started as the odd day lately which is ok, but now he is always here between 6:05 and 6:15. I am not sure what is the best way to enforce a new rule. Thanks!

Do you say anything when he is late?

I always charge for lateness and if I'm going out I take the child with me if possible. You need to have a meeting and ask why they think it's ok.

Its part of my terms and conditions.

£10 charge for every 15 minutes or part of, so if consistently 5 - 10 mins late they are charged £10, 16 mins would be £20 etc.

If 30 mins late I start calling emergency contacts, if more than 1 hour I call local social services.

Continual lateness and the contract will be terminated.

Had to put very strict policy in place after 1 family really took the p.

make sure you have late policies in your contract, and high penalties if late - sounds like they are taking the piss - so it stops now or will continue to be later and later

im not a cm but if i were i would have something in place like glenostrich

Read freakonomics - charging for it makes people think it is an acceptable service they can pay for, you need other sanctions

I would speak to them & say you've notice they are late collecting & advise you will have to start charging late fees as per your policy (which hopefully includes hefty penalty ie £5/ 15 mins or similar) and ask if this is likely to be a regular occurance in which case it would be best to review your collection time.

If you have your own DC explain how they know this is when mummy finishes work & you only have this very limited period for family time to chat/homework/bath etc and being late impacts everyone. I usually find this helps explain why 'just 5 or 10 minutes' is not like leaving the office a bit late & if nothing else they might feel guilty enough to turn up in time

I decided a while ago that I'd remove the stress out of the situation and allow late collection as part of my service. I work with my DH so I can be more flexible. All I asked was that people text me if they were running very late.
I also said that I'd have to renegotiate contracts if people were repeatedly very late.

The result was quite surprising. Parents actually make a real effort to be on time and they always apologise when they're running late. So I'm keeping things as they are - seems to suit us :)

I do hate it when parents are early, though. I like to be ready for them in the mornings and one family began to turn up a good half an hour early. I normally start at 7, so I don't think I was unreasonable.

Tanith- does that mean you never make plans to go out straight after work? I couldn't do that- I'd feel too resentful.

A couple of days of standing on the doorstep stops people turning up early!

DH and I also work together and can usually cover lateness, but if one of us has taken dd dancing and the other had a training course or something, then there is no one available.

We have even been known to book a night at the theatre occasionally and need to get away promptly.

Parents are welcome to come early if they like, but I don't open the door before my start time and they know that (it's written on the door).

I do sometimes have babysitting or training to get to (or DH does), but we tend not to go out together until the weekend.
Once or twice, we've had to ask parents to collect by a certain time for school concerts and, apart from one occasion, they've always done it. I admit I was upset the time a parent "forgot" because it meant I missed my son playing, but DH recorded it for me.

It just works well for us. I know that probably sounds very smug :)

I don't charge any extra for lateness as a rule. However, if the lateness becomes consistent I meet with the parents and give them the option of leaving (if I cant cover the extra time) or renewing their contract to reflect the new hours. Just the mention of having to pay more regularly usually pulls them up a bit.