Help with child care situation

[conny]

Can I just get this simplified in my head please?

1/ You have paid her one month in advance?
2/ Was this last payment for April or May?
3/ Is she looking after your son during April?
4/ Is she employed directly by you or through an agency?

 

[motorbiking]

Sorry to hear the situation, but you may have been a little too flexible. The moment she cannot take your child is the moment she breaches the contract and must either rely on any liquidated damages clause in the agreement (if there are any) or pay you damages. She is a service provider not an employee so you have no duty to her income. No service = no fee.

You are entitled to a refund of lost fees, including the refund of any vouchers.

 

[sxturbo]

Can I just get this simplified in my head please?

1/ You have paid her one month in advance? Yes
2/ Was this last payment for April or May? The payment is for April, but the deposit we paid when he started child care covers the week in may she is going to end his care.
3/ Is she looking after your son during April? She is not looking after him at all throughout the month of April
4/ Is she employed directly by you or through an agency? She is self employed as the company. We pay for her services

 

[conny]

Then you have paid for a service in advance which she/he is not going to provide.
You are entitled to ask for that money back and, depending on the amount, if she refuses then you should be able to take her to at least the small claims court for restitution.

A written request for a refund, using registered post to her/him personally, and stating if the refund is not returned to your account within 7 or 14 days you will be taking legal action to recover the debt and also any additional costs involved to effect the recovery.
It's time to play hard ball.

 

[sxturbo]

Then you have paid for a service in advance which she/he is not going to provide.
You are entitled to ask for that money back and, depending on the amount, if she refuses then you should be able to take her to at least the small claims court for restitution.

A written request for a refund, using registered post to her/him personally, and stating if the refund is not returned to your account within 7 or 14 days you will be taking legal action to recover the debt and also any additional costs involved to effect the recovery.
It's time to play hard ball.

Thankyou for that, I have just spoken to her and her husband and they have refused any form of refund and said I was lucky to have only paid 80%.

They say their reason is that she is still working and open (albeit for another family whom are key workers) and therefore because she is not closing are entitled to keep the money as we could still be sending our child there.

I told them it is the government that are stopping us from being able to use the service. They then fought back and said they have a letter from my wifes work stating she was a key worker.

Which at the time of the letter was true as she works for a motor factors , however the government have since changed the ruling and have given MOT's a 6 month extension, this has meant the majority of her client base have now closed, and due to this my wife company has put her on furlough and is no longer classed as key worker.

I'm writing a hard ball letter now, .and I will be taking it all the way. Their attiy towards me absolutely stank.

Oh also to add to the story the childminder went for a job interview a few weeks ago, and never told us she was thinking of stopping. We paid her the months money on Tuesday and she got a call yesterday she was offered the job and took it.

As she knew this may have happy I think she should have been up front and honest about it and not taken the full month's money.

My blood is boiling right now

 

[sxturbo]

The fee for this month is £425 ( would usually be a lot bigger but she doesn't charge for annual leave other side this would be 700)

Would this amount be allowed to claim for in small claims?

I'm just determined to make her life difficult for the money

 

[sodthisforfun]

Just out of interest, who's decision was it to keep your child at home?

 

[sxturbo]

The government.

But I think really it was us.

My wife was furloughed and I am currently working from home.

Due to my wife being furloughed and the government ruling (or is it advise) that all children whom are not key worker children should NOT be going to childcare. The other child at the minders parents are paramedics

So i suppose it was us who said we would remove our son temporarily.

However we were willing to pay her still although from speaking to other service providers this is not the norm and they haven't been charging their clients while children are not under their care

 

[sodthisforfun]

Oh ok. I wonder if there's a clause about changing your mind and notice given. She may argue that she required 2 weeks notice (depending on your contract) so she would expect 2 weeks pay.

 

[conny]

See if you can contact a solicitor who does a half hour/hour initial interview free of charge.
It may have to be done over the phone/skype/WhatsApp or something but at least you will have a good idea of the legal standing.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Isn't this (because the child goes to the carer; not the carer comes to the child) like paying a months rent in advance and then deciding not to live there for that month?

 

[noseall]

My blood is boiling right now

And rightly so. Bot don't make any rash decisions, particularly costly ones. Things always balance out. Let this one go then bide your time.

 

[motorbiking]

If she is available and your child is eligible and its you who have decided to suspend the contract, then I'm afraid she is in the right.
Is there a force majeure clause in the contract?

Who served who notice that the service was not needed or no longer available ?
Yes this is a small claim fast track.

I'm not convinced you'll win

 

[sxturbo]

Isn't this (because the child goes to the carer; not the carer comes to the child) like paying a months rent in advance and then deciding not to live there for that month?

Well we haven't decided not to live there for the month. The government have told us we can't.

I was happy to pay her, until she told us she will no longer be looking after our child.

If she had waited a further 2 weeks then advised us I wouldn't have a problem.

But even as far as Thursday evening she was asking us if we had changed our minds to out our son in nursery from September.

I'm going to have to digress a bit here. Back in January she advised she will no longer be doing the government funded hours which we had planned to do with her aswell as too up the difference so she wasn't out of pocket. Our child is not eligible for this until September however at the time she thought we were eligible from the Easter term. And so this forced our hand to find alternative arrangements which we did we found an amazing place, we did ask her for a meeting so we could discuss an option of her still to look after our son, but excuses were always made and the meeting was never had. She also told us that this year she was taking 6 weeks holiday the day before the new year caring year started (she runs her year Jan to Jan, we were told the day before son was due to return)

Right back on point. She was still pestering us to continue looking after our son as she has now changed her mind and will now accept the funded hours. We told her Thursday that we had already chosen a placement and paid the deposit and sorted paperwork, and we didn't want the hassle of using multiple carers.

We paid her a month's money on Tuesday, she comes to our door Friday night handing this letter to us advising termination.

Conveniently the termination offer she's written 6 weeks but it's actually 5 , and covers the money we would be owed if she terminated straight away.

When I spoke to her today her decision was apparently made 2 weeks ago, she was just waiting for the ducks to align as her husband put it.

This smacks to me as completely dishonest and the reason she didn't say anything sooner was so she could get an extra months money.
Had she waited another 2 weeks I wouldn't have batted an eye lid.

She did look after her best friends children and then the government ruling can out and she asked her for only half fees to keep the child places, her friend refused. We know this as the child minder told my wife. We tried to do the right thing and have been stung because of it.

 

[motorbiking]

what does the contract say on notice period? Is she offering to look after your child during notice period? why don't you want to use the service during the notice period?