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?

She was looking for her January fees to be paid by the 1st January. Not "more than a month in advance"

You’ll have to tell your employer that for one reason or another you don’t have childcare and can’t come back to work.

Honestly, as a self-employed person fed up with hassling clients to just PAY WHAT THEY OWE, I applaud the childminder. Sending reminders is work! It shouldn’t be necessary.

Sorry OP I think you are being massively unreasonable. It's not really her place to send reminders

if you had any issues paying it financially should have informed her way before now.

If you simply forgot that's also really really bad and on you.

I know it's hard being on maternity and having to sort all these things out but they are super important.

You will need to find another child minder and pay them on time.

I know- speculation only.

What's done is done. It's either apologise and try and work something out with them now or find another childcare provider.

Regarding the payment in advance situation being unusual to childcare - it's not that unusual in other industries when you consider it as what it is: a payment for service on retainer. For example any agency that I employ at work (for example a website agency or similar) I will contract with for a specific number of hours of service per month and I will pay that month at the beginning of the month in order to ensure continuity of service. Childcare is exactly the same. You're not paying for an ad hoc or variable service. You're paying for your child's place in that childcare setting. And ratios are massively strict so the younger the child is the more likely that child's fees are going to be covering a larger portion of the childminders total income.

I don’t know about your job but mine kind of has an expectation that I do the work before I get paid for it. I’ll be getting January pay at the end of January, I didn’t get it at the start of December

No, she wasn’t looking for payment more than a month in advance.

Do people just not have any reading comprehension anymore?

Childminders have been advised to do this because there is an industry wide problem with late payments. It's to protect themselves and keep their small businesses viable. I hope that helps.

As for holidays and so on, they are self employed and set their own terms. Again, small businesses with low margins have to be very concerned about cashflow. You take those terms or you leave them.

Exactly. I’ve never come across a job paid upfront before the work is done.

That's irrelevant. The terms of payment in your employment contract are that you get paid after you have done the work. The terms of payment in her contract with the OP are that she is paid in advance. If the OP didn't like those terms, she should have found a childminder who had it in her contract that she was paid after she had done the work,

Firstly, the invoice date was January nit December. Secondly, salaries and invoices don't work in the same way.

It might have been different if you'd built up a relationship with the childminder before messing her about, but unfortunately, you're just a stranger to her. Childminders don't tend to have trouble filling spots, so they are able to be this strict. You could try apologising profusely and show you take full responsibility for this cockup. But if that doesn't work you will need to get cracking on phoning nurseries and other childminders.

Grovel, apologise, tell her you'll pay for next month now too, pray.
This is your fault, own it.

Why are people focusing on the CMs terms of payment for the coming month? Apart from it being entirely standard, they are her terms whether OP or anyone else likes it or not!

I have sympathy OP, it must be really stressful to handle going back to work with this to deal with. But I also understand the CM, it's not a good start to a relationship not to pay the first invoice on time. I've been late once or twice with mine but we've used her for a long time and she knows we are generally very reliable. Your new CM doesn't have this data!

It's very standard across the board for childcare especially for child minders.

My eldest is in their 30's. I was paying a childminder (and their private nursery) in advance when they were a toddler.

I'm not at all surprised that she wants to be paid in advance - if she did the work and then the OP didn't pay her then that's an even more problematic situation for her. This way she doesn't end up doing a months work for nothing just because some CF doesn't get around to paying her or realises they can't afford it, or doesn't think they should have to pay her because they've decided they don't need her any more.

I would guess the month in advance is in their terms and conditions books your place and is aligned with their notice period.

For the holidays "issue", the childminder sets their prices based on what they want to earn. The structure how their clients pay sometimes varies with some not charging for holidays/increasing fees and others charging for holiday/keeping fees consistent each month. Over the year the same fees are paid, just in a different payment structure.

I wonder how termination of the contract is written? Check on how the contract can be terminated op and if late payment in advance isn’t mentioned then perhaps you can take the cm to court for your costs incurred.

Would love to hear your excuse for not paying!

Well it’s not irrelevant because it was someone else drawing parallels with payment under an employment contract in the first place, not me.

OP you’ll need to find someone else or appeal to her better nature. Like every other group of people you can get amazing CM but also flaky/shite ones.

What costs? She hasn't paid anything!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

is your business as hugely in demand as childcare? if so you may have a small point.

In this case - i see OP isn't back, maybe they are too busy either trying to persuade the childminder to give them a chance, or they are looking for another (good luck, OP, that is a tough challenge on top of a tough time for you)

Assuming first child. This is one of those PFB learning moments - you simply cannot mess your childcare around.

'For one reason or another we haven't paid it'

It's always best to pay on time for important things.

Why should she chase you up?