Before & After School Club Fees

[Guest]

Hi All

 

We have run a large out of school club (40 -60 children per day) for 16 years and we have traditionally offset the costs against other areas of our provision (Community Centre). However, over the years money has become tighter and tighter and over 90% of our income is now self generated with just a small amount coming from grants and contracts.

 

So now it's time to bite the bullet and look at increasing our charges to better reflect the true cost of running the club. We currently charge £2.70 per hour which includes breakfast/tea plus snacks, drinks, materials for craft activites plus the usual activities such as role play, construction, games consoles, access to the internet (in our own computer suite with 8 networked PCs), snooker, table tennis, etc, etc.

 

We are also very flexible about booking places with members being able to book any number of sessions up to 24 hours in advance and credits given for any cancellations made with 24 hrs notice. But, we are finding that this is becoming unmangeable with parents chopping and changing sessions on a regular basis (e.g if a child gets a last minute invite to a friends house or 'granny' decides to pick up the children, etc).

 

So, I'd be interested in hearing what the rest of you charge for sessions and how you manage bookings.

 

Thanks for you help.

 

RR

[Guest jenpercy]

£9:50 per night no hourly rate. Close at 6:30 term times. No cancellation and 99.9% have a regular day booked that they are not allowed to have any term time holiday from - under any circs apart from long term hospital (over a month usually)

[Guest]

£6.50 per night we need 3 weeks notice of changes then we charge half price . we are small only 16 children per session so we need to be strict about charging. We also rely on fees with no outside income. We would come to some agreement for long term sickness and have also made arrangments for half price if a parent has lost employment so they can save their childs(with child still attending) place till they get another job.

sue

[Guest]

We are in a pretty deprived area and so have staged costs.

 

3 - 4.30pm £3

 

3 - 5.30pm £5

 

3 - 6pm £7

 

24 hours notice to cancel.......... or standard £3.50 charge.

 

Late fees: £5 for every 5 minutes after 6pm (We had to get heavy when folks were being late continually. This has stopped this entirely!!)

 

We do £10 for two siblings to be in until 6pm.

 

Have reduced rates by 10% for parent with 3 children.

 

Afterschool club is part of our wraparound care so costs/ profits from lunch club, private afternoon nursery sessions and after school all go into the same pot.

 

Most children have a set pattern of what they do but not all. I am lucky to have a team of staff who are flexible re numbers!

Edited May 27, 2010 by Scarlettangel

[AnonyMouse_1469]

RR I think you're far too generous!! You need to put your fees up to a price that covers what you offer, plus a bit for contingencies.You also need to stop the 24 hours notice bit........as you see, parents take the wotsit when you are so kind. I run a preschool, and if parents don't want the session because the children are off to grannys ( I have two doing exactly that today!), then i'm afraid that's their choice. I am flexible on sessions where I can be: if they want to swap a day for instance I will if I can.But one months notice is required if they want to change permanently, or leave. I am putting my fees up from £3 to £3.50 in September.......quite a big rise, but ours have been the same for over 3 years now, and we need the income! Good luck with it.

[Guest]

Hi

Ours are as follows:

 

£2.20 for morning session (1 hour before start of school)

£6.25 for after school (3.30 - 6pm).

Half day for holidays £9

Full day £17

Club caters for 40 children after school. No refunds once booked. Sessions booked month in advance.

Hope this helps.

Midlands based too.

[Guest]

Thanks for your replies everyone, they've been really useful. I realised I'd made a mistake in my OP and we actually charge £2.60 p.h. I also didn't say that we are in a 'nice' area - parents mainly professionals.

 

I've taken on board what you've all said and also spent some time trawling the Net to see what charges and systems are across the country.

 

So, this is what I've decided I'm going to put to my management committee to bring in from September:

 

Keep the facility to book by the hour but;

 

Increase the cost to £3 per hour

 

Make bookings a week in advance with a Thursday evening deadline so that we can get the following week's registers done on Friday.

 

Stop credits for cancellations (with some discretion for proven long term sickness, etc)

 

Introduce an emergency booking fee (£???) for anyone booking after Thursday evening or phoning for us to keep their child longer (happens quite a lot, but it's the same parents who already have a pretty good idea that they'll be late but don't want to book the session just in case they get away early)

 

We already have a late collection charge and we do implement that quite firmly.

 

What do you think - is this fair enough??

 

Also, what would you suggest as an emergency booking fee? Bearing in mind it's got to be high enough to be a deterrent (and concentrate the mind to book on time) but low enough to be fair in genuine emergencies.

 

RR

Edited May 28, 2010 by Guest

[Guest]

Hi All

 

A quick update on this. I took my proposals to the committe and it was agreed to put the cost up to £3 per hour, bookings to be made at least one week in advance, no refunds for cancellations and a late booking rate of £4 per hour.

 

I sent out a letter to all parents before school broke up and didn't get any feedback the first week. But, I've just got back today from a week away and have heard from one of the committee members that she's had an email from a parent moaning that the changes are unfair and that she and 'other parent's' aren't happy and are looking for a childminder to take their children instead.

 

So, I know I've done the right thing for our business to help plan staffing, etc, but I'm looking for some reassurance that they won't get childminders for much less than £3 per hour for before/after school sessions and that payment will be for the place, not the attendance?

 

Any thoughts?

 

RR

Edited August 6, 2010 by Guest

[AnonyMouse_11396]

I would suggest you take on board her comments but also that you reiterate why the committee have come to this decision in the first place. You have to remain sustainable, and i don't think a childminder although they are great will provide the same kind of provision as you offer.

Good luck

[Guest jenpercy]

We charge more £9:50 per session - but still get lots of comments that we are cheaper than childminders. Stick your ground.