Is the childminder right to charge me this way?

[Fiona2011231]

Could you pls advise?

Since September, for the first time I have been using a childminder. We pay her a full-day fee (8 hours) for fiver days per week.

During the week, there is one day when we always pick up our child one hour early. However, we still pay her the full-day service. Initially we did not know we could have picked up the child early. And when we know that we could, we still pay her the full fee.

Last week, we came a bit late, exactly 6 minutes late. She said that we need to pay her for another half an hour.

This is not about the money. I want to ask if her payment request is normal for a childminder. On our part, we had thought since we always pay the full fee even though we pick up the child early once a week, she would be more reasonable when we are a bit late.

Is my expectation reasonable? From now on, should we not pay the full fee on the day when we can pick up the child one hour early?

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

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.

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.

'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 still want to know what the late fee was

Op come back

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'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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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'??

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 agree blondes-late fees should be high.

tanith your parent got 2hrs free childcare a day?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

Your replies are very helpful. Again, it seems that the attitude and decision would be different from person to person. This is not a black-and-white issue; rather, it is a matter of personal decision.

To someone who asked me about the late fee, in my case, it was £6.

Regards,