Who's right

[ohdearmel]

Name changed as could be outing.

A is a childminder and b is a client.
B has a term time only contract and pays a £45 retainer a week for 12 weeks of the year. A gave b the option as per the contract to have childcare during that time if needed and pre agreed. Any extra hours would be added to the invoice.
A is sick and has had to close so b cannot have 2 days childcare for this week as previously agreed. A does not get sick pay. A has said that they will refund the childcare fees for those two days but will keep the £45 retainer as b would have had to pay that anyway. B says that two days were missed and other arrangements had to be made. Who is right?

A is right.

A is right

Depends on contract, but I would say B.

Thanks for responding. Would you mind saying why?

A is right.

I assume the retainer is paid so that A does not take on any additional work leaving B without childcare in the case that they need it.

A is sick. They do not get sick pay so therefore in my opinion should not be getting the retainer.

B is right in my opinion.

@ImMeantToBeWorking A takes a a retainer but has told b that sometimes she has other children in bs slot.
This a and b stuff is hard work. It's my sister and my friend. I don't want to get dragged into the middle!!

Why the hell didn’t they have a clause in the contract to cover this?!

I've read the contract. Doesn't cover this at all.
I guess if friend is ill and my sister never asked for childcare on that day, she would never know and the retainer would still be paid. But my sister does know and I've had my nephew so my sister can work.

I feel B is right. Self employed people don’t have sick pay, unless they have an insurance policy, that’s just the way it is. She shouldn’t be charging your sister when she can’t fulfill her part of the contract. It isn’t a retainer week so she shouldn’t be paying for something she isn’t getting.

So she takes a retainer, but still lets other children's parents book in.

Say for example today was not meant to be a day where the friend had you DN, and your sister had an emergency so she asked her friend could she drop the child off. But the friend had other children, what happens then??

I think you sister needs to find another child care provider.

@ImMeantToBeWorking yes. That's it.
It's all got very complicated.

In my experience A is right. The retainer is just that, a retainer, keeping the space, not paying for childcare.

The retainer is a retainer.
Payable every week of the 12 weeks.

What @HugoSpritz said - A is right

@HugoSpritz the childminder is I'll and unable to take any children. Why should the retainer still be paid?

Retainer is for the lost opportunity CM didn't have to put another child in the space. To arrange a contract with a hypothetical parent C.
Bottom line, A & B have a contract & terms to keep to.
if CM couldn't work for another parent (C) then there would be scope for CM to refund C. Whether or not C exists to take up a service or not is not B's concern. B has to honour their own contract with the CM.

A is right. B is still retaining her service (and is lucky to have a Childminder that offers term time only with occasional additional days). A £45 pw retainer isn't bad anyway so B should let this go.

@lljkk thank you. That's a really clear explanation.

And thanks to all the other replies too!

Retainer is for the lost opportunity CM didn't have to put another child
in the space. To arrange a contract with a hypothetical parent C
Bottom line, A & B have a contract & terms to keep to.
if CM couldn't work for another parent (C) then there would be scope for CM to refund C. Whether or not C exists to take up a service or not is not B's concern. B has to honour their own contract with the CM.

Agree. But B is honouring the contract. CM can’t work for the parent that is paying her. It is the CM who has let B down by not being well enough to honour their side of the contract and look after the child in a week they were being paid to look after them. It isn’t B’s fault that CM doesn’t have sickness insurance, why should B pay CM after being let down and having to find alternative childcare? This isn’t a retainer week situation.

I paid a retainer during the holidays, except for the weeks childminder herself was on holiday. By the argument here I should have been paying then too? I've come across a number of Childminders who want term time only so I would loom elsewhere. Now switched to an after school club and it's so much cheaper.

B should just pay up. The retainer is to hold the space, and the extra childcare during those retained weeks is pre agreed, only in this case it wasn’t. B needs to be careful, or she may find A terminating the contract and taking on other children