sent child home- do you refund

Hi

Yesterday child came with really bad coungh. had him for 7.5 hours and no real improvement.
today, got dropped off at 9am for same long day. he was really raspy. told dad he needs to take to doctor. dad reply, mum is at home. i will call her and left.

Anyway, child breathing has not been right (he is one) and then two loose nappies, straight after his jar of food. so I have sent home. which i feel bad for, but dont think they should have sent him anyway when mum has been home both days.

Question is-
im meant to do after school pick up for his brother, but not now, as mum is going to collect- do I still charge for that?
plus do i charge my half rate from time he was picked up till home time?

or not, i charge in advance, which means refunding back -all fine with, but what should i do. would mean refunding after school pick up and 3.5 hours for LO. Or because i was working -i dont refund?

Never sent home before. Normally if child is ill and doesnt come i just charge half fee.

It depends what you put in the contract.
I sent siblings home last week and won't be giving a refund, my contract makes it clear if child is ill then full payment due

I charge if I've sent child home ill and as I am/would have been planning on collecting elder child ... may have prepared tea etc for ... then I would charge. It is mums decision to collect.

I get paid in advance so I've been paid regardless of what happens! ( unless I'm ill )

Agree with Smiley - depends what you have in your contracts for child's sickness/non attendance.

I charge for all contracted hours if I am available for work - so I would charge full fee for the day and full fee for the sibling as I am still available to collect. I have this in my contract and discuss with parents when they sign.

If I have sent a child home ill then there is no refund due. As for the school age sibling, I wouldn't refund for that either. It is mums choice for her to collect so no I wouldn't refund.

xx

As smiley says check in your contract. I have it written in mine thats its full charge for a child's illness. I always explain that the space is still theirs so they pay for it.

I would still charge per my sickness policy. I would also still charge for the older siblings school pick up because you are still available to still collect.

It depends what it says in your contracts.

I charge full fee for child's time off - sickness, holidays or occasional days. If I sent a child home I would charge as per my contract, so full fee would be due. The same as for the afterschool child. If I was available to collect them I would charge as normal as it would count as the child's occasional time off.

If your contract says you charge half for child's sickness I would have though you would refund half for the time the child wasn't with you. As for the older child, it depends what your contracts say about their time off.

hi I too would still charge full fee for both as my contracts states all children's sickness paid in full and it was muns decision to collect older child so still have to pay you

HI

Thanks for all the replies.

My contract states half fee payable on child sickness and if they provide me with enough notice (24 hours), so really i won't refund for the rest of the day. The afterschoolie - I also shouldn't refund, but I think I will for him- good will gesture! plus has meant my own kids have had a night off!

Though, this has made me think about changing the wording on my contracts regarding sending children home. Thankfully only my first ever send home!

It's situations like this that do make us review our contracts. What if a family was going away and pretended that the child was ill so that they can just be charged half fees? Don't mean to sound cynical! I had one family who were always going away on little trips (combined with illness they were seriously away about every third week on average) and bless them they never ever considered not paying me in full, but I would have been massively out of pocket if I only charged half fees for when they were absent. x

I charge if I'm available and don't charge if I'm not :thumbsup:

I think a half fee for sickness is open to problems as a parent could ring me and say their child is ill for the whole week, and then I've lost half my wage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JCrakers

I charge if I'm available and don't charge if I'm not :thumbsup: I think a half fee for sickness is open to problems as a parent could ring me and say their child is ill for the whole week, and then I've lost half my wage.

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Same. Keep it simple. If you're available to work and child isn't with you, charge. If you're not available to work, don't charge.

Notice for sickness is ...I agree... a bit of a worry as often it is sudden and unexpected

I have never known of anyone who charges half fee for sickness or refunds fees but it is your business so you can decide
I hope parents don't think this is another way of getting free childcare ...think twice about funded children as often LAs want the funding back

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AliceK

If I have sent a child home ill then there is no refund due. As for the school age sibling, I wouldn't refund for that either. It is mums choice for her to collect so no I wouldn't refund.

xx

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Be wary of refunding out of kindness as what about the next time Mum decides to pick up oldest child from school as it saves her some money, or says both are sick, so staying away so won't be paying you. (I've had both of these in the early days, and it sucks!) Remember at all times that you are a business, and anything you refund is less money for you to use to spend on your own family (which is why you're working in the first place!)

Good luck,

L

Thank you all. Yes I am going to review all my contracts.

I normally only charge half fee for sickness and holidays. My holiday no charge. But after this, I think I will still charge full amount for sickness. Your all right. I have a morning off- so am going to write a letter for all parents.

I think this is why I am getting annoyed with childminding as parents are taking the mick a bit with other things as well, continually swopping hours and days, a non settler, and only working afternoons mainly at the minute. I do need to toughen up with all my parents. It's just not like me though. But with two full timers gone and no new contracts in the pipeline I have to think of me and my family.

Decision made, otherwise I will give up. Toughen up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karen1

Thank you all. Yes I am going to review all my contracts.

I normally only charge half fee for sickness and holidays. My holiday no charge. But after this, I think I will still charge full amount for sickness. Your all right. I have a morning off- so am going to write a letter for all parents.

I think this is why I am getting annoyed with childminding as parents are taking the mick a bit with other things as well, continually swopping hours and days, a non settler, and only working afternoons mainly at the minute. I do need to toughen up with all my parents. It's just not like me though. But with two full timers gone and no new contracts in the pipeline I have to think of me and my family.

Decision made, otherwise I will give up. Toughen up.

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Karen, don't write your letter in haste or when you're feeling low. A tip I picked up years ago was to publish a list of dates that I will be taking as leave plus the bank holiday dates that I will be taking off (on full pay) at the start of the year for the year ahead. Decide on how much leave you take. I take 25 days paid leave, plus the 8 Public holidays. By announcing the dates to all parents at the end of December (co-ordinated with the school leave dates as far as possible - you can always leave some yet to be announced if you're not sure exactly when the last lot will be), then it gives parents the chance to co-ordinate their dates with yours. So this is when you are due full holiday pay. Any leave the parents take outside of this should be paid in full as time when you are available but not being used. Then if a parent leaves part way through the year, I work out leave I've taken vs leave still to be taken as follows: the child has been with me 9 months. I am due 1.25 weeks leave every 3 months. 3 x 1.25 weeks is the number of weeks leave due, less any taken. Bill the parents for the remainder (which comes out of their 4 week deposit). Plus: Bank holidays: 2 days for every 3 months worked. 2 x 3 = 6 Bank holiday days due less however many used. Bill parents for the remainder. I write this into my contracts up front. Use your letter to work something similar in that suits your needs. Oh, and I ask parents to allow me one week's sick leave in any one contract year. (I may not actually use it, but it's very handy if one of my own children gets sick because of something that has been brought into my setting - such as Norovirus! It still means I can get paid by all parents for that one albeit rare week that I've had to close.)

I hope this helps.

Good luck,

L

Wow, lollipop kud. I think you have it sorted. Thank you for sharing all of that. I am still trying to sort out letter for parents and this has refocused me. New year, new rules and business head on. Thank u

I have sent one of mine home today after two very bad nappies.
I don't refund if I send the mindees home when they are ill.
Parents know that it's still full fee. X