Childminder Issues

[RubyPL]

My neighbour 5 doors down the road has been minding our 17-month-old baby girl and this would have been the last week she was suposed to mind her.
On Monday she said we had to pay her for the full week up front cause she was afraid we were going to stiff her, a neighbour, after 6 months of regular payments. She tried to get the payment from my husband. And then mentioning how much she had done for us when she was paid very well for each hour she had minded our baby. She always demanded to have all the hours a month in advance and no changes possible, except if it meant more hours for her. And she would not have our baby girl stay half a day, we neded to pay for the full day, even on the weeks where we would not have needed to. Childminder was paid for the weeks baby girl was sick, and everything. Would you accept this from a neighbour? Because I kind of lost it on Monday, and also do not understand why the childminder/neighbour is acting like she is Mother Theresa when she was paid for every hour that she worked? Any thoughts?

Is she ofsted registered?

registered child minders usually have written terms and conditions. What does the paperwork say?

I'm assuming this person is a registered child minder and not a neighbour just doing a favour.

If a registered child minder you'll have agreed.terms for payment, full days, notice periods to cancel or change hours etc.

Of course if she does more hours you pay more.

If it's a neighbour doing a favour - why are you using someone unregistered to look after your child in a regular basis?

Hmm. I'm a childminder, I charge in advance, have fixed contracted hours that you pay for in full regardless of whether you need less one week. I charge when children are ill and don't attend or they take holiday and I don't trust people any more or any less if they are a neighbour.

I don't see what she's done wrong? Presumably she's a childminder and you have agreed to her written terms and conditions? You sound like you think you are doing her a favour by paying her to look after your child. She's doing a job, the fact she's your neighbour is irrelevant.

I think she's the one who's being unreasonable, regardless of whether registered or not. If the OP, has paid her every week for 6 months straight, including when baby was sick etc., then she's hardly going to not pay her for the last week that she's going to be doing the job. If she is just a neighbour OP, then I'd be inclined to pay her up front just to keep the peace, but I too would be bloody annoyed by her attitude.

Nanny or childminder? If someone looks after your child in your house on a regular basis, they are a nanny therefore and you are their employer and they need to be paid min wage etc, you need to have employers liability insurance.

f they are looking after your daughter at their house and claiming to be a childminder, they need to be registered and insured and if they're not they don't have a leg to stand on.

If the OP, has paid her every week for 6 months straight, including when baby was sick etc., then she's hardly going to not pay her for the last week that she's going to be doing the job.

Actually I know several self employed people who have had exactly this situation. The final bill hadn't been paid because they know they no longer need the person to do the job after that date so there's no reason to pay them.

It's staggeringly common when people don't need you anymore, there's no incentive to be nice! It's the main reason we change in advance, almost every cm has had a bad ending to a contract at least once.

"would you accept this from a neighbour?" If my neighbour was a registered childminder, then, of course I would expect to be charged in line with normal policies for registered childminders. (Everything you've mentioned is normal policy for registered childminders.)

If my neighbour wasn't a registered childminder, then she would only have my child for occasional babysitting if I knew her and trusted her well enough, and then no I wouldn't pay all these things and neither would she expect it. Obviously if she isn't Ofsted registered then legally she can only have your child for 2 hours a day. If she does more than this on a regular basis both you and she could be breaking the law.

None of this sounds particularly abnormal or unreasonable to me from someone who used a CM for 10 years. This is someone’s wages so they need to know what they are committed to and what hours they are available for anyone else. Regular hours were agreed and written in our contract, not just one month in advance. I would pay for the month in advance and any adjustments were applied to the next month’s bill. A half day stops them having another child potentially so understand why the don’t do half days. If my child was sick, or we were on holiday, we paid still as CM was contracted and available, if they were off sick or on holiday we didn’t.

It sounds like you’ve had a more than fair arrangement

We use a childminder and we pay for the month in advance, pay when child is sick and pay for the full day even though we pick up early sometimes. To me this pretty normal is it not??? You can’t just pick and choose hours as suits as the childminder needs a consistent income.

If she is ofsted registered then I assume you signed a contract which outlined the t&c?

It is pretty standard to pay a registered childminder upfront...monthly and often with a month's deposit. It's standard to pay for the contracted hours unless the childminder cancels. So you pay if your baby is sick....you're paying for the space to be kept available.
Some people do not pay once they decide they don't need childcare so money upfront means you can put food on the table without worrying about taking legal action.
I wouldn't take on a neighbour they often take the piss and feel it's okay to muck the childminder about

Sounds like the terms every childminder I ve ever come across insists on, and v common for parent not to pay the last week. She is self employed and she sets the terms not you, presumably you checked your credentials and registration when starting the arrangements

I used to pay my child minder for full days even if she was only needed for half a day anytime and paid for days when my children were sick or if she was and couldn't have them. I also paid her holiday pay and paid her fore weeks when we went away too, because I valued her, the kids loved her and she was just a few doors away.She was registered and fully insured and all that in one tidy package so close to home was an absolute gift. She was really lovely though, she didn't expect to be paid for all those times, but I wanted her to know how much we valued her, that she was worth it.
Yours sounds very demanding with a crappy attitude all of a sudden, any idea what triggered it ?

Maybe she hasn't handled it well, but I'd expect you to pay a week in advance all the time.

We pay are childminder in arrears and always gave done so. We use her on an ad-hoc basis now.

We pay the bill as soon as we get it though we had an issue initially when we thought we had paid her through the old child tax scheme and the money wasn't deducted.

We are aware of one set of parents who argued about her last bill. They clearly aren't aware that her family knows lots of people in the area...

I can understand why you feel a bit put out, but just because you wouldn't "stiff her" for the final payment doesn't mean someone else would. Unfortunately she is probably speaking from experience. She either runs the risk of losing money or upsetting customers - she's in a difficult position and I don't think she is being unreasonable.

If your child was in the nursery all these conditions would be the norm. Why is it such an issue for a childminder. Would you expect to receive any other service without paying to front I think not.

'her' credentials etc even, brain is on Christmas mode!

Those all sound like normal terms. You pay for the spot, whether you use it or not, because the caregiver can’t just randomly fill it. You pay for full days because it is next to impossible to find someone to take the rest of the time left for the day. You follow a schedule because this is a person’s job and they deserve a predictable income and a predictable workflow.

Generally contracts stipulate a certain amount of hours per week paid regardless if you choose to cancel some hours here and there either through holiday, child sickness etc. So if you choose to cancel an hour / half a day / day etc you still pay.

Paying in advance is per their contract, have you not paid in the past or challenged something listed above?

mid this neighbour is just doing you a favour while being paid neither of you really have a leg to stand on, but if you’re arguing with her and not liking her I would consider not handing your child over everyday and seek an alternative provision.

For a registered childminder (they can be registered with Ofsted or a childminding agency) this is pretty standard. You charge for contracted hours whether or not the cold attends. If they want more hours you charge for the extra (no swapping extra hours for unused hours) payment in advance is also very common and many childminders have a no pay no play policy in place where you cannot drop your child off your haven't paid for the hours, it's the only way to protect yourself against parents not paying (which they are especially prone to doing at the end of their contract when they don't need you anymore)

Ex childminder here - it's those you know best or pay on time if not early that are the ones that are most likely to screw you over by not paying when they stop using your service!

What does your contract say?