Charging for time at playgroup

[tyres]

Is this normal ?

My CM is charging for 2 hours when my ds will be at playgroup. I will drop off in the morning and she will collect him from there and have him until I finish work.

Is she on call incase he needs picking up or is it you? If her, then fine to charge.

Yes - as if he is ill or the pre-school is shut I am guessing she will have to care for him - therefore she can't have another child in that 2 hour period.

sometimes playgroup is closed for unexpected reasons and she'll have to have your child
she cant fill that time with another child so you are paying to keep your child's space with her
also once a term she'll probably have to stay and help out, or you will

She is 'on call' in case of emergencies yes. Have to say she did not make it clear about the charge for that though - partly my fault for not asking.

Paying the extra 8 hrs per week for emergencies is something I will have to revisit if that is the case.

Sorry I mean 10 hours - it is 2 every day. I understand the reasons for charging completely, but the fact that an emergency will in reality only happen once or twice a term makes it seem a lot to pay.

I think that's normal if ,say, at half term she will be caring for him or otherwise be on call to collect at short notice (power cut, illness )

Then don't pay it but you will have to look for someone else.

If he is ill enough not to be at playgroup, then he wouldn't be with the childminder either.

Power cuts etc are not likely to be that frequent.

I will have to revisit this with her.

If you can do the emergencies then maybe you could ask her only to charge from collection.

This is what I am thinking LIZS - my work have said there is a certain degree of flexibility with my hours so I could manage emergencies myself. Difficult to know how it will pan out until I actually start though

As you are dropping your child at playgroup, the child isn't in the childminders numbers until collection time (though reasonable for childminder to charge for time it takes to get to playgroup).
Some childminders operate sessions, rather than per-hour, so if you want care at any time during a session then you would pay the full session fee.

Your CM may find it hard to fill the space created by your child not being there whilst at playgroup. Therefore it may be charged as a childcare space per day, rather than hourly.

What happens during holiday periods, would you need childcare then? If you were only to contract childminder for say 12-6, then extending that time during holiday periods may or may not be available.

Every childminder will operate differently, so there isn't really any norm. Falls down to what is agreed between childminder and parent, such an agreement would be written in a contract.

Instead of looking at things on a per-hour basis, how about looking at it on a yearly basis. Work out how much childcare will cost you over the year, how many hours of childcare that is, then decide if that is reasonable. Compare the figure with other childcare providers.

Tyres; Where I am in North London, charging for the two hours is perfectly normal. If child attends nursery from 9-11 or 9.30-11.30, I would say it is virtually impossible to fill a 2 hour slot like this.

I offer full day placements 8-6, morning or afternoon sessions which run from 8-1 or 1-6, if a parent needs a placement from 11 or 11.30, I would need to charge for the whole day as child would be taking up part of the morning slot preventing me from taking a child for the morning session. Does that make sense?

Alternatively, keep looking for a childminder who can accommodate but doubt very much whether there are many who can afford to work from 11.30 and lose such an income.

TheIronLady, very well explained, I am a childminder and would be the same as yourself

Tyres - this is totally normal. If it is only a 2 hour window in a day then really it is your decision about whether he goes to the playgroup. IronLady did it well.

My friends nanny charges all day despite the fact that one child is in school from 9-3.30 and the other is at pre-school for 3 hours. What else is she to do?

Hi and thanks for all your very helpful replies. Nannynick of course you are right about covering holidays and I will need her to look after him for most of the hols, for the time he would have been at playgroup.

TheIronLady - charging for a session is something I had read about before and it makes sense for the reasons you've stated. My CM has just quoted an hourly rate though - I am clarifying this with her.

After mulling it over, I could drop the emergency cover, but in reality it will be me who would then have to sort out any emergencies as my partner works too far away. Although this is likely to be rare I do feel that I shouldn't jepordise my new job by having to take time off. To have someone who could step in will be one less thing to worry about. - I guess I should see it as an insurance policy. My son starts school in 2010 as well so it will only be 10 months or so that I'll be working for more or less nothing money wise !

It is a bit of a pain tyres - I can see your point. My CM only charges for the exact number of hours she has him so I think I would be had I not heard of friends who have the situation you do.

RainRain. He has been at playgroup for a year now and enjoys it - I don't really want to take him out and unsettle him any further than is necessary. This job came along a bit early for me but I'll just have to bite the bullet for a while !

I know it seems unfair on you but imagine if there were three parents every day doing this - that's mean each week the childminder would lose out (in this instance) on 30 hours. Assuming your childminder charges £3.50 (seems to be the MN average - I charge £5) that's £420 less a month which is substantial.

this is totally normal

you are expecting your childminder to work what is basically a split shift - she cannot eran any money in the break between taking your child to playgroup and when she collects him. Plus you want her to have him in those 2 hours in all the school holidays and if the playschool has to shut unexpectedly. I think she is perfectly within her rights to charge you for the time.

My only point would be that she should have made this crystal clear at the time of you signing the contract - did that not have hours etc laid out on it?

Is your child old enough to receive the nursery education grant from the government? At least that way you arent paying for playgroup and childminder.

oh, i see your son is the same age as my dd, so he does recieve the NEG yes?

would it be cheaper to pay the playgroup fees and use the NEG towards the cost of the childminder? I know my friend did this and it saved her quite a bit as the playgroup she uses is cheaper per hour than the childminder.

At least when he starts school you will be able to just pay for before and after school care - worth keeping the peace with the childminder if you want her to have him then

The Childminder is not going to be losing just two hours out of the daily fee if she does not charge for the time your child is at Playgroup. She will be losing the fee for the whole morning, because you will expect the place to be reserved for your child for the whole morning when it is needed in the holidays. I am a Childminder and the only time I have not charged for a child at preschool/playgroup was when I cared for a child all morning and dropped him off at preschool. His mum collected him and didn't need the place in the holidays so I only charged for the morning. It is much harder for a Childminder to fill half days, most parents want a full days care. Part time these days is more on a basis of several full days.

Agree with what everyone else is saying, I personally make it very clear to parents that they have to pay for that time as I can't fill the 2 hour slot. Having said that, IF I could fill those 2 hours, I'd be happy to do this but you wouldn't be able to use me for those hours in the holidays so you'd not be able to drop your child off with me until the time they would have finished playgroup.

If you have no flexibility in the holiday care and need them from the earlier start time, I really don't know how you can expect not to pay this throughout the year then.