Childminder contract breached?

saltibalti

I have received the reply from Ofsted. She has had a Welare order served on her which she had to answer or face prosecution.

She was looking after 2 under fives that she was not registered for. She had not declared the 5 newest editions to her family or other family change of circumstances. There were over 16's in contact with the children she minded that she had not disclosed (her partner and possibley her partners older kids I presume)

She remains registered. They are making unannounced visits regularly. I guess you have to kill a few kids before being struck off!

I have not had a peep out of her following the threat of further legal action and to be fair she would have to have some serious balls to take me to court now I have the Ofsted findings in my hand..........................................

ailuro2

Hope you found another childminder OK, ours is heaven sent, it's like a second home for our DD, she loves going there.

Wish I h ad known her when DD was younger, we had a CM who used to drop our DD off at someone else's house but then lie about it!!:eek:

saltibalti

Ok so she has balls!!! I received a letter from her solicitor and so went along to see mine.

I sent an open leeter offering payment for up until the day I ended our contract with imediate effect due to her FUNDAMENTAL breach of our contract. I included all relevant Ofsted reports, contracts etc. I didn't include a cheque for the amount I offered, but instead asked that they let me know by return of post where to send the payment to.

The solicitor received the letter over 6 weeks ago and I have not heard anything from them yet. I am definately expecting a reply to at least claim what I am offering if not to take me to court.......

Does anyone know how long all the legalities of getting court papers sorted etc would take?? I have seen on the CAB site that as the amount they would be claiming is under 5k it is viewed as small claim and so they would send me a 'pack' that I would need to send back agreeing to the amount or disagreeing with the supporting evidence........anyone know how long I should sit here on tenterhooks waiting for things to happen?????????

silvercar

I would be inclined to send a cheque with a covering letter marked "in full and final payment". That way her cashing the cheque will be her closure on the subject.

zzzLazyDaisy

silvercar wrote: »

I would be inclined to send a cheque with a covering letter marked "in full and final payment". That way her cashing the cheque will be her closure on the subject.

I agree. There is an amount that you agree is still owing to her. Make it clear in the letter that the cheque is tendered in full and final settlement of all monies owing. If don't make that payment and she starts proceedings and only wins that amount, it is still a win and you will have to pay her court costs. So it is in your interests to get that payment out of the way.

jo1967

A small claim is normally done online these days & within 4 or 5 days of her submitting the claim you would receive court paperwork & a response pack. This is the point where you complete the form refuting the claim & if necessary submitting a counter claim (expenses finding a new childminder for example!). She really isnt doing things very quickly & this would go in your favour.
I agree with the other posts she was is serious breach of contract & I dont think you would have any problem if this ended up in small claims.

I dont profess to be an expert on small claims but in my line of work probably issue between 6 or 7 claims a month so am experienced if nothing else! If a claim arrives on your door mat please PM me & I would be happy to help in any way I can (my sis was a childminder up to January this year so experience there too!).

saltibalti

Thank you for your advice, I will let you know how things pan out.

saltibalti

silvercar wrote: »

I would be inclined to send a cheque with a covering letter marked "in full and final payment". That way her cashing the cheque will be her closure on the subject.

I originally sent that when I replied to her first bill. She sent the cheque back saying it was not enough and would take legal action. Then went to solicitor etc etc.

Liquorice_Twirls

I would relish being taken to court by her as it would give me the opportunity to speak to the local press about the case, and why I wasn't paying the disputed amount.

Like you say, the facts as OFSTED sees it are there for all her potential clients to see and read about.

The worry for me is that she really doesn't get that she has done something dangerous and wrong. That means there is every chance she might make a similar dangerous decision in the future. I hope that OFSTED do make those unannounced visits to keep her on her toes.

saltibalti

Yeah, I had thought of going to the press but not sure what angle to go for, and knowing my luck it would backfire!!

As far as not knowing that she has done anything wrong, that is why I went to Ofsted. I also let a parent whose child was also being allowed to walk to school know. The Ofsted site lets you view any complaints that they have had to act on ( I have mentioned this previously but appreciate people will not have the time to read full threads!) by entering the minders/schools EY registered number. I was not aware of this, if I had I would have seen that she had had another complaint against her a few months earlier.

I would be interested to know how her insurance company stood as I presume they are paying for the legal costs involved for her, but she has presumabley broken her insurance conditions?