CM club - 4 weeks notice query

[chicaguapa]

Received from a parent of one of my mindees...

"my friend at work has had to sack her childminder as she witnessed her daughter in a dangerous position whilst out with the minder. (the minder was trying to control 3 other children in her care and 5 year old Molly ran off and wasn't on the same street. My friend is reluctant to have to pay the 4 wks notice that the minder is claiming. Do you happen to know if there is anything in the standard contract to get her out of paying? Apparently she has been having numerous problems with the minder who can't control the children very well."

I don't know the answer to the question but wondered if anyone else does...

as far as i know a contract is a contract and payment is a MUST. The CM will be in her rights to seek legal action if no payment received.

To be perfectly honest, if I really could not leave my child with a childminder because she was not competant, I wouldn't pay her.

However, from what you have sad, I think your friend is overreaacting. Children do run off. I think some level of understanding is required on your friends part.

But, if say, she walked in to find the childminder was dealing drugs and having sex with a local teenager whilst her child was neglected in the back garden, then yes I think she could avoid payment.

Child ran off down the street? No, children do behave like children.

I have told her...

"The childminder can take legal action if she doesn?t get the money. If your friend thinks she has a strong case for not giving notice ie felt Molly was in danger, she can argue that in court if cm takes legal action.

If she wants to take that route she should complain to Ofsted so the incident is logged and will carry more weight in court. Probably should only complain if she?s aware of the damage it would do to cm?s reputation. It stays on cm?s record forever so is quite serious. But cm should have completed an incident report anyway which is signed by your friend or whoever picked Molly up that day."

Thanks for your help.

If a childminder was seriously being negligent or doing something really wrong, I would have thought that a parent would be well within their rights to argue that the CM wasn't upholding her side of the contract anyway??