tricky one this

[5uper5tar]

Is it acceptable to introduce a minimum hours to pay for. One of the children I look after is starting school, She will only be doing 1, 1 hour session and 1, 2 hour session a week and its hardly worth it after shes eaten, done arts and crafts, eyfs etc. She never asked me about changing her hours she just assumed that it would be ok but its really not. Oh dear, am sure having trouble with it all today! I need to get tougher...but knowing me I will end up alienating them all! Its especially hard because she is a friend...eek x

Yes, you could charge a per-session fee... then it is up to the parents if the child attends for just one hour in a session, or stays the whole length of the session (such as 3pm-6pm). Note: It can backfire sometimes, as the parent may feel that if they are paying for the whole time, their child should attend the whole time... thus no early pickup.

You would need to notify all relevant parents of the change in conditions, giving the appropriate advance notice. The parents then either sign the new contract, or find alternative care.

Are you me!

Got the same, just going with it for this one, as I expect it to be temporary, but will definately be introducing a minimum hours/fee if it happens again, at least theres no eyfs to do.

I am not a childminder but have used them. I understand that it is usual to charge for pre school or nursery sessions for the following reasons,

Child may be taking up a full time place and payment secures the place.
Pre school has the child minder as the emergency contact.
Child will be going to childminder on holidays and training days.

If this is full time school however you will need to come to a different arrangement if you are just doing before / after school. I think short sessions you describe would not affect your numbers so you could look to take on other full time mindees.

Think you need to discuss this with your friend though as you need to make a living,

It will affect number of children whom care can be provided, as a child in Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 (until child has 8th Birthday) will still be in Under 8's ratio.

awnw...will I have to do eyfs...I thought I did still until the August after their 5th birthday - isn't it?

superstar

lots of childminders round here do a before school and after school rate - it's not an hourly rate and is completely different contract to the preschool children.

They charge per before or after school session for a maximum amount of time

eg 7.30-9am £7.50 ish
3.30-6pm £15 ish

then it's up to the parents how much of the session they use.

I do some odd hours before and after school, but I reckon they make up for it when I have them in the holidays. If they were term time only for the odd hour, I would probably not take them (or charge a session rate). I have often thought about charging a minimum daily rate for children, but like nannynick said, you would have to be available for the whole session. Alternative is a higher hourly rate for before and after school, but there have been some threads on here from parents complaining about that.

Not quite the same thing, but I run an out of school club. We charge sessional fees for blocks of time, both term time and during school holidays. Parents sometimes moan that they only want/need part of a particular session but I just tell them that staff are paid by the session and they are more than welcome to use the whole session if they so wish.

We also charge for the whole session if the child is going to a school arranged activity then coming to us afterwards. At the end of the day we are allocating a space to the child for that session, providing an additional pick up service and being on standby if the activiy is cancelled (as you may well be the emergency contact to collect the child if they are unwell??)

At the end of the day you are providing a service (and earning a modest living) and you deserve to be treated as the professional that you are.

Good luck