Help needed of fees please

[freddysrevenge]

I am not an accredited childminder yet. I have one parent who is taking advantage of the free childcare at the school nursery - and why not. What do other childminders charge when the child is picked up from nursery? I have been asked to pick up the child from nursery at 12.00pm and have them till 5.00pm. Obviously there is travelling to take into account for me to get to the nursery. I did do an invoice before christmas charging the parent for the full day and not the 5 hours only. The mother has said that she has lost my invoice and has given me payment for what she thinks I should be paid and has paid me for the 5 hours only. Am I being unreasonable asking for the full day payment of 9 hours when there child is at nursery? The mother has written me a letter asking me to charge a pick up fee instead !! To be honest I am getting fed-up with parents dictating to me what they think they should pay me ! I just need some advice really on what fees other childminders charge when picking up children from nursery settings. Thanks

[cathtee]

Years ago I didn't charge while they were at nursery but now I do, the thing is if the child needs the place for when the nursery is closed
ie school hols, teacher training day and any other days that you need to keep lo all day then you can't fill the space therefore parent needs
to pay to keep the place for her child, otherwise you could have a child for those hours up to 12.

[FussyElmo]

If I dropped the child off at nursery they I would charge the full day - but if I was collecting at 12 I would charge from 12 onwards

[moggy]

You need to be clear if your services will ever be needed during the nursery's hours- what if child is upset and wants to leave, what if nursery has to close or asks you to pick child up for some reason, what about school holidays? etc etc. If the parent say they don't want your service during the nursery hours then you can not charge for those hours, IMO, but you can fill those hours with anther child if you can.

But, if the parent want you available the whole day for the child, keeping her place with you open, just in case, then you could charge, say 50%, and then you keep the space available and they pay 100% if they actually use it.

If I TAKE the child to nursery AND pick them up, I charge for the full time as I can not fill those 3 hours a day and I am here ready to take child if anything happens and I am the nursery's point of contact during nursery hours.

You may want to consider if this is a good client for you now, if they only want you 5 hours a day. A 'collection charge' could be an option to help make it better business for you, to cover your travel time to get to nursery, but that would have to be in proportion to the actual time it take to walk/drive there.

[bunyip]

I used to have a child for 2 afternoons a week - pick up from pre-school and handover late afternoon. I only charged for the actual hours I had her. I made it perfectly clear to the mum that I was charging more than most local CM's hourly rates but she was happy cos those other CMs simply wouldn't do a 1/2-day contract. It was TTO, cos the family could usually arrange someone else to have her in the holidays. I offered an option to book a full-day place in the holidays if required (which happened a couple of times) but was absolutely clear that I could not guarantee the holiday place if she took the TTO arrangement. Put another way, mum knew she couldn't have it both ways and was happy with that.

You don't say what was agreed in the contract. By definition, that spells out what should be happening. At the end of the day, it's about whatever arrangement a CM and a family can agree to. What's "fair" and what "should" happen is whatever they put their signatures to in the contract. The contract should include only what's mutually acceptable and then stick to it.

[Mouse]

I do feel sorry for parents in situations like this. Their child gets to 3yrs old and there's the promise of 15 hours fee childcare a week - but if the child is with a cm the chances are parents will still have to pay while the child is at nursery. The only person benefitting is the cm who gets paid for 3 hours a day, even though they don't have the child

But of course, I also see it from the cms point of view. We can't lose out on 3 hours a day pay just so parents can access their funded hours. They might save money, but we lose out.

I think it's a case of trying to come to an agreement that everyone's happy with

[freddysrevenge]

Thanks everyone who has replied. I have found all your comments useful.

[bunyip]

I do feel sorry for parents in situations like this. Their child gets to 3yrs old and there's the promise of 15 hours fee childcare a week - but if the child is with a cm the chances are parents will still have to pay while the child is at nursery. The only person benefitting is the cm who gets paid for 3 hours a day, even though they don't have the child

But of course, I also see it from the cms point of view. We can't lose out on 3 hours a day pay just so parents can access their funded hours. They might save money, but we lose out.

I think it's a case of trying to come to an agreement that everyone's happy with

I kinda feel the same way too. 15 hours is the sort of arbitrary figure that could only have been dreamt up by an accountant at the Treasury. It's a silly amount and is nearly always going to lead to compromises that don't really help anyone all that much if the parent wants to use a CM. I have so many parents say they send a lo to nursery cos they get the free hours, but they'd rather use a CM instead.

I'm trying to gain accreditation so I can offer the free hours, but beginning to regret it. The diploma course is just one massive drag and the accreditation process in my county is in utter chaos . No-one knows what we actually need to do to become accredited because the scheme is "out to consultation". ("Out to lunch" more like. )

I've a mum hoping I'm accredited in time for her lo to start, as she can't afford childcare without the free hours. Neither she nor I want the lo to have to start off at a nursery until she can afford to come to me, as it's so unsettling for the child. I'd offer to have her and waive 15 hours-worth of fees in the short term, but NCMA recommend against that, though they can't tell me why. confused:

The one good thing the free 15 hours is doing here is to keep the village pre-school afloat. Without it, they'd go out of business, especially since the local school is pressurising parents to start all reception children on a single September intake whether or not it's good for the child or the parent's wishes.

[dette]

if i drop off at the nursery then collect i charge half rates for those three hours and a dropping off and collection fee.if i just collect from nursery i charge a collection fee equivelant to the time it takes to prepare the other LO's and do the school run(for me that 15 min fee) i make it clear that the space may not be available in an emergency and if it is available ,and they use it ,it will be at an enhanced rate as its outside of contracted hours

[jellytots2912]

If I dropped the child off at nursery they I would charge the full day - but if I was collecting at 12 I would charge from 12 onwards

I agree with fussy Elmo x