Uncollected Children Policy

The nursery has an obligation to stay with any uncollected child at the end of the day, until such time as that child is collected. A minimum of two members of staff must remain at the nursery until the last child is collected.

The nursery will not release a child to an unauthorised person, even if the collection is late, unless the parent, guardian or other authorised person telephones to let us know that because of an emergency, a different person will be collecting the child. The authorised person must give the name and address of the person who will be collecting, and a physical description of the person. A parent may also wish to give a password or some other form of identification, or send a photo. A member of staff must check this description before permitting the child to leave.

A record will be kept of any child who is not collected by the due time. This will note the date, the time at which the child was collected, who collected the child and the reason given.

If a child is not collected within an hour of the closing time of the nursery, and it has not proved possible to ascertain the reason for this, then we will contact social services for advice. (Local council number: 01795 424341 or the children’s safeguarding unit 07786191359)

If a child is collected late, the nursery will generally write to the parents or carers informing them of the difficulty that late collection causes, and may make a charge of £10 for every quarter of an hour or part thereof that the child is left on the premises after the final collection time.

If a child is collected by a friend or relative in an emergency, by car, and the person collecting has no car seat available, please be aware that the nursery has loan car seats, and these can be borrowed to safeguard children in this situation. However, please note that we cannot guarantee that a suitable loan car seat will be available at all times, as another parent may have borrowed them. We take no responsibility for incorrectly fitted car seats; we make these available simply as an option in the interests of the child’s safety.  Use of these seats is the responsibility of the user.

Revised May 2022
By: Jacquelin Curtis
Adopted as the policy of the nursery
By: Jacquelin Curtis Director,
Activeplay Nurseries Ltd