Childminder terminating contract

[hoolahoolay]

Surely I'm not being unreasonable. So my son is due to start with a childminder next week when I go back to work after maternity leave. We have settling in sessions this week

So she sent the invoice for January out early December and she said to let her know if there were any errors, the due date on the invoice was 1st January. For one reason or another we haven't paid it and instead of reminding us she has messaged this morning to say she's terminated contract as invoice is 5 days late.
Surely she could have sent a payment reminder.

WTF can I do now?

Childminders will go above and beyond once mutual respect and understanding has been built. But it has to go both ways, and paying for my time and communicating with me is bare minimum.

Completely agree - you only have to read the posts on this site of people trying to get out of paying fees because child was sick or they choose to go on holiday or whatever reason they decide to treat the childminder as a pay as you go service.

As a self employed person, it amazes me that the people who pay late, or need reminding, are ALWAYS the people with the most money.

it's probably a combination of factors, with the late paying being the sole reason offered

@Fluufer Totally agree with you. My DD's amazing childminder always went above and beyond for us, she was fantastic. But I had the basic level of respect for her to pay her on time! I imagine if I hadn't, she'd not have been quite so accommodating for us.

It's her income that is at risk if clients don't pay. She probably thought you have changed your mind. Sadly childminders get stung like this.
Presumably she relies on the money and needed to recruit another child .
So I don't think she is unreasonable to terminate your contract. I agree she could have sent you a reminder but really the onus is on you to let her know if there are any issues given you have had since December to pay the invoice .
If you have genuine reasons for not paying in time and if she hasn't recruited someone else could you ask if she is able to reconsider?

How have people been out of normal routines since early December?!

OP I think you just have to own that you have messed up here, a new client not paying their bill with no contact as to why would have massive alarm bells ringing. Good for her for having firm boundaries and sticking to them. How would you feel if your work didn't pay you because you didn't remind them to? What a ridiculous attitude, The only thing you can do is grovel and offer to pay 6 months up front or something like that.

Next time pay your bills on time!

If that's your take on life, that's your take. I'm happy to do things that I don't have to to help folk now and then.

In life? Sure I'm happy to help people. As it happens I'm super kind.

In business? To someone who has been rude and entitled and will cost my business money? Not so much.

But what happens when OP "forgets" again in Feb? Is the CM to remind her then too? And every month thereafter... setting a precedent that she is not paid until she sends the reminder. It's a slippery slope.

I know you probably feel like a lone voice on this thread, and I do agree with a lot of what you've said about operating in good faith and understanding if there's been issues - but the OP didn't even try to explain why she didn't pay, just "between one thing and another ".... maybe her DC was in hospital, maybe her mother died.... (I'm sure we would have been told if it was that). If she was a long term client perhaps the CM would have cut her some slack, but it's month 1 and she didn't pay.... I don't blame the CM. Like others on this thread I imagine she's dealt with plenty of parents who "forgot" to pay, and has reached a point of no longer giving chances.

No. But neither would I expect Tesco to charge me upfront

Technically you do pay Tesco up front you pay for what you buy before you use it/eat it.

There are no end of things paid for up front - flights, holidays for example. You don't use those services and then pay for them afterwards you pay before you go.

The childminder was absolutely not unreasonable, there are no excuses not to have paid her invoice promptly.

Also having to send out reminders is tedious and time consuming. Especially for someone whose job is not primarily at a computer/on the phone. It’s also admin that she doesn’t get paid for. Why would she want to do all this for someone who hasn’t yet shown they are trustworthy in any way? I imagine she has experience of having to chase payments every month from parents who ‘just didn’t pay for some reason’ and has taken a hard line with it. Good for her.

I'm surprised anyone is surprised. A cleaner can take on extra clients and work overtime but a childminder can't take in more kids to make up for non payers.

Well as a self employed single person business, I can't afford to 'help folk now and again' if they can't be bothered to pay me. I'm in the fortunate position, much like many childminders, where my services are in great demand, and I'm constantly turning work down because I've got more that I want, but one of the main criteria that I use when deciding whether or not to take on a new client is their previous payment history. I need certainty with my income, and can't afford to wait for late payers - if a new client didn't pay their first invoice on time with no explanation, for whatever reason, I just wouldn't be be able to afford, or be willing, to continue to work for them.

Here is the other side of the story.
I have a CM business and I'm fully booked with a waiting list.
I have a new child due to start. I sent the invoice a month ago and it's now 5 days late and I've heard nothing from the parents since I sent the invoice.
Shall I just give the place to the next person waiting?

For one reason - Turkey
For another - Wine

I run a small self employed business and I chase for payment all the time, as do all the other business owners I know. If you're lucky and can just replace a client at the drop of a hat then maybe you have the luxury to do that. Not everyone does. Some people don't even work in areas where full payment is up front, like photographers.

And it's very common that people have good reasons they haven't paid. For example I just had an automatic payment fail and it was because someone had cancelled their card because they'd lost it. In that case I will probably have to chase them once they get their new card through if they don't remember.

21 pages and OP hasn't responded to anything. I don't think she'll be back.

Why is the childminder looking for payment in advance? The child hasn't started yet.
Advance payment is not normal where I live. Is that normal in the UK?

If you change your page limits it's only page one.

Chasing payments is stressful and time consuming and given the OPs comment here it doeant sound as if prompt payme t would ever really be a priority, reliably, for her. Worrying about whether or not you are going to paid on time, and can afford your mortgage, petrol, food, is also stressful and impacts all the kids in the childminder's care. It is also more upsetting to have to terminate a contract once a child has got to know the childminder and settled in. The CM did the right thing for all the children in her care.

Yes it's very normal. Otherwise you get idiots letting you do a whole month's worth of care and then decide they don't want to pay you.

😆🤣 I'm on page 6.

I don't think I get the "view all/1000" option.

Bloody hell, that's a stretch. I pay Tesco at the same time as taking control of my goods. However, as I've said – more than once – this isn't about the rights and wrongs of the childminder's terms and conditions. It's about a possible oversight and a bit of a draconian response.

I agree that the OP, presumably having paid in response to the 2 January reminder that I would have liked to see, should have then gone about setting up automatic payments.

I also agree that the OP should return to the thread and update. That's just polite. But, I'm not going to draw inferences about the kind of person OP is, or indeed about the kind of people any of you are, from this thread. I really don't have enough to go on.

I think a reminder should have been issued and would have prevented a problem. That's it 😚

Normal to pay for this upfront as its not something you can take back if people decide not to pay.