Paying the CM

[Loulou2kent]

I was just wondering as I'm still awaiting payment from parents 4 weeks later, how many of you feel childcare is a big bill & it's like paying mortgage,rent, phone bill, gas & electric etc??

Do a lot of parents if a month is tight knock the childminder & then play catch up? Or do you always make sure you have it aside?

Just feeling very under appreciated & now I'm waiting to purchase sons new school uniform whilst the parents are enjoying their holiday.

I've chased 4 times now & it's so frustrating. I can't imagine them being too pleased if they hadn't been paid from work.

This thread is a bit of a rant, I'm sorry. I just need to know in all honestly if this is going to happen a lot & then see what I can do to fix it. I hate being the nagging woman leaving messages & texting constantly. It puts me in a really crap position & I just wished they would pay on time

"I think you may need to be a little lenient and define late payment as being more than 7 days late as us mums and dads get pretty busy. Currently I am lucky if I get to the computer for 5 minutes and I hate doing banking and admin on my phone"

Well, if you tried the 'I'm busy and don't like doing banking on my phone' line with your mortgage company or electricity provider, I imagine you'd get short bloody shrift.

Childminder fees pay for your childminder's mortgage, council tax, water bill, food for their family - it should be paid without any reminders - certainly not with an expectation that you can pay 7 days late without question

Definitely don't be lenient to the extent of allowing a payment be 7 days late, if you start that it will be 10 then after my holiday etc. We are all busy no matter if we work from home or out of it, we all have bills to pay and consequences if we don't. You will know if its a legitimate reason for late payment in which case put on invoice late payment fee then credit it as a one off concession that reserves the right to charge in future.
I'm amazed that someone thinks its okay to give 7 days leeway I wonder if they feel the same over their wages.

Cm here. I had several parents who paid late. I did a polite letter to them all explaining that my rules were payment due on .... Unfortunately as of ..... I had outstanding fees from 3 families totalling ....Therefore I would implementing new policy. New policy states that invoices are sent out on 25th of the month to be paid by 1st. Text reminders if necessary on 1st and a late fee added of £10. No fee paid by 2nd no childcare available until fees paid and quite likely notice given.

Never had to charge late fee since!

Invoices sent out on the 25th to be paid on the 1st? Do you not feel that is totally unreasonable? I had this issue with my childminder. I pay by childcare vouchers, if I need to change them I need to know by the 15th of the month. Telling me on the 25th is too late. The only time I was ever in arrears was when my childminder did this despite me asking for an update on the balance a whole month before. I think it is important that parents treat their childcare bill as an important bill, but it is equally important that childminders give enough notice to pay the bill. All my household bills give me at least 2 weeks notice, surely if you are running a business, and expected to be treated as such, you should attempt to do the same?

Payment in advance is a must, that makes sense. You pay your line rental for your phone in advance, planned hours are the same. Additional hours are like used minutes on the phone line, billable on the next invoice. I read that the parent causing you a problem has term time only care. I also only have term-time only care and have always used August as my "build up month". This is where I pay a sum to my childminder so that I start the school year in advance and spend the year slowly eating away at that money, this allows me to have the same amount of childcare vouchers each month. Personally I assumed this was what my childminder would prefer so she can pay her monthly bills and budget. She never objected. If I were you, I would have a chat and give them a choice of payments methods (paying a fixed sum per calendar month, paying up each half term, paying upon receipt of invoice). All options don't leave you waiting to be paid!

Insist upon a standing order.

Catherine that's why I send my invoices on the 15th. I found that parents paying by vouchers needed the extra time.

Having said that, most make q voucher payment and a top up payment, so they could simply send the voucher payment and then wait to see what the balance is.

Mine pay by vouchers, bank transfer and standing order. The only thing I insist on is no cash and no chequers.

I am a cm and I give plenty of notice for the months fees and ask for payment up front. Nearly every payment needs reminding to pay and I'm introducing late fees from September. And they are lovely parents but it just seems to slip their mind most months that I need to be paid. I once had one who had to pay cash weekly, never again. She never had the right money or claimed to be skint.

^I think you may need to be a little lenient and define late payment as being more than 7 days late as us mums and dads get pretty busy. Currently I am lucky if I get to the computer for 5 minutes and I hate doing banking and admin on my phone^

How utterly bloody ridiculous...I'm genuinely shocked that people have this opinion.

What if your employer took this view? And you're left waiting with bills pushing you further into your overdraft and being left without money?

My payday is 1st of the month...not 1st of the month as long as mum or dad aren't to busy but it might be the 8th

Catherine....I set my payment day as parents pay day plus 5 days this gives time for them to get the money and make the manual adjustment as needed and then press pay....amazingly still some don't think this is lone enough because they are busy and some will give amazing excuses for not having money whilst telling a cm what they have brought or done over a weekend so didn't have the funds to pay until next week...one lady on FB couldn't pay for her wedding dress this week because 3 parents paid late.
It is possible to work out what you believe you need to pay and at least pay that amount surely you know the normal chare you know what you did in overtime and you know if the cm has been sick/off so rather than pay late I would say im making a provisional payment please let me know if it is enough and Ill sort any extra in cash or credit me next month. She may then be wiling to extend the next payment so you pay 5 weeks this time and later from then on.

To the op if you want to change to advance payments for existing customers...put out a letter saying payment from x will be in advance due to so many late payments that are putting my home and lively hood at risk. If you have an issue please discuss it with me I will be doing a contract review on Y...then if anyone says they can not do suggest a 4 or 5 month period where they pay month plus 1 week to bring it into advance. If they have never given a problem you can make exceptions if they are a problem payer get out your receipt book and show them how many times they have been late and how much it has cost you in late fees in your finances etc. and stick to suggested payment plan or look for alternative care. draw attention to Pacey immediate termination clause and say I have been working with you but cant keep making my family go without food, birthday parties because I haven't the money to buy a gift for their friend, holidays, treats or worse. Sometimes if you keep taking people walk right over you because you don't seem to mind.

Actually I was wrong, I'm not shocked anymore at the entitlement of some parents who think payday is just a suggestion.

I used to work in payroll. I'm just wondering if the 13,000 employees would have been ok if I'd paid them 7 days late, because I was busy? I never thought of trying that! It's not like they have bills to pay or anything is it?

Those who feel there should be some flexibility, how would you feel if your employer said we will pay you at some point during the week after pay day?

CM here...I started like op and did invoice in arrears, but I found myself waiting to be paid when I had given it to them at the beginning of the month. So for new starters I now send invoices out a week before they are due (1st) and state late fee etc which is also on the Pacey contract in advance.

Comes directly out of our salary deducted from pre tax pay and straight to childminder's account. We don't see childcare money - it's the voucher scheme. A particular amount that is extra top up is standing order out of our bank to her. Paying her isn't a monthly task.

I've been with my childminder for five years. In that time I have been late paying once. Or rather I asked DH to send through the payment and he forgot and I went batshit crazy at him. He didn't get it. I asked him if he would be cool with his employer not paying him on the agreed date and taking his attitude when challenged about it. He phoned apologised to CM and transerred payment immediately.

We pay in advance and also pay a chunk in vouchers. As soon as I get the notification that the vouchers are available I transfer them to CM. On the 25th she gives us a bill for the difference due by the 1st.

Their attitude sucks. I'd ask them one final time and say you won't be providing any further childcare until their account is settled.

Think what others have posted here are good ideas. I think you may need to be a little lenient and define late payment as being more than 7 days late as us mums and dads get pretty busy. Currently I am lucky if I get to the computer for 5 minutes and I hate doing banking and admin on my phone. Personally I am pretty anal about paying on time but my career was always finance related. However I take a dim view of people who start chasing payment perhaps a little too early like less than 12 hours after their shift. They know I am beyond busy and me hiring them is to help me out. Like places where I work, hiring a person in a very poor financial position to come into your home can be a potential reason for undesirable conduct

What absolute utter unprofessional shite. Service provider offers service. Service provider is paid. Or is your salary paid 7 days late because your employers get fucking busy?