Debt to child's nursery!

LolStevo

My children have been in this nursery for over a year, at first I had all 3 children in and now just have my youngest in full time and middle child wrap around care from school.

After having endless problems with tax credits where I changed my claim a couple of times from single to joint and back I went around 10 weeks without any tax credits as well as weeks here and there when I changed my job etc. During this time I couldn't pay the nursery fees but as I was working full time I needed the places and the manager was happy enough and understanding.

I have had my claim looked at twice in a year where I have had to send all my childcare proof in and I have again gone without tax credits, I rely on my tax credits to pay my nursery fees as my wages covers the rent and food.

Alongside this I was not getting housing benefit as I was told I didn't qualify, I challenged it and was told I would receive a small amount. Then someone told me to challenge again as it wasn't right but they would only back date a few weeks.

Anyway I'm now in a position where I owe the nursery over £2500, I'm paying £350 a week and the fees are £300 however I need to find another provider as the nursery is not open early enough for my new job.

I have no one else to rely on and i don't know what to do! If I find another childminder it's £350 a week for my kids childcare and I don't have much spare to pay off the debt as quick as she will want!

Any ideas what I can do? (And I know I should have kept track of it all but with not receiving payments, then housing benefit not being right as well as changing job and being silly with money iv got myself in a hole!)

Sazzie23

Hey LolStevo

Saw you hadn't had any replies, so thought I'd bump your question a bit.

I'm a bit slow on the uptake, I can see you've got issues with childcare, but is your question about how you pay the debt to first nursery or whether you should have the debt.
I have no experience with child tax credits and nursery fees etc, but I do know it's complex and wonder whether a Citizens Advice might be able to work through your entitlements.

Also regards the new childminder, I don't think your debts from previous nursery will be affected as long as you keep up the payments to the new one, but maybe I'm wrong.

Hopefully someone with better understanding of the issues will be along soon to help.

duchy

A business is likely to be a lot more understanding whilst you are a client but a lot less understanding if you take your business elsewhere and start legal action. Especially if you are making no effort to clear any of the arrears each month.

In your situation if you are waiting for a large back payment to cover the arrears I'd suggest you get your MP involved.

National_Debtline

Hi Stevo


As I understand it, it's no longer viable for you to remain a customer of this particular nursery due to its opening hours not fitting around your new job. s such, your focus now needs to be on finding a new provider rather than on what the old one wants back from you. You can only try to offer whatever is left over after realistic living costs have been budgeted for. If they're not happy out that, so be it. If they were to sue you, the courts would take your living costs into account.


By all means acknowledge the nursery's demands, but I think it'll be hard for you to set up any meaningful repayment plan until your circumstances are a bit more stable and alternative childcare has been sorted out.


Good luck


Dennis
@natdebtline

sourcrates

LolStevo wrote: »

I have no one else to rely on and i don't know what to do! If I find another childminder it's £350 a week for my kids childcare and I don't have much spare to pay off the debt as quick as she will want!

Any ideas what I can do?

Makes no difference how quickly she wants the debt paying off, you pay it back at a time, and rate to suit you, not them.

To be honest, I'd ignore them for now, find a new nursery, get your situation stabelised, tax credits sorted, etc.

Then think about paying it back, but at a rate you can afford, not what they tell you they want !!!

Karonher

If they were to sue you, the courts would take your living costs into account.

Just a quick question. Will this still be the case if there is an impact on the nursery due to the debt? I don't know how it works but surely they would take their need to receive payment into account as well?

QueenBeruthiel

My sympathies are with the nursery. They can't pay their staff in monopoly money, or feed the children pigswill: they have costs. If they were forced to close down due to other customers pulling this stunt, it would be responsible parents who would suffer while this guy finds some other nursery to fund his chaotic life.

Perhaps those of you who are encouraging him to move on and leave the nursery to whistle for the thousands he owes them should consider that. You wouldn't be too pleased if it happened to you.

sourcrates

QueenBeruthiel wrote: »

My sympathies are with the nursery. They can't pay their staff in monopoly money, or feed the children pigswill: they have costs. If they were forced to close down due to other customers pulling this stunt, it would be responsible parents who would suffer while this guy finds some other nursery to fund his chaotic life.

Perhaps those of you who are encouraging him to move on and leave the nursery to whistle for the thousands he owes them should consider that. You wouldn't be too pleased if it happened to you.

Hi,

You have obviously never had your tax credits stopped then !!

They do so instantly, if there's an issue, regardless of you having bills to pay, and it can take many months to sort out sometimes.

What are you supposed to do if they stop your money like that ?

Tax credits are blessings and curses in equal measure, and this "stopping of payments" applies to all benefits, not just tax credits.

Back in the day, when my kids were in nursery, our tc's were stopped for some stupid reason, not an incignificant amount either, about £540.00 a month, so I can sympathise with the OP on this !!

January2015

QueenBeruthiel wrote: »

My sympathies are with the nursery. They can't pay their staff in monopoly money, or feed the children pigswill: they have costs. If they were forced to close down due to other customers pulling this stunt, it would be responsible parents who would suffer while this guy finds some other nursery to fund his chaotic life.

Perhaps those of you who are encouraging him to move on and leave the nursery to whistle for the thousands he owes them should consider that. You wouldn't be too pleased if it happened to you.

Any good business owner/operator for childcare (or any other business) will have 'bad debt' contingency built into the business plans. If they don't they are operating a flawed business model.

It's not great the OP cannot pay, but if the OP's problem topples the business then the business was unsound anyway.

The OP needs to look after family and work first and treat this as any other debt they cannot pay at this time. It is important to keep in touch and show commitment to working to clear the debt. Making token payments to keep good faith with the company until such time as their situation improves and they can pay more - that's what I would do anyway.

Karonher

"It's not great the OP cannot pay, but if the OP's problem topples the business then the business was unsound anyway."

OP says that the manager tried to help them. Great for them but if they try and walk away from the debt I bet the next person who has problems is not given the same amount of understanding. Maybe they have tried to help someone else in the same position.

Most businesses do have plans, but they are not miracle workers and all it will take is a couple of non payers plus a few other incidents - increase in wages, a couple of staff off sick and replacements needed,and that fund can drop dramatically.

The staff and owners may have families that need to be looked after as well. it would be nice if people thought about others who are owed money as well as the ones who owe it.

sourcrates

Karonher wrote: »

The staff and owners may have families that need to be looked after as well. it would be nice if people thought about others who are owed money as well as the ones who owe it.

Most Nursery bills are paid for by the childcare element of tax credits, which has seen significant reduction of late.


Its horrendously expensive to put 3 kids through nursery, all these people blaming the OP for non payment, clearly don't have kids, or are very wealthy themselves, and have no need of tax credits.


Of course the business can suffer in situations like this, but your anger should be directed at HMRC, not the OP, who clearly did not set out to create this situation.


The OP, and the Nursery, are both victims of circumstance, fuelled by a system that can stop all your money in a heartbeat, with no explanation till weeks/months after the event.