We rarely forget our appointments on purpose: 'Most people are actually a bit forgetful.'

We rarely forget our appointments intentionally: *"Most people are actually a bit lazy and annoyed by it"*

Fines don’t necessarily help us arrive on time—in fact, research shows they often have the opposite effect.

Jakob Kjellberg is a professor of health economics at VIVE, the National Research and Analysis Centre for Welfare. (Photo: © Jeppe Myhlendorph, DR)

The issue is well-known in daycare centers across the country.

During holiday periods, many children are registered for childcare, but often far fewer show up. This wastes the staff resources that have been called in to work.

> *"Most people are actually a bit lazy and annoyed by it"*

> **Jakob Kjellberg, professor of health economics, VIVE – The National Research and Analysis Centre for Welfare**

Now, a school principal in Vemb, West Jutland, proposes introducing a fee for parents who cancel holiday childcare too late.

A solution that has also been tested in the healthcare system to reduce the number of no-shows. In 2015-2016, there was a trial at the Orthopedic Surgery Outpatient Clinic at Viborg Regional Hospital and the Radiology Department at Silkeborg Regional Hospital.

The conclusion was clear: Fines didn’t work.

No-shows are rarely a deliberate action, according to the professor behind the study.

*"Most people are actually a bit lazy and annoyed by it,"* says Professor Jakob Kjellberg from VIVE – The National Research and Analysis Centre for Welfare.

*"It’s often done out of forgetfulness or because it’s difficult to plan with a long time horizon."*

The integrated institution in Brande is one of the places where management experiences that too many staff are often called in during holiday periods because fewer children arrive than those registered for childcare. (Photo: © Peter Øvad Halkjær, DR Nyheder)

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Fines can be seen as a payment

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Especially among socially disadvantaged groups, fines backfire, he explains, while they work slightly better for the middle class. But sometimes, fines can have the exact opposite effect.

This is known from Israeli research, where fines were introduced for parents who picked up their children late from daycare.

*"There, you saw that more parents started picking up their children late. Because they thought: 'Well, we can just pay to avoid picking them up a little later,'"* explains Professor Jakob Kjellberg.

The project ended up being called *"A Fine is a Price"*—a fine is a payment.

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Reminders are the best tool

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SMS reminders and similar methods are simply more effective. This is known, for example, from child dental care, explains Jakob Kjellberg.

*"You often get multiple reminders the day before, two days before, and three days before, asking you to remember to bring your child to the dentist at a specific time. And it actually works to reduce the number of no-shows,"* he says.

He recommends making it easy to remember appointments and simple to cancel them.

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