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watgem
19-02-2012, 08:19 AM
Morning everyone, I need help updating my fees policy please. I'm not putting up my fees as most of my parents would struggle with that, however I thought about -
charging a full hour for part of an hour's care,
charging a retainer for when children are at preschool-although not sure what to charge,
Charging a late payment fee
Charging extra if children are collected late,
Charging half fee for any absences

Does this sound ok? What do you all do, have you any suggestions please?:)

Kiddleywinks
19-02-2012, 08:41 AM
Morning everyone, I need help updating my fees policy please. I'm not putting up my fees as most of my parents would struggle with that, however I thought about -
charging a full hour for part of an hour's care, I do this worded: per hour or part thereof
charging a retainer for when children are at preschool-although not sure what to charge Retainers are usually half normal fees
Charging a late payment fee Up to you how much you want to charge £5/£10 seems to be the norm
Charging extra if children are collected late, again up to you how much you charge, maybe 'time and a half' or 'double time' not unreasonable imo
Charging half fee for any absences be very careful with this - what if child is 'sick' one week, oh a family member said they'll have them this week, away with the fairies the third week, and 'sick' again the fourth week? You will have had half pay for 4 weeks...Can you afford to work like that? ;)

Does this sound ok? What do you all do, have you any suggestions please?:)

See above answers in red, hope it helps x

tashaleee
19-02-2012, 08:42 AM
Morning everyone, I need help updating my fees policy please. I'm not putting up my fees as most of my parents would struggle with that, however I thought about -
charging a full hour for part of an hour's care,
charging a retainer for when children are at preschool-although not sure what to charge,
Charging a late payment fee
Charging extra if children are collected late,
Charging half fee for any absences

Does this sound ok? What do you all do, have you any suggestions please?:)


Some childminders charge for a full hour - but if you had a parent who wanted 8.15 - 5.15 would you still charge them per full hour as I guess you mean you would be charging 8 - 6 which some may not be happy with

Pre-school retainer - if you drop off and collect I personally would charge full fee. Some childminders charge half if they are expected to have in school holidays but dont do the drop off and collection

Late payment fee - personally I dont have this issue and make it clear to my parents when they sign up no payment means I will not be working for them so I dont ever have this problem

Extra if collected late - yes I charge my normal fee provided they text or call and let me know

Half fee for absences - do you mean sickness (childminders 99% of time charge full fee for a child being sick) or holidays (this varies from one childminder to another but depends on whether you are charging for your holidays - some childminders charge all for parents holiday and none for theirs, others charge 50/50 for all holidays)

Hope that helps :)

Tealady
19-02-2012, 08:52 AM
Half fee for absences - do you mean sickness (childminders 99% of time charge full fee for a child being sick) or holidays (this varies from one childminder to another but depends on whether you are charging for your holidays - some childminders charge all for parents holiday and none for theirs, others charge 50/50 for all holidays)



If you charge half fee for holiday, which is what I do, make sure you limit it to a certain number of weeks. My families get four weeks, pro-rata at this rate. If they take more then it's full fee. Also sickness/appointments etc are charged at full fee.

Kiddleywinks
19-02-2012, 09:04 AM
Some childminders charge for a full hour - but if you had a parent who wanted 8.15 - 5.15 would you still charge them per full hour as I guess you mean you would be charging 8 - 6 which some may not be happy with

I agree, to a point, that some parents may not be happy with it, so in that instance they're free to go to an alternative provider, however, I think it's how you deliver the information...
If they need to drop off 15 minutes earlier, they can do so without incurring additional charges, if they're running late, hit unexpected traffic problems, finish work early and want to nip to a supermarket, then again, they won't incur additional charges like late fees, because they've paid until 6 - I do tend to reflect it in the contract by agreeing with parents to adjusting their required hours to full hours, and of course they can always collect earlier than 6 if they wish to ;)

watgem
19-02-2012, 06:19 PM
thank you everyone i was thinking of charging for a full hour for the hours they want ifyswim? so for parents wanting 4 and a half hours I would round it up to 5 hours rather than charging half the hourly fee? its just I'm rubbish at maths and sometimes they want 5 hours 40 mins etc so its trying to work it out? so for some families it wouldn't make any difference as they use me for so many full hours per day but for others they may have to pay a little bit extra, I just wondered if it was fair?

Tatjana
20-02-2012, 01:14 PM
I charge per half hour, so like your example if they wanted care until 5.40pm I would charge a whole hour.

hth