It strikes me that the people who object to paying in advance are exactly those people who are more likely (and notice I don't say they will, simply are more likely) to decide to either leave with short notice or not pay and leave at the end of the month.
How anyone can read this thread and fail to understand the great risk CMs and other childcare providers put themselves at if they don't ask for either a month payment as deposit or a month (or week if its weekly payments) in advance, is totally beyond me. Anyone who knows anything about childcare knows nurseries charge in advance, extra curricular activities do it and lots of membership based activities for adults do it too - it's entirely normal, so why would anyone object? Paying in advance doesn't cost the customer more or mean the lump sums required each month are more.....so why the objection? The total inability of some people to understand it from the CMs point of view, but only to think to themselves that they would like to pay later, is staggering.
For anyone still in doubt about it, look back at this thread at the numerous reports from CMs or parents who had arrears set-ups who received childcare and then vanished without paying for it. If you still can't then understand why most charge in advance and why all the CM networks and support groups advise paying in advance, and why nurseries do it, then the ability to understand logic and reason must be missing.
CMs are not salaried employees. Salaried employees are usually paid in arrears, but they are not employees, but self employed who provide an on-going service.
CMS do not provide a one-off service which you pay for after the service, such as a hairdresser or meal out. They provide a promise to provide an on-going service and keep the place in that service free for your child. You pay to ensure that the future service is available, because once the CM has committed to giving you the place, they cannot 'sell' that individual place to someone else.....if you then don't pay with an arrears arrangement, or do t give the required notice they are unable to re-sell the place for the weeks past, and I likely to get a customer immediately for the immediate weeks arising - so they will be out of pocket.
Parents cannot expect to have a service provided and a guarantee of a service into the future without paying for that security of provision.....and you can only secure something into the the future, not the past.
If an individual CM chooses to use an arrears arrangement, I would suspect that that are new to the job and haven't yet become wise to the risks and problems associated with paying in arrears, or I would imagine are really desperate for work and so willing to attract any custom, including those who are a bit risky and more likely not to pay. It leaves them In A very vulnerable position. Of course it is their choice and if that's what they specify in a contract (against all the advice of all CM organisations) and it is agreed with parents, that is what needs to happen.
Any CM who does not provide a contract in advance or does not discuss payment terms sounds inexperienced and/or unprofessional. Parents who haven't used childcare before or who are unscrupulous might find they slip into childcare without such agreements, but are either daft and naieve or unscrupulous.
Quite simply if you want someone to provide a quality service and perform the important job of looking after your child, you need to expect them to want to be paid a decent amount and usi g terms and conditions which protect them and ensure they will be paid. Payment in advance delivers this. If you can't or aren't prepared to pay the amount and in this way, you simply cannot have the service.