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Original poster

school threatens to call police over after school club

109 replies

Locket8891 · 12/09/2018 12:53

My school provides a paid after school club for working parents.
I booked my child into the club one morning and went to work.
While at work the school called my mobile to explain my child could not attend the club today, as I have not paid the previous payment for this club.
I asked how much I owed and she told me £35 I was surprised that knowing I'm a single parent at work! That they would not allow my child to go to the club today at least as I'm at work now,,she agreed and the convosation ended.
Not long after the liaison officer from school phoned my work place! to tell me again my child can not attend. I proceeded to explain that I had just spoken to someone and that they agreed my son can attend today as I'm at work and it's only £35!
the liaison officer would not give me any help nor chance,
her words were"your child can not attend the club today and if I do not pick him up at 3:10 she will call the police because it's a form of neglect!?!!!

Fair enough there is money owed which I was able to pay when I would of pick my child up.
how ever I took this as a personal dig at me, unprofessional and wrong? I am not neglecting my child nor would I let him wait outside the school to wait for me so why was I threatened this? It's not protocol if they can get hold of the parents or the emergency contact even or have a good will and allow him to attend the club why had it jumped to such extreme measures

OP posts:
TacoFriday · 12/09/2018 14:50

First phone conversation: breakfast club before school.

Second phone conversation: afternoon club after school.

Two separate sessions. They let you get away with non payment for morning and you still hadn’t paid by afternoon. If you couldn’t pay the money electronically via ParentMail then you should have gone to the school and paid on your lunch break.

The responsibility is that you pay if you want the service. The school doesn’t need to chase you for the money and they don’t have to keep giving you a service you won’t pay for.

You didn’t know? Not the school’s fault. You didn’t get a reminder? Not the school’s fault. You agreed to pay when you sent him, he went and you never paid.

The school doesn’t need to keep reminding you that you owe them money. You’re the adult,

StatisticallyChallenged · 12/09/2018 14:54

Sallythesheep73 quite possible has the answer here - we can't quite work out what has happened but it looks like hotmail/msn/outlook (and possibly some other providers but they're the massive problems) have changed their spam filtering recently. We've got dozens of clients who we've had to sent text messages to because they've ignored invoices, polite reminders, less polite reminders...and they're all sitting in their spam folder. Same is happening to my hotmail account with inbound emails.

So it could well be that they have invoiced, potentially several times over.

The woman sounds like she was a bit abrupt and impolite but we've had to tell parents before now that if they don't collect we'll follow our procedure (for us it's social services rather than police) and we've also had to refuse to collect children until parents pay. We're not cash only though, that's a bit archaic!

Kool4katz · 12/09/2018 14:57

It’s not a moral issue but a legal one.
I don’t care what or how the debt was incurred, the school has to act within the law.
It’s no different to when Universities were trying to withdraw teaching from students in order to get the students to pay their outstanding rent. As a founder member of NASMA, it’s about ensuring that educational establishments don’t try to act outside of the law. 🤷‍♀️

YeTalkShiteHen · 12/09/2018 14:58

Right, and what does the law say about not paying people you expect to take care of your child?

They offer a service which hasn’t been paid for. They are unprepared to continue offering that service until payment has been made.

I can’t see the problem.

HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone · 12/09/2018 15:04

it’s about ensuring that educational establishments don’t try to act outside of the law.

What law states that people can use a service and not pay for it, refuse to engage in phone calls because that is considered harassment and then whinge that they service is discriminating against their child because they won't let the use the club, even though the parent has not paid? Seriously point me in the direction of that law. Confused

(N.B. I am not saying this is what the Op has done in any way shape or form, this post is not in relation to the Op's situation)

ExFury · 12/09/2018 15:31

You’ll probably find it’s a standard response because there are parents who have no intention of paying bills, but know if they simply don’t turn up to collect their child the school will most likely put them into afterschool care.

We had to issue a similar “we’ll call ss/the police” notice at the playschemr in the summer because a parent who knew they didn’t have a place sent their child down in the morning with no adult leaving us with a child and no spaces so we had to take a hard line. Same with afterschool care when parents were repeated non payers.

ExFury · 12/09/2018 15:32

We used to be much more easy going btw, but people take the absolute piss so now we’re not - your child’s school is probably the same.

Lweji · 12/09/2018 15:41

It’s no different to when Universities were trying to withdraw teaching from students in order to get the students to pay their outstanding rent. As a founder member of NASMA, it’s about ensuring that educational establishments don’t try to act outside of the law.

You think it's the same? Hmm

The school hasn't refused to teach this child. Just refused to continue to provide the exact service the OP didn't pay for.

YeTalkShiteHen · 12/09/2018 15:44

Actually having done a bit of research the university analogy is bullshit.

School cannot charge for education (state school), they can however charge for out of school care, so it’s not education which means that equating it with university isn’t the right analogy at all.

A childminder would have been a better analogy.

IdahoJones · 12/09/2018 16:19

But the OP's clearly fucked off with the specific threat to call the police. For doing something she never said she was going to do in first place.

Everything else is missing her point.

YeTalkShiteHen · 12/09/2018 16:22

IdahoJones twice, when asked to pick her child up before after school club said she was at work and he’d have to go to after school club.

In other words, on two separate occasions she declined to pick her child up. Therefore they had to presumably follow their safeguarding procedure.

Not missing the point at all.

Ohyesiam · 12/09/2018 16:23

I think they were clumsy and thoughtless . Surely just giving you a bill when you got there would have been enough..

gamerchick · 12/09/2018 16:31

Everything else is missing her point

But she might not forget to pay now so it worked pretty good Wink

IdahoJones · 12/09/2018 16:45

She agreed to payment during a previous phone call. From that to 'we'll call the police' is not a proportionate response, and it's clear to me at any rate that's what's fucked off the OP (reading her posts).

MadeForThis · 12/09/2018 16:58

Have they had to chase you for payment before. That might explain their frustration.

It's easy to forget a bill. Especially last week of school if it's busy.

I'm shocked at the over reaction. Calling the police when you have arranged childcare and they can easily contact you is ridiculous.

Should you have paid in advance? As it seems you haven't yet paid for today's session?

ShovingLeopard · 12/09/2018 17:28

This is a massive overreaction on the school's part, and the threat to kick the child out, and then rush to inform SS/the police reflects very badly on them. They should have offered some leeway, and allowed you to pay later. It is only a matter of hours, after all. Let me guess, this is the type of school that sends kids home for wearing ever so slightly just the wrong type of sock, no?

YeTalkShiteHen · 12/09/2018 17:34

Let me guess, this is the type of school that sends kids home for wearing ever so slightly just the wrong type of sock, no?

Or maybe the type of school that routinely need to find money from elsewhere to pay after school staff because parents forget?

Coldshoulders · 12/09/2018 17:59

Just read this thread and I'm like wow! Not being funny but it's just been the 6 week holidays and sometimes u forget obviously people have other things going on in their lives and what mother would purposely rip the school off for 35 quid? It's embarrassing and I wouldn't do it on purpose just like the op prob forgot. I think it's obviously right they send u a bill or ring u up to remind u of the unpaid amount and I highly doubt your the only person who's had things going on and forgot. But to accuse u of neglect? Wow 😂 I would be furious with that statement. Could of contacted you and let u know so u cud go in the office and pay it, as u stated u work so u obviously rely on this club and have no reason to rip them off. But 35 quid tho sure the school isn't Gunna ring the police on everyone who has made the same mistake coz I bet u ain't the only one! I would find that neglect comment very rude and I would take the police thing as a threat. Mis communication between the staff means your child is allowed in today then not allowed in meaning u have to sort out other arrangements with no notice at all, wtf is that about seriously! Think ppl being abit harsh because I don't think many people would purposely rip a school your child attends off for 35 quid when u have to go to school to drop n pick the child up u can't exactly avoid them and for a service u rely on, doesn't make sense you would do it on purpose. Shit happens but to be told he can go then told he can't go that's out of order and then to be told u are neglecting ur child aww I would be fuming! Unprofessional behaviour and rude prob had a shit day and u copped for it. Once again if they l would of said straight away he can't go u would of time to arrange other childcare the fact they changed their mind with no notice is shocking and tbh not like u going to run off and never pay as your child attends the school! I would go in the office pay the amount and ask to speak to the head and ask her why the staff told u it was fine then said it wasn't. I would also ask the head why I was told I'm neglecting my child and why I was threatened with the police as if u was given the right information the first time u would of been able to arrange another option. Bit out of order I think tbh hope u get it sorted and if it's school policy then the first staff member should of told u no. It's not ur fault they have miscommunicated cheeky bitch telling u it's neglect wtf 35 quid tho ha can't believe that x

Perfectly1mperfect · 12/09/2018 18:06

But she might not forget to pay now so it worked pretty good

But if the OP is a parent like me, who usually pays any after school club costs, trip money etc on time, and this is a genuine mistake or oversight, the school have also managed to make a parent feel stressed, annoyed, upset and like a criminal by threatening the police, for no good reason.

I would be genuinely upset if my child's school did this to me.

Rhiannon13 · 12/09/2018 18:09

So you didn't pay for your two kids to go to the club for three days on the last week of term (total: £30), then you rock up at the beginning of a new term and leave without paying (another £5)? I can understand why they're pissed off. Are you sure your child was booked in for the new term? Ours gets full very quickly as the staff are obviously not allowed to go over their ratios and there isn't space for everyone.

The rules don't change because you're a working single parent. The liaison officer did sound a bit OTT but maybe it's the only way to get the message across when all else fails. I'm not sure about schools but it's standard procedure for childminders to call Social Services if children aren't collected in reasonable time, so I'd imagine schools have a similar policy.

The long and the short of it is that you knew you hadn't paid up to date but took your kid anyway thinking they'd have to go along with it once you'd left and gone to work. And now you know you were wrong.

IdahoJones · 12/09/2018 18:13

The OP agreed to pay the balance during the first phone call.

Rhiannon13 · 12/09/2018 18:17

Let me guess, this is the type of school that sends kids home for wearing ever so slightly just the wrong type of sock, no?

Or maybe the type of school that isn't allowed to break the law by going over staff: child ratios?

Mummyoflittledragon · 12/09/2018 18:17

Rhiannon
Op said she didn’t know about the non payment before the school called her. She didn’t do a dump and run.

Rhiannon13 · 12/09/2018 18:18

How could she not know?

YeTalkShiteHen · 12/09/2018 18:18

OP says a lot of things, none of her part in it seems to add up to the school’s reaction.

So I’m guessing OP hasn’t been entirely honest about her own part in it!