hmmm how shall i charge parent for this change in hours???

[lunavix]

And is it a change in hours??? I see it as one but a CM friend believes it isn't.

Mindee starts pre-school/playgroup in January, I have them 9-2 Monday till Friday, all year round, and their older sibling the same hours holiday time only.

Mindee will now start preschool at 12pm, but parent will be picking them up as they will finish after 2.

I orignally thought I shouldn't charge as I'm not collecting, so term time my job ends at 12.

Then I thought well I'm holding the hours for them so should I perhaps charge half as a retainer?

Then a CM friend says it should stay the same as it's still their place, if pre-school closes parent will most likely want me to collect.

To complicate it slighty, I've had an enquiry about another child. It's only an enquiry but I pre-emptively (which probably means I either won't get permission or the parent won't sign!) asked Ofsted if I could extend my numbers to have both children. The basis of this request is that they plus my son all attend pre-school and the hours slot in quite well. So I'm thinking, if I have this other child, -can- I even charge the other parent for when their child is at pre-school, because technically that space is then full? I'm assuming as I'm asking permission based on pre-school hours, Ofsted would be okay if in an emergency I had to have both children for whatever reason, and I'm guessing it would only be in an emergency that pre-school was closed as obviously if a child was sick they'd be at home.

I hope this makes sense!

Hi , i think you should still be charging from 9 till 2 as you are bloking an under 5 space and the chances of getting a mindee from 12 ish are slight ! Do you charge a retainer for the older sibling ? coz if you feel uncomfortable about charging for the extra hours than you could charge half fee for those hours ??? HTH

keep it as 9-2

i would still charge 9-2 as parents will need these hours in holiday time so you can't offer it to anyone-else as it is an under 5's space - if the parent's are not happy being charged then you should make it clear to parents that their child's contract is only from 9-12 all year round and they will have to find alternative care for 2 hours per day - i would imagine they'd rather pay you than faff about - if not offer it to other family

did that make sense?!

I guess this is really up to you. How do you charge other mindees parents. Do you have set morning and afternoon session times for example, in which case it is tough luck that your mindee will be at pre-school til 12.00.

However if you lliterally charge per hour with some children coming at 8am, some coming at 9am, some leaving at 1.00pm, some at 2.00pm then I guess you can just charge til 12.00pm and you will have a space from 12.00pm onwards. (and the parent may lose their holiday space).

As a parent I would initially believe it is a change in hours, from 9 - 12. However for me the complications arise if you are considered 'in loco parentis' whilst the child is at pre-school. For instance if someone needed to pick the child up between 12 and 2. Also the holidays make a difference. If you currently have a holiday only contract with the older child 9 - 2 (no retainer) then I would feel you should charge full hourly rate 9 - 12 and then a retainer for the 12 - 2 in term time.

However as you are now saying you have another possible child to fill the space then you shouldn't charge the parent during term time.

FWIW My childminder doesn't charge retianers for us as she knows we are a bit ad hoc. SO we agree contacts for specific period sof time and if she gets a request between times she MUST take that child. In 3 years we have never had an issue. She only charged us a retainer once (which we paid happily) when we had said we needed a space, she kept it for us and then DH job fell through after she had turned another child away.

We are dead lucky I realise reading thses threads, BUT I also see how not all of you are full, and retainers 'sometimes' feel a bit unfair