help please with minimum fee for after school care etc

[MrsPAndre]

Hi, Im recently registered and currently have a family, 2 boys one if which is at infants, other preschool. Im currently only charging for the 3.20 til 5 after school at a
reduced sibling rate, my friend charges a minimum fee of £40 per week even for siblings, what do you charge please? or do you charge minimum fee per day for after school
collection? Do you charge from 3 til 5 or from actual pick up time of 3.20? thanks x

[JCrakers]

I charge from when I leave the house so 3-6pm. Plus I only discount a family of three who attend 4 days a week (3yrs,6yrs and 8yrs) or if i was to have two siblings full time (twins or close in age)

I don't discount afterschool places.

I just charge by the hour as I have a lot of afterschool children so it suits me. Also there is an afterschool club which I have to keep my prices in line with. So I charge £3.50 per hour and some stay till 5pm and the others 6pm.
I don't offer a cooked tea but if I did then I would put my prices up to maybe a fixed 3hrs and a higher rate, but because i only offer a sandwich after school I'm happy to charge the rate I do
:D

[Helos76]

Hi there, I am based in London and I charge £5 per hour or £15 per session of 3-6pm. I provide a cooked meal and snacks if peckish before.

I have only had 1 parent quibble that I actually pick up at 3.15pm from school so why charge from 3pm. She said that her employer doesn't pay her for her commute, so my reply was that my working day had already started and I was leaving my house at 3pm to get there in time!

Good luck, I know its always tricky!

[MrsP2C]

Soon after I registered I took on twins after school every day for just 1.5 hours & although they are a pleasure to mind, i do wish I'd stuck to nothing less than my set after school charge (pay equivalent to 3hrs but covers until 6pm) Sickeningly I had to turn down an enquiry this week for siblings needing wraparound which would have earned me over £100pw more than the twins for the same space!

[MrsP2C]

Just realised one is pre-school in which case I would charge more as that is taking a whole day's space & no I don't offer sibling discounts.

[MrsPAndre]

thanks everyone for the helpful comments. I am going to give notice to parents of an increase in fee for after school care to a minimum charge per day and not offer a sibling discount, like you say they are taking a place, I wish I had looked into this more before I took them on but then I suppose we are learning as we go along! I take it as long as I give 28 days notice as per the contract I can do this ok? I understand of course that the parents may not like this however I will still then be charging less or the same as other childminders and the afterschool club so think I am still competitive. thanks again everyone x

[Kittycat]

i charge from 3 the moment i pick them up till 5.30 when i close ( as parents can be late)
i charge per child, would only consider a discount if it was full time twins/ siblings