does anybody charge for a lateness fee?

[eatfruit]

Hi there, the title says it all really, if you do how much do u charge and what time limit do u give?

I would give 15 minutes grace and then double the hourly rate for each part hour they were over. For all they know they could be making you go over numbers.

same here

agree, you have to make it more than just your hourly rate otherwise they will just think they can pay for an extra hour

For any early drop off (as well as late pickups) my contract allows me to charge. All arrival and departure times are recorded on an attendance register and at the end of the month I simply tot up the number of minutes early for drop off or late for pick up and add it to the next month's invoice. By doing it this way, I have found the parents are quite happy with this arrangement as I used to charge in half-hour multiples but it meant if they were 15 minutes late picking up, they would have to pay for half an hour (at double-rate). Doing it this way I think is very fair to both sides. From the point of view of what to do about the problem, there are of course many suggestions on here but the key thing is make your move quickly and establish the way you need to work. Nip it in the bud as the longer the problem is left, it becomes a greater challenge to resolve. Good luck.

Double time for early drop off or late pick up (anything from 5 mins upwards normally). However ... some parents are quite happy to come early/late and pay extra. I used to ignore the odd 5 or 10 mins, and then I started to find that some people were counting them as their normal hours and just being early/late every day!

Having said that. Most people are lovely and very apologetic if they are here at the wrong time.

I charge once they are over 10mins late unless they let me know in advance, I charge 10euro per 15mins and have only had to charge it once. They soon learn!!