Late Collection and Non-Collection of Children Policy

At Pepperberry Day Nurseries we have morning, afternoon and all-day sessions. Parents can collect their child from the nursery flexibly within this time. We ask them to be no later than the session end time, for example if they attend the morning session, we expect children to be collected no later than 1pm, and afternoon or all-day session no later than 6pm. We understand that some parents may arrive earlier to collect their child, which is acceptable. However, the full fees remain in place for the allocated session times.  

We give parents information about the procedures to follow if they expect to be late. These include: 

• Calling the nursery as soon as possible to advise of their situation and expected time of arrival 
• Agreeing a safety password with the nursery in advance to be used by anyone collecting a child who is not the parent (designated adult)
• Asking a designated adult to collect their child wherever possible – please inform Nursery Management before collection.
• Informing the nursery of this person’s identity so the nursery can talk to the child if appropriate. This will help to reduce or eliminate any distress caused by this situation
• If the designated person is not known to the nursery staff, the parent must provide a detailed description of this person, including their date of birth where known. This designated person must know the individual child’s safety password for the nursery to release the child into their care. This is the responsibility of the parent.

If a child has not been collected from the nursery after a reasonable amount of time has been allowed for lateness, we initiate the following procedure:

• The nursery manager will be informed that a child has not been collected
• The manager will check for any information regarding changes to normal routines, parents’ work patterns or general information. If there is no information recorded, the manager will try to contact the parents on the telephone numbers provided for their mobile, home or work. If this fails, the manager will try the emergency contacts shown on the child’s records
• The manager or staff member in charge and one other member of staff must stay behind with the child (if outside normal operating hours). During normal operating times, the nursery will plan to meet required staff ratios. If the parents have still not collected the child, the manager will telephone all contact numbers available every 10 minutes until contact is made. These calls will be logged on a full incident record
• In the event of no contact being made after one hour has lapsed, the person in charge will ring the local authority children’s social services emergency duty team 
• The two members of staff will remain in the building until suitable arrangements have been made for the collection of the child
• The child’s welfare and needs will be always met and to minimise distress staff will distract, comfort and reassure the child during the process
• To provide this additional care a late fee of £10 every 15 minutes will be charged to parents. This will pay for any additional operational costs that caring for a child outside their normal nursery hours may incur.