Childminder not being paid, constant excuses, advice required

warehouse

Hello MSE users,

My wife is a childminder, ofsted registered & inspected, and has been for 3 years. At the moment she has 3 children. Two of the children are 1 or 2 days, the 3rd child is 4 days a week, 7.30am to 6pm.

The problem is the mother of child 3. Basically she has been falling behind in payments for the last few months until she is now 6 weeks behind and owes approximately £1300. I understand you'll all say my wife shouldn't have let it get to this, but the excuses she comes up with are so believable that it seems to have happened all too easily. I've tried to stay in the background because it's my wifes business and she runs it as she sees fit, but it's now clear that this lady is taking advantage of her good nature.

So this morning we had a chat and decided this situation must be dealt with head on. The mother has promised she'll be here today with the full amount, but she won't be, like she wasn't last week, or the week before.

My wife wants to put her on a months "notice" as stated in the contract, but I want her to remove all services as from Monday morning as another month not being paid will just mean chasing yet more money, and will probably mean this lady will see sense and stop taking advantage. My wife thinks that simply stopping looking after child 3 will mean she'll never see the money.

I said I'd post on here to get some advice on this situation, and she agreed, so here it is. Any advice is welcome, any questions will be answered.

busterian

Hi Warehouse

You're right in saying that your wife shouldnt have let it get to this stage but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Does your wife not have any policies in place regarding late payments?

It's clear that this parent has breached the childminding contract here and as such your wife is entitled to stop caring for her child forthwith.

However, the fact that there is a months' notice stated in the contract, I would stick by that. Hopefully, once the parent has been given this notice, she may well pay up. If your wife still wants to care for her child, I would ask for the fees in advance and not in arrears, and amend the contract accordingly.

Hope this helps.

inmypocketnottheirs

You have my sympathy. My wife is a childminder and has too suffered similar situations.

In my view, the parent in question has breached their part of the contract and your wife is totally entitled to withdraw her services, until the arrears are paid in full.

Then, when the arrears are paid, refuse to accept the child until a month's payment up front has been paid, or a substantial deposit of say £500 or £1000 is paid. Then when this has run out, it needs to be topped up.

It never ceases to amaze me how certain parents view their childminders. They are expected to care for what is supposedly their most precious being, feed them, look after them, nurture them, comply with the ever increasing Ofsted burdens for a lwer hourly rate than a cleaner and they can not be bothered to pay on time.

In our area there is a very strong childminding group, a network of childminders who all meet regularly and share experiences of bad payers. Quite often a parent who treats their childminder in this way is blackballed and no one will touch them with a bargepole.

Time for your Mrs to play hard ball I am afraid. Withdrawal of labour until payment is made, the a refusal to re engage without payment in advance. If payment is not forthcoming, start proceedings via moneyclaim online.

mrbrightside842

I'm not sure if a months notice would be a good thing. It would give her a month to look for someone else, and would give her another month of 'free' childminding. If she's not going to pay what she owes, she probably wouldn't pay for the next month either and so she'll just run at the end of it, owing 2 months. I'd doubt she cold pay the £1300 in one go, and maybe she's now panicking. You'd have to see what she says if she turns up. If she doesn't turn up today, I'd turn her and the child away on Monday. Could your wife fill the place with another child quickly? I'd rather be £1300 down and chase for that, than let her have another month free on top of what she already owes.

Vader123

Firstly get her to acknowledge the debt.

Then say all future childminding will only be done via payment in advance or on the day until the arrears are cleared.

The arrears need to be cleared in say x weeks so thats £x amount a week, plus in advance fees.

Vader

knithappens

also does your wife have insurance, my childminder is going through this at the moment with another lady who's kids she cares for and she said that she cam claim it through her insurance, check the policy and see.

like has previously been said she has breached her contract through non payment you wife can now stop caring for her child. Make sure everything is documented and in writing.

DVardysShadow

warehouse wrote: »

....
The problem is the mother of child 3. Basically she has been falling behind in payments for the last few months until she is now 6 weeks behind and owes approximately £1300. I understand you'll all say my wife shouldn't have let it get to this, but the excuses she comes up with are so believable that it seems to have happened all too easily. I've tried to stay in the background because it's my wifes business and she runs it as she sees fit, but it's now clear that this lady is taking advantage of her good nature.

So this morning we had a chat and decided this situation must be dealt with head on. The mother has promised she'll be here today with the full amount, but she won't be, like she wasn't last week, or the week before.

My wife wants to put her on a months "notice" as stated in the contract, but I want her to remove all services as from Monday morning as another month not being paid will just mean chasing yet more money, and will probably mean this lady will see sense and stop taking advantage. My wife thinks that simply stopping looking after child 3 will mean she'll never see the money.

I said I'd post on here to get some advice on this situation, and she agreed, so here it is. Any advice is welcome, any questions will be answered.

Hmm. Are ou prepared to take this to the small claims court?

You will do better to assume that you will see very little of the money outstanding. Once the pressure gets too much, she will move on. So I think you & your wife would do well to count the outstanding money as notice. What I mean is that you have now given the customer as much notice as fees outstanding. So you can feel entitled to cut her services when she turns up on Monday, if you like. And you should feel free to look for another child to mind.

Once you have come to terms with that, it now comes down to how best to recover the outstanding fees. I think I would put this woman on a recovery plan, where she pays upfront for on going services on a weekly basis or even daily, plus say, 20% extra, towards wiping out the debt. Refuse to take the child without this money.

And also, while you are looking for another child to mind, put her on notice that unless certain targets are met regarding arrears, you will feel free to take another child and turn hers away with as much notice as is convenient to you for taking on another child.

If you want to keep open the option to take it to the small claims court, make sure you have good records and you put whatever you now decide to her in writing, keeping copies.

Valli

FWIW (am not a childminder and don't use one currently) I'd go down the pay now or I won't have your child route.
Your wife has been inconvenienced so now she can inconvenience this mother.

It might well be that the mother gets some of her costs of childminding paid through CTC or by her employer anyway...but that's not the issue.

As it's the end of the month and the mother should have been paid now is a good time to expect payment!

Put the claim in writing, put the refusal to continue to care for the child because of the unpaid debt in writing and then give her, say 14 days to make the payment or you will pursue the claim in small claims. Add, that under the circumstances, should this mother continue to want your wife to mind her child your wife will require payment in advance in furure, ie for the following week on the last working day of the previous week.
The contract has been broken anyway by this mother so a new contract is called for and perfectly justifiable IMHO

alison999

Id just like to add that maybe you should call her and tell her not to come on Monday.

Its not fair on the CHILD to just turn him/her away and she/he wont understand whats going on.

mad_bad_spender

Hi

If the mother is going to find it hard to pay the full amount of arrears in one go i would consider making her pay for next week in advance plus a certain amount of the arrears, this way your wife probably has more chance of recouping some of the arrears.

you may push her away completely if you refuse to watch the child until the full amount is paid, she may find another child minder and then would probably see no reason to pay your wife at all.

as stated before i would also have your wife check her insurance as hopefully she will be covered for any losses

choille

Personally I wouldn't give her a months notice as she'll clear off & find someone else.

On Monday issue her with a bill & at the bottom of the bill type If this bill is not paid in full within 7 days then a late paymant charge will be added.
Hand her this bill. If after 7 days she has not paid this bill then send another via recorded delivery with final fee note written in red across the envelope.

Type the bill in red headings & at the bottom type this is a final late payment bill. Add the late payment charge - say £45 or a percent of the total bill to the outstanding amount.
Type in red at the bottom if this bill is not fully paid within 7 days I will attempt to recover this debt & you will be liable for any expense that this incurs.

Then enclose a copy of what a person needs to do who is summoned to a small claims court - you should be able to download that page from the court website.

Next - Sort out between yourselves a standard practice of billing. When you expect people to pay - what you will do if they don't - keep things professional whether or not you feel sorry for someone.
Have a standard letter on the PC that has a terms section - ie This bill needs paying in full within 14 days - whatever.

Keep a professional standard & stick to it - people often respect you more if you have things on a formal footing right from day one.
All the best.