seperate reciepts??

[little kingdom]

As of thursday this week i will be starting with the sister of my mindee i have already so when it comes to billing my mum do i write it down on same bill or do seperate ones? I have mindee for 5 hrs plus tea and the sister/new mindee will be 2hrs plus tea both now going to be on same day.
Still getting used to being a childminder and find this forum the best way to find things out
Plus just been reading are you ready for your inspection(which isnt till march)but its worring me already.
Its says that a child should be signed in and out every time i dont have that system in place should i be doing this and how to do is it just a piece of paper with hrs on and have it sighed by parents?Not trying to sound like i dont know what iam doing just still working all the little things out as i go along.

[Rick]

As of thursday this week i will be starting with the sister of my mindee i have already so when it comes to billing my mum do i write it down on same bill or do seperate ones? I have mindee for 5 hrs plus tea and the sister/new mindee will be 2hrs plus tea both now going to be on same day.
Still getting used to being a childminder and find this forum the best way to find things out
Plus just been reading are you ready for your inspection(which isnt till march)but its worring me already.
Its says that a child should be signed in and out every time i dont have that system in place should i be doing this and how to do is it just a piece of paper with hrs on and have it sighed by parents?Not trying to sound like i dont know what iam doing just still working all the little things out as i go along.

I assume your question is "separate invoices"?

I have 2 sisters and I only do one invoice as it is one parent paying. They probably won't want 2 separate invoices; they want to know the total amount they are paying. For example, they are both here for 8 hours, so for each day I put 16 hours and in the comments box I say '8 hours each' so it's clear where I've got it from.

If you PM me your email address I can share my one, which seems to work quite well.

Yes it is an Ofsted requirement that each child's record of attendance is kept. I use a register from the NCMA online shop but you can make up your own. I think it is acceptable to just write it in your diary, so long as it is clear and written down somewhere. This is required incase there is an issue and Ofsted need to check which children were with you and when.

How do you know your inspection is in March. I don't think anyone knows until they get the call?

HTH :D

[MessybutHappy]

I've always had one bill/invoice from nurserys to cover two children, as the previous poster said, we pay out once! They had a line for each child so it was clear (except when they got it wrong!!!).

[TAZ]

I do one invoice per family but on that invoice there is a weekly breakdown of hours & meals per child to make everything clear (a simple table in Word document) & tie in with my accounting spreadsheets in case there's ever a question over amount. All my mindees are part time and some frequently come for an extra day or stay past their normal collection time, this way parents can see exactly what they're being charged for.

I have attendance registers (which I produced but similar to those from NCMA) with a separate page per child, I fill in when they arrive & when they leave. It just gets messy for the ones who arrive but then go out to a club / nursery & then come back again.... I don't get the parents to sign theese - would be interesting to know if other people do

I also record the hours I expect to have them in my diary and make notes if the actual day was different to originally planned & why. Again this helps me double check on attendances & billing

[little kingdom]

I assume your question is "separate invoices"?

I have 2 sisters and I only do one invoice as it is one parent paying. They probably won't want 2 separate invoices; they want to know the total amount they are paying. For example, they are both here for 8 hours, so for each day I put 16 hours and in the comments box I say '8 hours each' so it's clear where I've got it from.

If you PM me your email address I can share my one, which seems to work quite well.

Yes it is an Ofsted requirement that each child's record of attendance is kept. I use a register from the NCMA online shop but you can make up your own. I think it is acceptable to just write it in your diary, so long as it is clear and written down somewhere. This is required incase there is an issue and Ofsted need to check which children were with you and when.

How do you know your inspection is in March. I don't think anyone knows until they get the call?

HTH :D

Hi thanks for that i hven had any sort of register should i back date it?
when ofsted phoned 6 months after me being registered i didnt have any child in the ey range so they said we will give you till march which luckly ive got a ey range mindee now.

[Rick]

I do one invoice per family but on that invoice there is a weekly breakdown of hours & meals per child to make everything clear (a simple table in Word document) & tie in with my accounting spreadsheets in case there's ever a question over amount. All my mindees are part time and some frequently come for an extra day or stay past their normal collection time, this way parents can see exactly what they're being charged for.

I have attendance registers (which I produced but similar to those from NCMA) with a separate page per child, I fill in when they arrive & when they leave. It just gets messy for the ones who arrive but then go out to a club / nursery & then come back again.... I don't get the parents to sign theese - would be interesting to know if other people do

I also record the hours I expect to have them in my diary and make notes if the actual day was different to originally planned & why. Again this helps me double check on attendances & billing

The NCMA attendance records have a box for 'non attending hours' but I haven't had to use it yet. I use my personal diary for noting down times for billing but the attendance record is for Ofsted so may be different, for example, if a parent picks up early but you still bill as per the minimum hours stated in the contract.

[FussyElmo]

I wouldnt be backdating your register.

Start one as of now. Perfect self reflection you found out you were not doing something you have now started to.

Remember prescise timing to the minute so 804, 806 etc not the times they are contracted for. Get into the habit of filling it out everytime your mindee comes and leaves.

[lilac_dragon]

As of thursday this week i will be starting with the sister of my mindee i have already so when it comes to billing my mum do i write it down on same bill or do seperate ones? I have mindee for 5 hrs plus tea and the sister/new mindee will be 2hrs plus tea both now going to be on same day.
Still getting used to being a childminder and find this forum the best way to find things out
Plus just been reading are you ready for your inspection(which isnt till march)but its worring me already.
Its says that a child should be signed in and out every time i dont have that system in place should i be doing this and how to do is it just a piece of paper with hrs on and have it sighed by parents?Not trying to sound like i dont know what iam doing just still working all the little things out as i go along.

Hi Little Kingdom,
I'm in Suffolk too! Have you got any other childminders near you who could meet up to compare and advise? There's no longer a Childminding group near me, but there are some around the more populated areas.

I give my parents one Invoice for both children, but if one was with me all day and the other came for less hours, maybe after school only, I'd break it down on the Invoice with the hours and charges for each child, with one total at the bottom.

Hope that helps.

[little kingdom]

I wouldnt be backdating your register.

Start one as of now. Perfect self reflection you found out you were not doing something you have now started to.

Remember prescise timing to the minute so 804, 806 etc not the times they are contracted for. Get into the habit of filling it out everytime your mindee comes and leaves.

Thanks for that i just need to sort out a register now should i get parents to sign as they now the hrs from the invoices?should i do one for both my mindees they sisters as im picking up from school i now this prob sound silly questions but finding things out nearly every week of things that i need to be doing want it all to be up and running prob before march obviously before than as dont want ofsted to think im a bit simple :o

[little kingdom]

Hi Little Kingdom,
I'm in Suffolk too! Have you got any other childminders near you who could meet up to compare and advise? There's no longer a Childminding group near me, but there are some around the more populated areas.

I give my parents one Invoice for both children, but if one was with me all day and the other came for less hours, maybe after school only, I'd break it down on the Invoice with the hours and charges for each child, with one total at the bottom.

Hope that helps.


Hi i used to use a childminder myself and trying to remember what i did i remember signing when i collected with hours on a sheet but will make my own register i think and start from next week.
Thanks :)

[FussyElmo]

Thanks for that i just need to sort out a register now should i get parents to sign as they now the hrs from the invoices?should i do one for both my mindees they sisters as im picking up from school i now this prob sound silly questions but finding things out nearly every week of things that i need to be doing want it all to be up and running prob before march obviously before than as dont want ofsted to think im a bit simple :o

I use my diary and every couple of months transfer them over to attendence sheets which I put parents payment amounts on and then get the parents to sign.

Yes one for both sisters as unless they are in the same class they will be leaving at different times.

Ok for the mindee I have before and after school it 801-845. 315-440
Mindee sfter school is 318--525
Mindee all day is 820-600.

[Rick]

Hi thanks for that i hven had any sort of register should i back date it?
when ofsted phoned 6 months after me being registered i didnt have any child in the ey range so they said we will give you till march which luckly ive got a ey range mindee now.

Ah I see re Ofsted inspection. As mentioned don't back date it, just start from now. The NCMA attendance sheets have one page per month for each child and a space for non-attending hours (for a club or something) and a signature for parent and childminder.

HTH :D