Discussions have been raised on social media after a Kiwi mum was charged $55 for being one minute late picking up her child from an early childhood centre.
Early Childhood Council CEO Peter Reynolds joined TVNZ 1's Breakfast today to explain the reason behind the exorbitant fines.
"There are a number of childcare centres that do charge fees for late pickups and what have you. It depends on the service as to what that charge might be," Mr Reynolds says.
"In the main, they're trying to cover things like staff wages and the additional cost will come from working beyond the licensed hours that they're open, so it sounds a little bit unreasonable, but I guess it's very much the same as if you order a taxi and you keep it waiting - they'll turn the meter on."
Mr Reynolds said, "I do know a number of centres that have this sort of issue spelt out in their fees policy and they encourage parents to be aware of it, but they'll also take a, I guess, relaxed view depending upon the circumstance, so they'll talk to the parent first. I don't know whether that's happened in this instance or not".
"These aren't fines - they're basically the charges the service is going to incur, so the service has got to pay things out if parents are late coming to pick up their kids, and the service is obliged to have to pay wages and pay other costs associated with keeping the place open.
"We don't want to have to do that, but that's the way the system works, and it's very similar to other parts of society, I guess."
He says the parents "are paying for the hours the child is enrolled in the childcare centre, and those hours are quite specific".
"They're listed in the enrolment agreement that the parent completes and signs at the beginning of the process, so if they're going to be late - these things happen - then I think it's important that, first of all, the parent is aware of the fees policy of the childcare centre, so have a look at that and make sure that you're familiar with what the terms and conditions are, but also that they communicate with the childcare centre."
Mr Reynolds said parents shouldn't be encouraged to use the late fee as an excuse to pick up their kids later if they're already late, as the "benefit of childcare" is "the relationship between the service and the parent, as well as between the service and the child".
"You don't want to disrupt that relationship, but at the same time, there has to be boundaries."
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