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Original poster

CM wants part of the payment in cash. Is this normal?

30 replies

america · 30/10/2008 13:29

DS has been with the same CM for about a year now. He seemed very happy with her but there have been some changes lately and I'm a bit perplexed.

First, I used to pay her partly with CC vouchers and the rest by bank transfer. Now she wants 2/3 by transfer and 1/3 in cash (odd amounts). When I asked why, she gave some lame excuses of cash points being often out of order near her house (there are 2 cash points within 5min walk) and we are talking London here. Am I being paranoid or does this sound a bit fishy?

Second, the CM looks after two other toddlers full time in addition to DS (18MO, 21MO and 15MO) and two children (3YO and 5YO) before and after nursery/school. She has now taken on board another little boy before school. I'm starting to worry a bit that she has too many children to look after. I know that she cannot prevent every bump and bruise but DS had a big wound in his head this week and one of the other toddlers has a huge bruise in her forehead. She claims to be fine with all these children and I feel like a mother hen for worrying about this now. What do you think?

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SammyK · 30/10/2008 13:49

BTW forgot to add all my parents pay me in cash. This is their own choice and I declare it all, wouldn't dare not to!

SammyK · 30/10/2008 13:48

The payment thing may be innocent, but with the number of children in the mix too I do think you should be concerned.

Is she a registered childminder??

If she is she should have only 3 under fives at any one time (including own children if has any) - unless she has a variation, which will be printed on her displayed registration certificate.

I am a registered CM and full to my ratios, and would never want extra! As PLP says, the children wouldn't receive enough attention, and my hair would turn grey.

Did you get an accident form to sign and a copy of it when your child hurt their head. You should have if she is registered.

HappyMummyOfOne · 30/10/2008 13:48

I personally wouldn't pay by cash, agree it sounds a bit fishy and may not go through the books. Plus you would have no way of proving payment if she ever chose to dispute it.

I would also be worried about the five younng children - not only is her attention very divided but also outings etc may be compromised by so many young ones.

leonifay · 30/10/2008 13:47

if your that worried, give ofsted a call. if shes doing nothing wrong she wont worry too much about an ofsted visit. but then if the health of your dc is at stake and one phone call wouldnt hurt. it does all sound slightly fishy to me too.

Pawslikepaddington · 30/10/2008 13:31

Sounds fishy to me, and that is a lot of under 5-my cm used to manage 2 under 2 and a 3 y/o, and she was seriously experienced, but turned people away as she couldn't take more than that to the park etc and pay them enough attention.