Awkward hours

**rice** · 14-06-2013, 02:50 PM

I charge hourly to keep things simple.
I have a 3year old girl starts routine like below from Sept.

Arrive 8am - lunch, 12:30 Drop off at nursery
(3hrs gap)
15:30 pick up from nursery - 17:00 mother's collection

Would you charge for the 3hrs while she is at nursery?

**wendywu** · 14-06-2013, 04:25 PM

Yes as you can not fill the space and she will need full days when its inset days, snow days and polling, school holidays etc

**tas** · 14-06-2013, 04:32 PM

Yes I also charge full fee for pre-school hours

**Daisy De** · 14-06-2013, 04:36 PM

Yes I charge if I do drop off and pick up.

**Chimps Childminding** · 14-06-2013, 04:42 PM

I charge!! There is little chance of you filling the 3 hours, especially if parents will need you to cover holidays etc!!!

**merry** · 14-06-2013, 05:20 PM

Yes I charge too

**Stapleton83** · 14-06-2013, 07:41 PM

Yes I would charge at the end of the day if pre-school was closed for any reason I am quite sure mum would expect you to have LO!

Sam x

**sskent08** · 14-06-2013, 07:45 PM

yes I charge whilst at pre-school if I am collecting and dropping off, they are not paying for pre-school as they will get free up to 15 hours

**dusky777** · 15-06-2013, 08:35 AM

Yes I charge as I pick up and drop off.

**anne h** · 15-06-2013, 09:49 AM

Hi
I'm new to this site so not quite sure if this will be seen but here goes ill see what happens for my after school children i charge £4.50 an hour i then charge £35 a day when there off school which is 14wks including inset days i add the two figures together and the divide it over 12 monthly payments my parents seem to pref-are to pay the same cost all yr round my dilemma is next thursday schools are on strike for the day in my area while trying to be remain professional but without being to business like what is a nice way when my parents ask me to have there children on the day that that day isn't paid as a full day they are only paying for the 3hrs after school hate these dilemmas help please

**bunyip** · 15-06-2013, 09:52 AM

I don't charge (or at least give the parents the option), but don't have any problem with those CMs that do charge. I make it clear to the parents that, by not charging, I am not responsible for having the lo during emergency closures at the other setting. If that happens, they make their own arrangements or pay m extra if I am available.

You just have to decide what you do and then go for it. You can actually create problems for yourself if you start feeling you need to justify every decision.

**bunyip** · 15-06-2013, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by anne h

Hi
I'm new to this site so not quite sure if this will be seen but here goes ill see what happens for my after school children i charge £4.50 an hour i then charge £35 a day when there off school which is 14wks including inset days i add the two figures together and the divide it over 12 monthly payments my parents seem to pref-are to pay the same cost all yr round my dilemma is next thursday schools are on strike for the day in my area while trying to be remain professional but without being to business like what is a nice way when my parents ask me to have there children on the day that that day isn't paid as a full day they are only paying for the 3hrs after school hate these dilemmas help please

Hi Anne

and welcome,

Hmmm.....

I think this sort of problem is always going to come up with any 'averaged monthly payments' system. It gets worse when they take holidays/absences at odd times, and especially when calculating a final bill on termination. I have one parent who pays a regular monthly payment, but we get on really well and there's a lot of 'give and take' that we never bother to even try to figure out. So the relationship with the parent is very important here.

Trying to get my head round this mathematically isn't easy. My first though was that you should charge the full day, minus the after-school charge. So £35 - (# x £4.50), where # = the number of hours' after school care for that day.

But I think that equation is wrong, because what they've already paid is already averaged, so includes more than just the after-school fee, IYSWIM.

To work out an exact fee, you'll first have to go back and calculate what the average daily fee is, and how much of that is for the after-school bit, and how much is a proportion of the full days they take in holidays, etc.

Can you work out a 'ball-park' figure for the additional fee that the parents will agree to without getting the slide rule out?

**anne h** · 15-06-2013, 01:26 PM

Thanks I'm more worried about how you say to a parent when they say oh kids are off thurs Anne how do I politely say hmmmm well actually that's not in your usual payment so it will be extra

**rickysmiths** · 15-06-2013, 01:36 PM

Yes I always charge for Nursery if I take and collect.

**rickysmiths** · 15-06-2013, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by anne h

Hi
I'm new to this site so not quite sure if this will be seen but here goes ill see what happens for my after school children i charge £4.50 an hour i then charge £35 a day when there off school which is 14wks including inset days i add the two figures together and the divide it over 12 monthly payments my parents seem to pref-are to pay the same cost all yr round my dilemma is next thursday schools are on strike for the day in my area while trying to be remain professional but without being to business like what is a nice way when my parents ask me to have there children on the day that that day isn't paid as a full day they are only paying for the 3hrs after school hate these dilemmas help please

If they ask you to have them them then you remind them that it will be an extra xxxx hours as this day is not covered in the annual arrangement and you would like to be paid the day before for the hours. Then maybe when you do a contract like this again you need to put a note in about Strike days being extra if they are required. I'm sure the parents will understand. If they don't want to pay then you don't have the children the extra hours.

**FussyElmo** · 15-06-2013, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by anne h

Thanks I'm more worried about how you say to a parent when they say oh kids are off thurs Anne how do I politely say hmmmm well actually that's not in your usual payment so it will be extra

Oh Ann that's a difficult one. Personally it would depend on my relationship with the parents. If it was good as mine is with the parent who I average out the fees out for, she never wants the money back if I for some reason cant work. So for her I would say no extra fees.

Could you not talk to her and ask what her plans are. They may not even need you. If she does and say there is a top up fee needed for the extra hours

**anne h** · 15-06-2013, 01:43 PM

Just a bit awkward isn't it x

**FussyElmo** · 15-06-2013, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by anne h

Just a bit awkward isn't it x

Dealing with money always is

**anne h** · 15-06-2013, 01:51 PM

Awwwww thanks anyway I get along really well with all my parents an I'm sure it's just me worrying what they'll think when I say we'll actually ......... I feel bad they probably wouldn't think anything of it think I'm more peed off cos I don't have any little ones Thursday in the day till my after school kids come so I'm also giving up my free time for free if you like if I don't charge x

**FussyElmo** · 15-06-2013, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by anne h

Awwwww thanks anyway I get along really well with all my parents an I'm sure it's just me worrying what they'll think when I say we'll actually ......... I feel bad they probably wouldn't think anything of it think I'm more peed off cos I don't have any little ones Thursday in the day till my after school kids come so I'm also giving up my free time for free if you like if I don't charge x

I haven't heard about any strikes in my area yet.