i am looking after 3 children from the same family before school then taking them to school , i am helping my friend who is another childminder but due to illness cant work at moment, due to the weather and no school they havent been coming in the morning, i have been waking up at 6am these last few days and had the phone call at 8am to say they not coming, do i still charge them the fees still as i havent done a contract with them yet.and i have been getting up earlier then normal , please can someone help thank you

I think the answer lies in whether or not you have made out a temporary contract to cover this situation. If you have not, and just have the child record forms etc then i would say that you can't charge. If you do have a contract then yes you can.

To me yes you do charge - it is the same as if they were contracted.

I cover for another minder when she is ill (crones and ibs) we just use her contract what ever they are contracted to with her is same for me.