Childminder holiday fees

I know it is sad to move to a new carer but really once you're in a new situation as long as it's a good one, your dds will love it as well.
When I was changing from my friend looking after ds to a cm I was devastated! I couldn't see sense... This happens when a bug change is about to take place. He loved my friend was so happy there it was perfect ... Etc. And it was perfect for the time we were doing that. But you know what? When we swapped to a cm, it was ALSO perfect even better, in fact! You will find the same.
I would end the contract based on her popping out and leaving your dds with other people without telling you. That alone is reason for immediate end of contract.

Figure out what she owes you, deduct your notice period from that, and then don't pay her a penny more until you are quits. Ideally you will find new childcare quickly and bill her for the rest of what she owes you.

Kitkat - If she has breached the contract by charging you a different amount, I think you are in a much stronger position than she is, to negotiate whether you pay her anything else at all.

Yes Skidoodly she is planning on continuing to overcharge me! until September when her new increased rates kick in, at which time she worked out new figures, which are correct, however although my daughter will drop from a full time place to only 3 hours a day, the rate is only going down around £20 per week!

I am so sad at the thought of having to change CM, the girls really love going to her, but i cannot look at her in the ame way again after the last coupleof weeks, my opinion has really gone down hill, today I will start looking for a new childminder. The girls are not with her this week they are on a holiday week and next week she is on a holiday week (she will be expecting her pay to be in the bank for these weeks though) at a higher rate than she is actually entitled too! where do you think I stand with the months notice period? baring in mind she is not inline with her contract and it was only last week I found she had left the girls with her mum and husband while she "popped" out.

Maybe it's time to consider nurseries and afterschool clubs truly shocking the way she is behaving.... Most cms are not like this, truly. From the things I've read about her in your threads, she doesn't seem like a very good cm.
I get really irritated when a cm does stuff like this. It is my childcare of choice and I think there are some really brilliant cms out there. I don't like people like her giving them a bad name

She's planning to continue charging you the incorrect amount?

Even though it is more than has been agreed in your contract?

When she's already overcharged you for every week so far this year??

If I were you I would start looking for alternative childcare immediately.

There is no way I would put up with that kind of shit from anyone, never mind someone I trusted to look after my children.

Once you've got something else lined up you can take her to the small claims court.

"I completely missed charging a family for a whole week once ... didn't notice it til my year end accounts and never asked them for the money."

This is more my experience with my DDs' CM. She is bloody awful at figuring out how much I owe her. I've frequently had to explain to her why I've paid more than she was expecting.

I really hope though that she'd tell me if a week had been missed as you describe. I would not want her to miss out on money I owed her. It might take me a while to get the money together, depending on how much it was, but I would certainly make sure she was paid.

If i do the calculations and reduce the figure, she might refuse to have the girls! there are not that many childminders in the area, im due to go on maternity leave soon with the plan being to send the new baby to the CM too, but im really not sure how this will affect our relationship.

i would hate if i made a mistake as i work on a very tight budget and if i had been depending on a set amount and it had to go down plus try and pay money back i would be devasted and really struggle. i would however try and make up the hours or see if deducting the fees spread over next year would work as long as the payments didnt go down to dramatic.

Oh ... and should have said ... do your own calculations and reduce your payment now (if it's a standing order).

Kitkat - Not sure how the law stands on overpayments in this case. I know in my previous life (!) when I worked in payroll, if we overpaid someone and didn't tell them within a certain time (and they had spent the money), then we could not reclaim the money.

However ... you are not her employer and it sounds as though she may have stated one rate on her contract and charged a different rate. I think you should probably be able to get your money back and I think you should have it NOW (of course if she works with you, you may want to agree something more friendly). If not, then (legal issues aside) maybe think about the small claims court?

As looney said - I completely missed charging a family for a whole week once ... didn't notice it til my year end accounts and never asked them for the money.

The contract is based on a daily rate for one and an hourly rate for the other child. what the CM has then done is take the figures and pro rata it over the year so the fee is the same each week during term time and school holidays, i think alot of CMs do this, which is fine with me, otherwise some weeks would be alot less than others depending on school hols etc its when she has pro rata-ed the figures the mistake has been made, what i find completely un ethical is even now when she has admitted the figure is more than it should be she is not willing to reduce it and is telling me it stands!

If your contract says one thing and then she's done this monthly fees things (like me) then she doesn't have a leg to stand on unless she got you to sign to agree to the other figures?

Honestly though, it's disgusting her attitude, I'm honestly shocked at how some childminders treat their customers!! And even if it takes a while to sort out the payments so far, she most definitely should be correcting the figure NOW and not in Sept!!!

Pippin, I am absolutely Gobsmacked by her attitude, she is basically saying that as i have been paying her and she calculated the figures in good faith then Tough! and the figure is not a couple of pounds it is hundreds!

Err no KitKat - she has miscalculated and she owes you money.
She doesn't do credit notes!
her attitude is appalling, she is overcharging you.
If she doesn't look like she is paying it back then tell her how you will be re-cooping it.

Im not expecting her to give me a cheque that would be a little unfair as i should have checked the figures, but to be unwilling to even look a it even now she knows the figure is too much, where does the contract stand as she is not charging as per the rate in the contract?

I dropped the CM an email, i did not mention the exact figre but pointed out that obviously if she has calculated it the same as she was doing this years it wont be correct, I am less than impressed with the repsonse which was that she does not do credit notes and its too late to adjust the figure and it will stay the same weekly rate until the new figures kick in, in September! Not sure where I stand now, Its partly my fault i should have asked to see her calculation but i just went with the figure in good faith.

Agree. I'm a childminder and would definitely expect to pay you back if I made a mistake. I've even forgotten to add overnight stays on a couple of times in the past (was fairly soon after having ds2) and I realised a few months later and just left it as it was MY MISTAKE. If I overcharged a parent I'd definitely expect to pay it back (I'm struggling majorly in the finance dept. since dh was made redundant last year BUT that doesn't matter, somehow I'd expect to pay it back - if spreading over the next year was an option then I'd be very happy with that )

I'm not sure what advice you are looking for. She has overcharged you and must pay you back, of course.

Just say it to her.

How about:

"Would you prefer me to deduct the money you'll owe me from next year's pay, or would it be easier for you to give me a cheque for that amount now?"

Also - work out for yourself how much she has overcharged you by.

And also - don't trust her figures anymore.

My CM takes 4 weeks Holiday, 2 weeks term time, 2 weeks school holiday, it is in the contract that she is paid for these weeks - even if i have to find alternative childcare as i cant get cover to have the girls, in effect some weeks i pay twice for, now what the CM has been doing is Pro rata-ing for the year so during holidays and term time it is the same, 52 weeks per year. However I recently noticed after paying for the last 39 weeks the CM has not Pro rata-ed the figures correctly and in fact in accordance with the rates in the contract and the hours etc, the CM has been taking too much from me every week. What do I now do about this? should the CM have to pay back any miscalculation? This came to light when the CM calculated the new school years figures and I noticed the CM was adding weeks to the year in bank holidays and teacer training days which did not exist, then adding on 4 weeks holiday on top of the year, the CM has since recalclated after i pointed out it was not correct, the CM agreed the mistake, but has not mentioned that the year im currently paying is calculated with all the extra weeks too, and i dont have a clue how to even broach the subject so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Pippin I hadn't even noticed. I didn't mispell your name on purpose to make a point, I promise

Skidoodly - apologies, I jsut realised i have not been spelling your name correctly.

As an aside, in many many companies, as an employee, you don't have absolute discretion to take your holiday when you want - its up to the employer to OK the dates before you take it.

So if a CM was expecting paid holiday, I would expect to be consulted on when its taken.

my policy is that if i am open (which i do 51 wks of the year then they pay me full price, even if they choose not to use me. If i am closed then i do not get paid. i and my customers think this is fair. i only take retainers to keep a place open until they start with me.

Seriously? Some childminders want to be paid for times when they aren't available? Fine if you're employed by me, but as childminders always remind us on here, they are self-employed, so I don't see how the two go together at all.