Should i pay notice period?

[Maisie2023]

I have 4yo son who has a small superficial scratch on nose which happened in our care at softplay. Arrived at childminders 3 days later with scratch on his nose. That afternoon childminder asked him what happened his nose and he said her son did it… and she said ‘what?’ And he then said 'I did it at soft play'. She rang me at work to tell me and said she knows her son didn't do it as he was at school. I reassured her that the scratch happened on in our care 3 days ago and 100% no concerns from us that it was anything to do with her son. She said she didn’t know how she felt about the situation and we ended the call as I had
Something on at work to get back to but told her I would follow up with her later. She didn’t mention the situation to my husband at pick up time.
I spoke to my son that night and he was very sorry about telling a lie when I explained it would get the childminders child in to trouble and made his childminder sad.
I sent the childminder a message the following morning to tell her about my chat with my son and let her know that he just doesn’t fully understand the consequences of telling a lie yet but we are trying to teach him. I also reassured her again in writing that we know her child was nothing to do with the scratch.

The childminder rang me later that afternoon to say she reported the 'allegation' made by my son to Social Services and had been advised to write it up and get me to sign to confirm her child wasn’t at fault for the scratch. I told her that would be no problem. She then proceeded to tell me that they also advised her to terminate our contract and she then gave us our 4 weeks notice (we live in a small community / reputational damage to he business / needs to put her child first).

I rang Social Services and they told me they would never advise a childminder to terminate a contract - that is not their business. A childminder is self-employed, had their own terms and conditions and they would not be interferring/advising on that side of things.

My perspective:

• this is a complete overaction to the situation - my child corrected the fib immediately and i squashed the allegation on the first phonecall confirming her child had nothing to do with the scratch
• 4 year old kids tell fibs, it’s normal behaviour. They don’t truly understand the impact of lying and i talked the situation through with my son to help him understand how lying can be hurtful and told the childminder i took this action.
• my 4 year old child with no understanding of the impact of what he said is being villified
• it looks like she lied about being advised by social services to terminate the contract

We don’t want to send him back to the childminder setting over the notice period as he is not wanted there, the response the situation was OTT and we feel it is a risk to place our child there again incase another situation like this arises.

Do we have any grounds not to pay her the notice period because we feel we cannot send our child there again? Or do we just pay up?

Appreciate your thoughts!

Read your contract. But she has terminated your place so you don't pay imo. She should pay you four weeks of emergency child care..

@BirthdayRainbow your opinion is wrong!

there are very few reasons that a contract can be terminated and notice period not paid. The childminder did not terminate the place with immediate effect, she has given you 4 weeks notice, so you have to pay whether your child returns or not. If you refuse to pay, for example, you say you are not returning to the childminder because you are worried about your child, unless you have any proof, you still have to pay.

As lone workers, childminders are vulnerable to allegations. I have had to terminate the contracts of a family with 3 children in my care because one of the children was a compulsive liar. She once told her mother that I refused to feed her, when in actual fact I had refused to allow her to eat in my living room. All of the other children sat at the dining table in the kitchen to eat and then went to play in the living room.
As childminders, we cannot live with the worry that a child will tell a lie about us, our families, our pets, the list is endless, and it’s just not worth looking after a child that has a tendancy to lie.

I understand why your childminder made the decision she did, and I hope you understand too.

Also, childcare providers talk to each other. If you don’t pay your notice period, don’t be surprised if you have difficulty finding another childminder.

Contracts have to be abided by

If yours says 4w she has to give that to you and you have to pay the notice /use her

I get why she has done this as your child lying can ruin her reputation

But

Yes seems a little extreme as you were happy to sign saying you son lied and the injury was in your care at a different setting

Hi, sorry yes you do need to pay the full
notice period if you don't she will instruct her insurance company to start non payment process. I can see why she has ended your contact and if I was still a childminder would have done the same. I could not care for a child who could lie and potentially but myself, family at risk of a serious allegation. Next time you may not know if he was telling the truth or not.

She has given you a months notice so you pay until the end of that month whether you chose to send your son or not. I know he's only very young but your son's behaviour caused the issue. The child minder has to protect her reputation and that of her own DS.

I’m a childminder and I have given notice to a family whose child habitually lied. I had to protect myself, my family and the other children in my care. I will do the same again if faced with the problem.

you may have signed a note to say your son lied and it happened elsewhere however what happens next time. What happens if he lies and you don’t actually realise it’s a lie. Childminders are more vulnerable than people realise.

YANBU

The two childminders on here have referred to terminating contracts because of compulsive lying. These sounds like a one off and I think she’s acted disproportionately.

However you sound equally overreactive as now you consider DS at risk! That’s just odd.

I would check your contract with her but it sounds like if she is offering to look after DS during the notice period you are likely liable for any fees as it’s your choice if you don’t take her up on it.

You no people can still see your bizarre original comment right?

OP I’d read your contract but you probably do still need to pay. I can absolutely see why you don’t want to though, the whole thing sounds OTT.

"I get why she has done this as your child lying can ruin her reputation"

But the childminder lied by saying SS told her to terminate the contract!

I would point this out to her and refuse to pay.

She has already ruined her own reputation if OP was to say anything to people.

I certainly wouldn’t send my child back or pay.

Whars the worst she can do - take you to the small claims court for it? I’d let her try to do that noting that you felt it was no longer an appropriate environment to send your child into with the disproportionate response to a fib and SS involvement so you were essentially forced to remove him immediately if it gets that far.

I had similar when DD (aged 3) apparently tried to feed the child minder’s young baby a sausage. Appreciate it was very dangerous but DD was 3 and should have been supervised while eating a sausage herself and certainly not left alone with a baby unsupervised which she told me after that incident that she often was. Childminder also gave 4 weeks notice as per contract and insisted I pay it despite me not taking DD back. I did pay it. Still annoyed at myself 24 years later when I see her around the town!

If your child makes an accusation no matter how small the cm must report to LADO or risk losing her job. The fear of what your son put her through and the impact on her family is horrendous....yes it was a small thing but there is a risk another accusation might happen and then it may start to look like something is going on. She's protecting herself and this maybe on the advice of her insurance. But she has the right to do it and you should pay....just as you have the right to hand your notice in when it no longer suits you .....or if you change jobs.

Your situation is nothing like this one. The only person at risk here was the cm a risk that could have cost her home or resulted in weeks of no income.
Your advice is wrong it costs a cm nothing to take you to court and pursue losses

I don't think you have any idea how serious this could have been for the cm especially if the 4 year old makes another accusation....or any other child.

The contract will have a section on termination by both parties why assume you don't have to pay for 4 weeks notice? Would you say if I give my notice to childcare they can immediately refuse to care for my child leaving me unable to work? It's a two way thing both parties can end a contract it's not a life long commitment.

I had a mum ring me once demanding to know how a child got a bruise...it didn't happen with me and I luckily had a nurse witness that child had no bruise on leaving...dad had collected and gone straight out on mums return not saying child had fallen with him...she refused this possibility until the next day when she apologised I refused ever to have the child again. Breakdown of relationship and trust deposit lost.

I'm a childminder. A childminder friend of mine gave notice to a 4 year old because he lied twice and told his Mum that my friend had slapped him across the face.
We are vulnerable. All it takes is for that child to say it to someone at nursery and they'll have no choice but to report her. Ofsted will suspend her immediately for at least 6 weeks whilst they investigate.

Wow 😮

That was in response to your original comment before you "edited" it

You can view your history btw it doesn't delete it