Bailiffs take over the nursery

[Mosschopz]

So I dropped off DS this morning at nursery, except I didn't. The staff were on the curb outside crying as the bailiffs - with police - had moved in early in the morning to take over the building. Apparently the owners of the nursery had racked up arrears spanning 12 months and the staff knew nothing until the police broke in this morning.

DS had to come to work with me, it was ummm interesting, but I had no choice.

We now are faced with negotiating any of our personal belongings that may be left back from the building. I don't know whether I'll see his file and photos of him on the displays around the nursery again.

AIBU to think kicking us all out with no warning is disgusting behaviour from the police and bailiffs where there are children concerned.

Yes, whatever the reasons for the business failing - which could indeed include bad debts from parents - continuing to operate the business for 12 months without paying any rent on their premises and begining to manage for the closure in way that doesn't harm the employees and customers much is the poor behaviour.

It's not the bailiff's fault, they did give warning but that warning would have gone to the owners.
They would have been served an eviction notice and probably even told what date and time they were going to be evicted so its the fault of the nursery managers/owners for not telling you.
You shouldn't have a problem getting your files and pics as they have no value. I know quite a few bailiffs and they aren't monsters. There should be a notice on the door to say who has repossessed it, if you give them a ring and explain that you have property on the premises they should be able to let you have it.

Parents not paying fees is a massive problem in nurseries but with good management it should be a problem. It is completely unacceptable that a high number of parents see childcare as a secondary bill really and feel it is ok to use excuses like it is their baby's birthday this week so can't afford their fees as their 1 year old cannot miss out etc etc or by extravagent gifts for staff at Easter or Xmas then go over to the manager and say they have not got that weeks fees.

We have 75 children and were left with a few thousand unpaid at one point as the parents were not being chased by the nursery manager effectively. We try to encourage standing order etc now and give a time limit of 2 weeks max or refuse for the child to come in. It is harsh but better than having to close the nursery due to massive debts.

I am sure you will be able to get your child's photos and folders back - they would not be allowed to do anything with them due to confidentiality.

I would also blame poor management.

I hope thou find childcare soon, asking one of the nursery staff to nanny for you is a very good suggestion.

"The owners should collect their own debts properly and remove children of non-paying parents."

I thought childcare was so oversubscribed that providers could easily afford to turn people away. When my DS left his last nursery, his days were filled by children already there: no outsider got a look in. Presumably you were happy enough there, OP, so demand would have been the same?

My friend sent her daughter to a nursery where they invoiced her and many other parents incorrectly for a year or 2, often they didn't actually get an invoice at all so had to just pay what they thought was probably the correct amount.
Needless to say eventually someone clocked on to the fact that the accounts weren't being looked after and they sent most parents invoices for thousands and were told that they had 30 days to make payment. Who can just lay their hands on a couple of K like that? I know I certainly couldn't.
Although the parents were partly at fault it was mostly the fault of the nursery, my friend paid most of her nursery fees with vouchers but they claimed they'd not had some of them but luckily that was something that could be traced.
So it sounds like parents are often bad at paying nurseries but the nurseries are often bad at looking after the accounts.
DS went to a fantastic nursery, quite a large chain and they have a proper accounts office but they were still crap, always charging me for extra days that he'd not even done but when he left they didn't charge me for the days he had done.

What a nightmare!

Get onto your favourite member of staff, and a couple of parents, and go into a nanny share in one of your homes.

If you can get the staff member / nanny to register for CCV, it'll probably work out cheaper for you all than nursery did!

Oh no that is absolutely shit, just before Christmas as well . Surely they should give you back your sons files and stuff as they obviously cannot sell it, and it's data protection containing personal information about him and other children

Good grief, how awful. The poor children must be really distressed at all this disruption, as well as the poor nursery workers who are out of a job, and the parents have been left up shit creek.

Agree with the posters who suggest seeing if any of the workers would like to work for you directly.

The managers have clearly screwed up very badly indeed but I do think the bailiffs have considerable responsibility here. What procedures are they following for data protection and child safeguarding, exactly? I'd get onto the office of the Information Commissioner (enforces the Data Protection Act) and ask them how to ensure your child's confidential information is protected. And the local safeguarding board - God only knows who has access to the records now. That might help you to get hold of your child's records and artwork and other possessions.

I do understand that bailiffs don't generally warn customers before they turn up to shut a business but clearly these procedures do not cater for vulnerable service users such as the elderly in care homes or children in nurseries. Actually I'd contact your MP as well; parliament has started to notice this is a bad thing in the aftermath of a care home company, Southern Cross, going under but no-one has thought about nurseries.

As for parents not paying their bills, hah de fucking hah. When ds was in nursery, they kept charging us different amounts, never got the bills straight, and entirely failed to redeem the childcare vouchers my employer sent them; eventually they were all returned to my employer which meant considerable inconvenience. This was a big national chain, btw.

It's not the police or the bailiffs fault, it's the owners. If they had built up debts over 12 months they would have had plenty of warning.

I don't think any blame should lie with the Bailiffs or police, they are doing there job and I know from the work I do the owners would have received countless letters stating it was going to happen. The blame lies totally at there door.

Are you in Scotland OP? The nursery I used closed suddenly this week too, and that made me think how awful that must be to abruptly have no childcare, and I remember the staff being so lovely as well and felt awful for them. Just wondering if it was the same one.

The nursert I used to use that should say

Our local one has closed too without notice last week, people turned up to drop off their children and it was shut.

I would imagine the owners DID get notice, just chose not to give you or the staff any!!

I'm shocked that not paying nursery bills is so common! The latest I've ever paid was the last day of the month once, and I thought that was bad.

I would imagine that you should be able to get personal items back if you can prove they're yours i.e. lab led with dc's name. You will be entitled to his files as they are part of his education and may well be needed for his next nursery so the can track his development etc.

What a crappy thing to happen, esp so close to xmas

But personal items should never have been in the hands of the bailiffs anyway. There are all sorts of child protection and data protection implications. People who have not had CRB checks and have no permission from the parents now have children's names and addresses and sensitive personal information. There should be arrangements for that sort of information to be kept safe and confidential.

police and bailiffs to enact certain role,they're obliged to.
end of a fraught process which nursery kept parents in dark about
of course youre shocked and upset.hope alternate childcare available soon

re the files yes there is confidential data contained.I expect will be stored for collection.
1988 data act legislation about data storage,it's taken seriously
no it won't be auctioned.it's confidential data,nursery register with LA, ask police as 1st point

" There should be arrangements for that sort of information to be kept safe and confidential".

Locked secure document containers and password protected computers - ie exactly the same precutions as required to keep sensitive data secure, both during the ordinary working day (eg unauthorised access by ancillary staff/visitors) and also overnight/weekends to prevent loss to burglars.

What bastards the nursery owners are!

However they got into this situation, they should have at least given the workers' notice.

The baliffs have secured the building and will secure the files etc. They are of no value to the baliffs and if the op calls the police they may be able to assist.

They are not going to try and sell the Childrens paintings. No offence but they are worthless.

However its procedure nit to let people in the building and getting stuff back must be done officially.

Of course I'm furious with the owners for allowing the business to slip into arrears and therefore for large numbers of children not old enough to understand to be messed about. But I'm also angry that police and bailiffs saw fit to launch the heavy action on a kids nursery FFS. What did they think the staff and kids were going to do??

Sorry, Mosschopz, but I still don't understand why you are angry with the police and bailiffs. What should they have done, say they weren't getting involved simply because it was a nursery?