Advise on Leaving Childminder

[Kendra9991]

Hi ,
I need a little advise . My Childminder gave me notice which is due to end soon .

I pay her a set fee every month taking into account her holiday entitlement .

Because of the notice and working in HR which is a bit of a habit , I have looked at how much holiday she has taken, I have found she has taken over her entitlement. Plus I have looked and found that I have been overpaying her everymonth .

The fees were agreed ( vouchrs) but the extra money wasnt.

Can I also deduct this overpayment from the final payment .

Thanks

Kendra

I would certainly discuss this with your childminder, but also look very carefully at your contract with her. As a childminder myself I would be happy to have a problem like this pointed out to me if I hadn't realised in advance & work out what should be paid.

Talk to your childminder. Point out the things you have noticed and ask for a final invoice, so you know what you do have remaining to pay, or if you have overpaid.
You can dispute a payment request, so if you have the final invoice and you don't agree with it you can dispute that payment. However it is always best to come to an agreement as to how much is owed, by whom.
Remember that your childminder is not your employee, so some of your HR knowledge won't apply. A childminder provides a service and invoices for that service. You have agreed to initial terms and subsequently when each invoice is paid, in my view you are agreeing that the amount paid each time is right. So in my view, dispute the final invoice but don't back date.

I showed the minder my calculations and se just said yes , She has broken the contract on numerous occasions regarding holiday notice and not informing me another minder who i dont have a contact withis looking after my child.

I want to be fair on this and just need advise i have never been invoiced and havnt had a final payment amount

bump :P

So the CM gave you notice, you have never had an invoice and you have been overpaying?

You worked out what you think you should pay for the final payment and the CM said "yes" therefore I'm presuming from this that she agrees with your calculations, I would pay by cheque (so you have a record) and get a receipt, also did you get notice in writing? if not I would ask for it.

By the sounds of things their are other issues - you mentioned another person looking after your child without your consent - so I would make sure you dot all the i's and cross all the T's so to speak.

Thanks for the reply . The notice was in writting , and If I dont get a final invoice I will tell her ill pop a cheque through her door.

I have covered everything else and will be seeing the cab this week just to see where I stand . I know my calculations will be the opposite of what she is expecting , I havnt mentioned any payment to her as of yet .

My calculations are that she has taken over her leave accrual , but im happy to let that and the overpayment go . meaning I would pay the time due she has been minding my child. I will discuss with the cab what they think .

Payment will be by cheque or bank transfer either way ill have a record.

Th other issues are being taken up by a freind on my behalf as she has access to resources I dont have .

Are you seeing CAB re financials / leave accrual? if so please keep in mind that CM's are self employed and as such do not accrue leave as employees do. However most CM's specify how much time they take off over the year, your contract will state how much holiday pay (if any) your CM will expect for their time off.

You have shown the childminder your calculations and she agrees. I would give a written copy of your calculations and pay what you think is due to her.

If she disagrees with you then she can always take you to the small claims court.

Just thinking? How much desposit does she have? You may not have to make any payment at all!

I'm guessing that she is NOT paid for holidays but has worked out (like I do) the fixed monthly fee based on all her holidays for the year and bank hols? With any sickness being refunded? If this is the case, it's what I do and if anyone leaves, I work out what they should have paid and then work out who owes who what.

What EXACTLY does it say about the fees and holidays on your contract? I personally am not sure cab would be much help? I'd just give the cheque stapled to your calculations sheet and leave it as that. If she has a problem, I agree she can take it to the small claims court but tbh, I doubt she'd do that as she's loose money when she looses her case!

She doesnt have any deposit .

She works in arrears.

Id rather not go down the small claims route and hopefully she will agree with the final payment which will be fair and what I think she is entitled to .

I understand they are self emplyed and she agreed for me to balance out the payments to a regular fee a month so that there was no short or long weeks.

My cmm only takes 20 days holiday in year this is unpaid .

My new cm works in advance so i really need to know where i stand with this as i have a large fee to pay out for her.

Im starting to feel my stress come back . So I really hope both me and the cm can agree on the final fee. I dont pay her holidays but pay a reduced rate taking into acount her holiday , which is spread over the year.

I actually feel poorly , she gave me notice for reasons that have nothing to do with my child. I just want it sorted .I suppose ill find out when she eventually gives me the final invoice. if nothing comes ill pay her what I think I owe her with a breakdown of everything.

we will just see

it was a verbal agreement looney , on the contract its standard 20 days unpaid and its balanced over the year . I pay bank hols , and have never missed one . but on the contract it just says 20 days unpaid.

I have accepted leave at alot less than the notice . and ended up out of pocket for it .

You know what im quite mad now .

[angrey] I actually think she is over the amount of leave for the year. But to be honest I dont care . I just want rid and my child settled in the new placement

if she deducts 20 days fee from your year leave then you pay less each month so as long as she doesnt take anymore than the 20 days and say you leave half way through the year then you would probably owe her money as you have been paying less each month and she may not have taken the holidays. i think its highly unlikely she would owe you as she has provided all the childcare at a reduced rate.
i work my fees like that but when i parent leaves i would never sit and work it out who owe what as a parent could even up oweing more i see it as a bonus to them that they pay slightly less (so shouldnt make a fuss about it) and a bonus to me that i have a set wage all year round(so i dont make a fuss that i may have been slightly under paid)

xoxcherylxox - sorry but that is pretty unprofessional not to work these things out. Fine if you're ok with being a little short but it's not really for you to just decide it's ok for a parent to be out of pocket. If you say this to a parent and they agree then that's fine but your post was pretty casual about this.

Anyway, leaving half way through the year does NOT mean that they definitely won't be much loss on either side, it really depends on WHEN the holiday was taken and WHEN the child leaves.

I think the OP being in HR means she knows these figures and as long as she is taking consideration of her being SE and not employed (which is sounds like she is) then she's right to pay what she thinks is owed.

Thank Loony , yeh I have done everything like this , I am not disputing the fact I owe her money . I do she provided the child care for me .

I have had a final invoice , sorta , was a txt message . HMMM stating the holidays she has had and how much I owe her. She is taking some more days at short notice to reduce the bill even more . I am going to figure out what I owe her as I am disputing the amount of holidays she has had. I understand she is entitled to 20 days leave . at the moment the loss is on my side only as I will owe her about 200 . Im not disputing I owe her , just the amount.

Im just a bit upset she has left it till this late to give me a final payment amount . Meaning I may not be able to settle with her on the final day.

She has had a month to take these holidays and has done nothing about it till the final week . i will figure what I owe , give her her fees for the last 2 weeks and an amount for the amount I owe her , if she doesnt like it she can take me to small claims for the amount she thinks I owe her , but with the amount of leave she has given me and my figures there is a big discrepancy.

But we will see. I just want to be fair . i understand she is se but dont want to be ripped off.

why is it unprofessional the parents want to no what they will pay each month every month and i tell them they do not expect to get any sort of extra bill when they leave what if i dont take any holidays in the first half of the year then they leave middle of august, ive not took any holidays they have had a reduced rate since january then all of a sudden out of the blue get a big bill not the ideal situation. thats why its give and take my parents sometimes make quite a bit of a saving after i take off holidays can be as much as £10 a week so would add up over the course of 6 months or so. so i would never ask the parents to pay tht much extra i just accept it as a loss as its would be my bonus if i had took holidays

I agree with cheryl and thats what I would expect ..My cm gave me notice and had plenty of time to take her leave . However because she has now opened this can of worms I have done several calculations and either way she is over what she should have taken ,

Im seeing her soon so i will put it to her ., Hopefully we will come to a mutual agreement .

However we may have a bit of an arguement over a holiday she booked without clarifying we were not able to take care of our child even though we were off .

Oh well . I shall be fair , but if she wants to be nowty shes messing with the wrong mummy ...