She has just quit out of the blue.

[Eastie77Returns]

Childminder provides after school care for DS. There have been ongoing issues with her since day one (unreliable, calling in sick at least once a month, random and incorrect billing..) but DS loves her and is close friends with her DC who attend his school so I continued with her.

I started a thread a while ago as she left her husband for another man, a school run dad, and in the ensuing chaos she lost several mindees as parents were concerned with the upheaval in her personal life and the fact she planned to look after the children in a new, unregulated setting (the new boyfriends house!) although she assured everyone it would be inspected. Eventually she went back to her husband and I foolishly resumed working with her. Now she has sent me a brief message to say she is going away for a few weeks, sorry about that and she’ll let me know when she’s back. I’m just fuming but there isn’t much I can do. I do have a contract with her but don’t suppose there’s anything enforceable on it. Urgggh. I will have to see if the ASC has any availability. DP is over the moon as he has never been happy with her for various reasons but he’s not the one who now has to scramble and find a replacement care.

I’m amazed you went back to her after she moved herself in with her unregulated new partner and son. Hopefully this will force you to find more suitable after school care for your child

Childminder here- hear me out!
I am not on the side of the Childminder at all- what she's done is not good at all!
However......check your contract with her. If giving notice, from either side,DOESN'T include holidays then there's probably not much you can do: if you give immediate notice then you may be in breach of contract. However if it states,like mine, that for either party a certain amount of time has to be given as notice for holidays, ( I have to give 4 weeks notice to families if I'm going away)and she hasn't done that, then there may be a way around it .I personally think that her saying she doesn't know how long she's going to be away and she'll let you know when she's back is appalling and I'd be giving her notice from now and see what happens.
With regards to her moving house......all she has to do is inform Ofsted- they will only check new premises out during the next inspection.
I absolutely agree with you with regards to her moving to a premises with 2 men you don't know. That is a definite no-no in my eyes. However, she has to apply for enhanced DBS certificates for each of them which can take weeks and as long as she never leaves the children alone with them then she's allowed to do it.
In your shoes,I would give her notice and find somewhere else as soon as you can. If she decided to come after you for fees, then I'm not sure any court would think it was ok to keep you dangling for weeks on end.

By the sounds of it she has actually done you all a favour. Find an actual provider who is hard working and keeps her private life private. I wouldn’t want my little ones left with her no matter how much they liked her. I’d rather a committed minded who’s professional thank you.

Sounds like you dodged a bullet there OP. She sounds flaky and unreliable. Her private relationships do come into it if she is trying to operate from different premises with unknown people , male or female. Giving you no notice of holidays is unforgivable and I would never go back there . Maybe you could team up with the other parent and nanny share ?

use after school club - much more reliable anyway!

The OP is being quite hostile herself. I very much doubt that the childminder has deliberately changed her life circumstances in order to annoy the OP.

Her being in breach doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t also be. It would be a real arse if you ended up owing her money after she’d messed you around.

Oh I’m sorry if I sound annoyed. I should be more understanding. After all CM has kindly given me 5 days to find alternative childcare - although actually it’s 1 day since the other 4 days are public holidays/the weekend. And she invoices a month in advance so I have already paid her for the whole of April and will now have to pay out again if by some miracle I manage to get DS into After School Club or find another childminder by Tuesday. I’m not expecting any money back from her. I can’t raise this with her as her brief message informed me that she is not contactable in the place she is going to. Lol.

@looselegs thanks for that perspective. I will check the contract and I will give notice.

Some very odd comments on here OP!!!! You have every right to be annoyed and you and your children deserve better and more reliable childcare x

Then what advice were you looking for? She had moved in with a new partner and his adult son, neither of them having been checked, a house you hadn’t seen before etc. What exactly were you unsure about??

If you don’t like people behaving badly, don’t behave badly yourself! You had absolutely no reason to post a load of gossip about your CM’s personal life (which you’re still doing btw - we’re not interested in her bf’s habits) - anyone with a brain would know that putting your child in a place with 2 non-DBS checked men was reckless. You didn’t post for “advice” you posted for a good old bitch about her. You’re getting shirty now because you’ve been called on it and you know it. She’s behaved like an asshat and so have you.

@OP PS you can just @ me next time. HTH.

@AlisounOfBath ODFO

Have I done that correctly?

Parents don’t employ childminders 🤣
They are self employed.
Parents pay their fees for childcare.

She sounds right flaky. You are better off without her. And I would really push to be refunded for the time she isn’t there.

He’s useless. I don’t know what else to say.

Both are useless then.

Time to dump them both and sort your life out and that of your child.

Sounds harsh, I know.

Single mum. Better than crap people around.

What's wrong with pp talking about OP gossiping? She's asked for advice on MN not naming the CM, that's not gossiping.
I feel for you OP. This CM does sound very unstable and unreliable; not someone you want to be responsable for your child. So good riddance.