Does anyone know if I can terminate a contract with a childminder without notice ?

[lucie87]

My childminder is looking after too many children , does this void our contract ?

Cm's child has hurt my child on a few occasions and I've noticed the injuries at bath time - she had not informed me. When I questioned her about then she knew nothing of them she said.

Any help ? I'm going crazy with it running round and round in my head !

What do you mean by too many children? Is she is over her Ofsted numbers or do you mean that she just has more children than you feel she can safely handle? If she is over her Ofsted numbers and you are sure that she doesn't have a registered assistant (it could be a family member) then you should report her to Ofsted and withdraw your child immediately. I doubt that she would chase you for payment in this case.

How old is your child and what sort of injuries are they?

Keenly awaiting update. We had to ditch a CM, for different reasons to yours, so sympathise, but not sure if I can offer any practical support at the moment...

Yea she's over her allocated number of 4 she has 7 .

He had a bite that bruised , scratches round his neck and said he's been hit in the willy which she didn't tell me about. I asked about them and she said she knew nothing of them so they haven't been recorded in the accident book.

I'm calling NCMA today to ask about the contract

Thanks for the advice :)

Oh he's 3 and a half

just terminate, if she starts getting arsey about notice/payment just say firmly something like 'I am QUITE sure you wouldn't want this to go any further now would you?'.

I had to terminate a CM and had her on the phone shouting about court, she wouldn't have had a leg to stand on with what i knew about her.

Be a tiger mother, not one that is too pushy but one that ROAAARSSS (politely but icily of course)

What are the ages of the children that she has? She could legally have 7 it just depends on what age they are. Childminders are not generally limited to 4. If she really is over her numbers and you knew about it then I really don't why you have been sending your child there in the first place.

do you mean she has 7 under 8 - that can be possible if has say twins/members of same family and asked permission for 4 under 5 instead of 3 - and 3 over 5's

or 7 under 5? that is illegal if no assistant

I'm a bit confused. CM's are rarely limited to 4.
Usual ratios are 3 pre-schoolers and 6 under 8's.
Do you know the ages of the lo's?
Are you still sending him? If you are it won't look good if you don't pay the notice period iyswim.

whoops hit send

all accidents should be recorded and you sign the book

didnt reliese it was 6 5/8's - i thought it was 3 so a cm could have 9 children in her care omfg - that sounds insane

It's not blondes.

And your advice about 7 under 8's is also wrong.

Please do not give out information which your not sure on. Aren't you a nanny?

I am looking after 7 children 8 and under tonight. Perfectly legal and above board.
1 * 1yr
1 * 2yr
1 * 4yr
2 * 5yr
1 * 7yr
1 * 8yr
I am my max number of under 8's but could look after as many over 8's as was reasonable!

Most I've ever had is 9 kids after school! It was fun.

It's hard work but they've all gone home before 5pm.

Just to confirm, childminders in England can usually look after up to six children under 8, of whom only 3 can be under school age. It is sometimes possible to have 4 or even 5 under school age if there are twins or other siblings amongst them or other exceptional circumstances, but the limit will still be six under 8. They can also care for one or more children 8 or over, and there is no hard and fast limit to the number of over 8s. Sometimes Childminders can be limited to a smaller total (such as four children) if they have, for example, a very small house or a health condition.

People often get confused/concerned about two things 1) that the limits apply to how many children can be cared for simultaneously - it doesn't matter if a CM has dozens of children over the course of the week! 2) Eight year olds (or indeed 9 or 10 year olds) can look younger, and be perceived to be "in quota" when they are not.

Lucie, if you are sure your CM is breaking the law, you should withdraw your child immediately and report her. Personally, I would confront her directly about the numbers issue and see if she has a plausible explanation. All this stuff about threatening to do this or that seems a bit underhand and as if your concern is largely financial.

You are never allowed 7 under 8 years old. I looked into this at length last year and it is never possible. (Even if your one of them is your own and their other parent is with you, unless that parent is registered with you as an assistant). 6 is the maximum for under 8. Once they have their 8th birthday they come out of the numbers, although I think some insurance companies put a limit on it. I think I read with pacey the maximum was 12, but I may be wrong, I've never read to much about it, there is no way I'd wAnt that many in the house! You can go over the 3 under 5 ratio if you meet certain criteria though.
You should always be told about injuries though, but if cm didn't know about them she couldn't have told you. I don't think cm could kick of to much about no payment for notice if she is in the wrong with the ratios though.

Why is she over her numbers? Are you sure of your facts?
Also, if your child is not telling the cm that he has been hurt, or even crying then how is she to know and log it? It's perfectly possible that she might have been in the loo or making lunch etc.

im puzzled is le215 also lucie87 and namechanged or do we have 2 posters with the same problem?

Nicknaks - yes im a nanny but my friend is a cm and she has 7 under 8 for 3 days a week and seem mpb also has 7 under 8, tho does your 8yr count as an over 8 iyswim

friend had 2 from diff families under 5 plus 3 older ones and then one family got preg and as twins came so she asked for variation order??? or something like that, and she was given it so now has 4 under 5 - twins of now 9mths, 2 and 4yr plus 3 5/8's (another set of 7yr twins and a 5yr) the 4yr and 9mth twins are one family, 2yr one family, and 5yr one family, 7yr twins one family so 4 families in all :)

and 2 sets of twins mad woman

so 7 in all- are you saying she shouldnt be doing that? she had ofsted round a month ago and the inspector was fine with all 7 being there

tho think my reply got twisted with previous reply, i thought moogy1a meant could have 6 under 8 as in 6 5/8's but think moogy1a meant 6 under 8 in total including under 5's - i misread what her reply meant , hence why i said omfg at 9 children

I'm 99.9% sure that Ofsted will NEVER allow more than 6

had to call her, she isnt on mn - turns out that her 7yr twins are now 8, turned 8 2 days before inspection

but for 2 months they were under 8, and she had baby twins start so she got an assistant for 3hrs after school (doesnt have twins before school) to cover herself

total apologizes for conflicting advice - bad blondes!!!

bloody friend never mentioned she took an assistant on for 8 weeks

cm can only have 6 under 8 no matter what

I have taken alot of advice on the matter from relevant organisations , I am not taking this lightly and to say that my reasons are financial is quite frankly rude - I would never put my child before money .

The 7 are all under 8 and there are other factors that concern me but the ratio and injuries are the biggies - I didn't want to be putting every single detail in here as it makes it more directed at one situation . I asked for some advice not scrutiny , sorry for the shortness but my brain and heart are fried after going round and round in circles

Blondes my 8 yo son counts as an over 8.

I've got bloody 8 kids tomorrow after school! Yikes.

It works though, I keep em in check.

No people just want to be clear on how you know she is over numbers before you ruin her reputation

maybe her eldest is now 8, like the twins were, or maybe she has an assistant that you dont see - like my friend had

have you seen 7 children there while you are le215 - and why the name change?

agree with nicknaks, be very sure of your facts before reporting her, but either way if you are unhappy with her care then you need to give notice and take your son out

All kids get minor scrapes and bruises during the day - there's nothing alarming there.

I would also be very wary of taking action due to a 3 year olds report of what happened... most of us know how daft that would be.

unfortunate typo there Lucie! I'm pretty sure you meant to you would put your child before money - in which case if you are 100% sure she is over her numbers, you have documented your concerns and not kept your child there, once you knew she was over her numbers and he was being injured, then I think you can withdraw your child with immediate effect, in writing and put in a formal complaint to Ofsted.

However, if you have kept your child there, have not raised the issues around the injures have not raised her being over her numbers then you risk making yourself look really bad (and no other cm will touch you with a barge pole) having to repay her the notice period anyway and also making her go through an unnecessary Ofsted and having a complaint on her record which can not be removed even the Ofsted inspector knows it is malicious and unfounded.

If you are 100% sure and your child was removed as soon as you were aware of the situation, then you should withdraw with immediate effect.