Not sure what to charge..

**Jelly Baby** · 23-03-2012, 03:14 PM

Hi,

I have a mum who uses

mon 930-230, tue the same and fri 9-6. Each day is £35..

The monday & Tue obviously less hours for the same money but mum knew this when i did contract as i have said shes using a split day and i can't fill thjose odd few hours. this morning she asked for all day mon & Tue which is obviously another few hours and all day thursday which isnt one of her days and i can't do.

So what would you do charge the same as fri and let her have the rest of monday & Tue free as such or leave it as same, have a feeling she will do this every week if i say yes?!

Thanks

**dette** · 23-03-2012, 03:25 PM

I think if you are charging her for the day already then you cant really charge extra unless you have in your contract a different rate for uncontracted hours i suppose .same again for the thursday .it will be your normal daily rate or whatever your additional uncontracted hours are .thats what i would do anyway xx

**Goatgirl** · 23-03-2012, 03:54 PM

I would charge the 3 days whether she uses them or not, plus the full fee for Thursday if you can do it. Could you get an emergency variation?! would you want to?

If she wants to change the contracted hours on monday and tuesday permanently I'd remind her she needs to give 4 weeks notice of a request to change hours. As a one off, if you can do it and are happy to and are charging a full day already I wouldn't charge any more for those.

good luck, hope you can work things out to suit you

best wishes,
Wendy

**Jelly Baby** · 23-03-2012, 03:56 PM

Thanks for the reply.

Have has this prob before in terms of the monday tuesday!

Basically as she is using half a day i said i couldn't fill it as no one would wantan hour as i do school run, she knew this and this is why she pays the same as the friday. however it is not a daily rate as in the whole day it is just classed as a daily as opposed to an hourly. I dont think ive got anything for the hours over contracted ones so bit stuffed i guess!

The friday is all day so thats why charge the same fee.

thanks

**Jelly Baby** · 23-03-2012, 04:00 PM

Thanks florabird. Do i want a variation..err no!!

Will charge normal for mon & Tue may be able to do one but not both as forgot car at garage and friend collecting and no room.

Thus i can do but have her cousin who together are a huge handful, although will do and hope i survive the day!!

thanks

**miffy** · 23-03-2012, 05:58 PM

Is £35 your daily rate? Presuming that's why mum is expecting to be able to have the extra hours at no extra charge - might be a good time to have a chat with her and explain how you worked out her fees.

Hope you can get it sorted, one of the downsides of charging a daily rate is that parents want to use all of the time they think they're paying for.

Miffy xx

**Tatjana** · 23-03-2012, 06:08 PM

I'm not sure if I understand your fees.....but I wouldn't see how you can charge more for the mon and tues if she's already paying you the same as the (full day) Friday.

**gigglinggoblin** · 23-03-2012, 07:06 PM

I think if you charge her for the full day its not on to charge her again for actually using the hours, you should just consider it a bonus that you get paid for not working imo.

**flowerpots** · 23-03-2012, 07:16 PM

You're charging her the full day because you cant fill the hours left over so really she is well within her rights to use the full hours she is paying for and if your charging for the full day then the space needs to be available for the full day imo

**EmmaReed84** · 23-03-2012, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by flowerpots

You're charging her the full day because you cant fill the hours left over so really she is well within her rights to use the full hours she is paying for and if your charging for the full day then the space needs to be available for the full day imo

Totally agree... Imagine if you had a mobile phone contract and had 900 minutes but every month you only actually used 600, you even tell the sales person you only want 600 but you only have the choice of 500 or 900... you take 900 as it covers you... but then you go over and use 700 minutes... you are with your 900 minutes how would you feel if they then said well we are charging you the exrta 100 minutes as you said you only wanted 600... Do you see what I mean lol...

She is paying a full day and collecting early, therefore she is already paying for the hours... calculate how much money you have actually earned and not worked.

**stacey2allu** · 23-03-2012, 08:07 PM

hey the way i see it is she is paying you for a full day however only using short hours therefore is entitiled to the full day (9-6) monday and tuesday.

**Goatgirl** · 24-03-2012, 11:36 AM

Hi again

,
I see what others are saying about 'unused hours' which are being paid for, and I think it sounds as though Mum is thinking along the same lines. But I don't think that was what you meant to agree to when you agreed hours and charges with parent. Is that right?

I think the problem is more how the charges have been explained or broken down.

If you have 9.30 to 2.30 written in your contract and she agreed to pay £35 for those hours, then parent needs to request extra hours and it is up to you whether you want to accommodate them, regardless of whether this would incur any extra cost to the parent or not.

It would be different if you had agreed that the whole day is available for that fee and you need x amount of notice for that information.

I think you need to write a breakdown of the fees and talk to mum again to clarify the situation. I wouldn't want to feel 'on call' for those other hours either. I would probably have worked out the weekly rate and divided it by the number of hours contracted, then explained that I will be charging the higher hourly rate as it is fewer than x no of hours.

For instance, I have a LO who needs before and after school care for 3 days a week. I have 7 1/2 hours available before school over the week and 12 1/2 hours available after school over the week. The 'place' is worth approx £80 per week to me at my usual rate of £3.75. However, the parent only needs me for 3 days a week and only for an hour after school: 7 1/2 out of 20 hours.

I had a think and decided I wouldn't be prepared to let the place go for less than £x, so explained I would not charge for the full place, but would charge a higher hourly rate for the hours she wanted (£5.00). Those are the hours in the contract and any extra hours she wants are charged at the same higher hourly rate. The family do occasionally need an extra hour which I am happy to do, knowing I am being paid a higher rate.

I hope you can talk to Mum again and sort out an amicable solution. I can see why she feels entitled to the extra hours, but also know I wouldn't want to be at someone's beck and call for no extra fee, knowing they really only needed the fewer hours.

The arrangement just needs to be firmer and clarified in writing on the contract.

Good luck

best wishes,
Wendy