Childminder charging for travel time to school?

[FlyingTigger]

Advice please and if this is the norm?
Childminder wants to charge travel to DC school (so when going to collect). When we signed contract I’d already included 15 minutes grace in case it was easier for her to collect DC earlier but this is NOT required by the school. Contract includes this 15 minutes.
childminder is charging for an hour, then changes this and said it’s 30 minutes. School pick up 3pm but her timesheet starts from 2pm. Journey takes 10 minutes by bus and 15/20 minutes walk.
is this the norm? For CM to charge travel to school when the child isn’t with them? Says she’s always done this.

Hopefully I’m not mean to her and was totally respectful.
just using this forum to think out loud and get some alternatives POVs.

I’ve used Google Maps to work out the time and this includes the walk from her house to bus stop and then bus stop to school
Doesn’t include delays etc to bus

It doesn’t matter if you drop off late, that is your choice. Why should she get less money when you are taking up a space that she could offer to someone else? Maybe someone else will need it from 9, so by your logic she should drop you because she will get more money from them. I think childminders should always operate a day/half day rate to avoid this behaviour tbh. At a nursery you would also pay the daily rate no matter what time you pick up or drop off.

I can understand why it would irk to pay an hours travel for a 20 min journey. But I think you need to look at the bigger picture. You are currently getting 1:1 care for a very reasonable price (good of you to recognise that & increase her hourly rate). It may be that CM has realised that she can’t take on any more paying children as yours needs more care. If she’s used to building up to 2 or 3 children at a time & now realised she wouldn’t be comfortable doing that if your DC needs extra care, she’s maybe trying to recoup a bit extra. She hasn’t gone about it very well, but that could explain it.

It sounds like you are happy with how CM is caring for DC & DC is happy, so decide if what you are paying is worth that. Could you easily move her to another child minder? Does your child cope well with change to routine? Would you end up spending the same (or more) anyway?
Certainly have a chat about pricing structure if it makes you uncomfortable. Approach it as a discussion rather than accusatory
Just be careful not to shoot yourself in the foot by antagonising her, especially if she’s flexible with times & not charging when DC is not there. Check out the pricing structure & availability elsewhere before challenging her.

Good luck.

I absolutely love how you’ve put this!

Of course it makes sense, she was there, ready to start her working day at 9.00. You are the one who altered the arrangement. Why should she lose half an hours pay because you chose a late drop off that day!

Oh my god, don’t quibble it! It’s 30 minutes. She probably does it in hour blocks because how is she going to fill the space for 30 minutes? It’s not possible. If you respect her and value her, do not quibble it. A good childminder is worth their weight in gold.

I said I’d drop off at 9.30!

Were you meant to drop at 9am though? If your contracted time for drop off was 9am then you are charged from 9am regardless if you drop off later.

If she charged you extra though you should have raised it at the time.

OP, I’m sorry for sounding frustrated but I really don’t think you get how it works. Childminders also have to pay bills, do you agree? She has to charge in blocks to have a steady income. If you start fluctuating hours that’s on you, not her.

So, if she is contracting a space to you, say from 9am - 6pm. Why should she lose money because you choose to alter it?

If she has to pick up your child from school at 3, she could probably only take another child until 2pm, as she would then have to go get your child - does that make sense? So you pay the hour before pick up to retain her. And also her place of work is her home anyway, so travel time is reasonable.

TBH maybe your childminder is the one causing the confusion because of the way she charges. As a comparison, mine charges £60 for the day. £30 half day, £12.50 for after school. Doesn’t matter if I picked up 5pm or 6pm. Because she can’t sell that final hour to anyone else. So I am paying to retain my spot, as much as anything. If you quibble you will just sour the relationship over not very much money. I know we are all struggling but I promise she is not trying to scam you!!

I have never paid this as an extra. However, an hour seems reasonable since it's either a bus ride - 10 mins plus getting to stop and waiting presumably - or twenty minutes walk. And this is both ways and must include time waiting outside the school for DD? An hour seems reasonable.

But she was there, ready to work! She can’t magically find another child to mind for half an hour to accommodate you changing her working hours to suit your one off decisions. That really isn’t how it works.

Heaven help you when it comes to negotiating school holidays, her holidays and bank holidays

I wouldn't be on the train for an hour and a half unless I was going to work, but they've never paid me for doing so.

£15ph plus another 5 hours for travel, adding £75 pw to
the cost, it's a fair amount extra to pay.

You’re right but why not then charge from 8am using the same logic? And she can take other children to do the pick up (she’s taken her own GC before) so she’s not employed just to look after my own child.
I think a set block would’ve helped and something to bear in mind for the future

Yes, when you put it like that it does seem excessive. But seems like travel time for CMs is included and fair enough.
will just see if she’s happy to reduce to 30 minutes

What are you on about magically finding another child?
she can look after as many as she needs to! Me dropping off DC doesn’t mean she has to find someone for 30 minutes to fill that gap. What kind of logic is that???

I was never querying the travel back to her place as that’s expected (she’s with my DC). I was confused about travel to school but it doesn’t take her an hour.

If you had negotiated a normal eight o clock start then it would be perfectly reasonable to charge for an eight o’clock start. If you had negotiated a normal eight o clock start, came at 9.30 one day but were only charged from 9.00 then she was being very generous by only charging from 9.00 not 8.00.

Because by being resentful because you think she is charging you for half an hour when she wasn’t minding your child you are forgetting that this is her income, you are expecting her to lose money because you are rewriting the agreement to suit yourself , she has no way to make up that income ( ie no magical child stepping into the gap). You chose the late drop off, you take the hit.

She can look after other children
I’m not paying for her to look after my DC exclusively

whether a child was with her from 8am/9am or even 5am- how does that justify the extra charge for 30 minutes as she’s ’keeping my space open’?

now, if she charges in blocks of one hour, that’s a separate issue and perfectly understandable (now that previous posters have explained this).

Yeah - that’s my thoughts - it’s essentially her commute.

No it isn't. She's self employed. There is no commute as her home is her work place.

Maybe it states in her contract that all additional time is charged by the hour?

So bus would take 20 mins including walking to bus stop

Or she can walk which takes 15/20 mins. So it's 20 mins whichever she chooses.

So charging half an hour is reasonable. Not an hour