It appears that there is some confusion over whether payment is always due for the stipulated notice period. It also appears that certain Legal Teams do not always have it right either.
I want to provide information on what I went through last year and why it may not always be the case. Mine was a standard NCMA contract with notice period required four weeks. It was a school holiday only contract (13 weeks).
Last Feb half term I handed in notice with my XCM. My child had been with her for five years and I could not fault her. My child had just gone passed the stage of needing care. Indeed my child had been there one year more than required as enjoyed it so much. I just felt that as we were away on holiday at Easter that it would be a good time to stop.
Anyway, when I handed in notice she said that is fine. I will charge you for this week and I will only charge you two weeks for the notice period and waive the rest. You cannot give me notice in a holiday period. I responded but my holiday is not until Easter, that is six weeks away. She then said but you can only give notice when I am working. I said but this is half term but then realised she meant only the weeks I used her. That meant Easter, May and the remainder in Summer Holiday. I thought that doesn't seem right.
The next day when she dropped off my child off she said that she had spoken to her Legal team and they had confirmed that she was correct. She advised me that she would be invoicing me for half term and the two weeks of the Easter holidays. There was to be no further discussion on the matter and if I did not pay the invoice within seven days she would be commencing legal action for the full six week period.Nice :(. I told her I was only prepared to pay her for the one week of half term that she had worked. This was turned down flat. I was extremely hurt as I had always treated her with respect and paid promptly.
I contacted the CAB they read through my contract and confirmed that they felt I was correct. She was not financially out of pocket as she would not normally have received any financial reward from me during term time and she had six/seven weeks to find a replacement.
I wrote my CM a letter explaining that I had been legally advised that I was correct. No response.
A couple of months later I received a letter from her solicitor demanding payment. I responded explaining why I felt the money was not due. I even pointed them in the direction of the NCMA Business Factsheets which had a paragraph explaining how the notice payment worked if it was a term time or holiday only contract. Again, no response apart from a second standard letter demanding payment.
Eventually, after I threatened the Legal Ombudsman, the solicitor responded stating that the court papers were being served.
When the papers arrived I submitted my defence. I also explained that neither the solicitor nor XCM had been prepared to provide back up for their claim.
Finally, I received a letter from the Small Claims Court. A County Court Judge had called a Conciliation Meeting at the court. This is like a pre hearing.
At the meeting he asked the CM to explain her claim. He then asked to read the contract. He advised that it did not make it clear that notice had to be paid regardless of when it was given. He asked when I had given notice (Feb) and when she was next contracted to look after my child (Easter). He advised her that if she were to continue to the final hearing she would be highly likely to lose and would incur my loss of earnings. All that was due was the money for half term which she had turned down flat ten months earlier.
I paid the money for half term; the case was dropped.
I hope this may be of help for anyone who finds themselves in a similar position. I used sites such as this for advice last year when I found myself in this awful position.