Wording Advice

[melco]

Hi,

I have had a call from a parent today giving notice.

We had a nice chat and I had seen it coming but I have just logged onto the computer to see the email and they have given notice from today. As they are Term Time only am I right that they can not do this? They are due to come on 7th Jan 2013 so that should be when the 4 weeks notice starts. I feel really bad but can not afford to lose out on a weeks pay. How can I reply explaining this without sounding rude?

Thanks

melco

[cathtee]

You could put something like : thanks for the email comfirming our conversation, I see that you have dated it from today but as X is term
time only the 4 weeks notice has to be 4 weeks of x being in my contracted hours. Hope this helps

[TAZ]

Hi,

I have had a call from a parent today giving notice.

We had a nice chat and I had seen it coming but I have just logged onto the computer to see the email and they have given notice from today. As they are Term Time only am I right that they can not do this? They are due to come on 7th Jan 2013 so that should be when the 4 weeks notice starts. I feel really bad but can not afford to lose out on a weeks pay. How can I reply explaining this without sounding rude?

Thanks

melco

I've just checked my NCMA contracts and they state "Notice of termination of the contract must be given in writing and should not include a period of holiday of either party or childminder's paid time off" (It's 3/4 of the way down page 3) so if you use the NCMA contracts you can always quote that

[AgentTink]

I think they are entitled to give you the 4 weeks from today, as this week is not holiday for you nor is it their holiday.

Another way to think about it is if a term time only parent gave you notice on the first day of the summer holidays you wouldn't say that they would have to wait until the school term started again in September and then pay 4 weeks notice.

The 4 weeks notice i think is about giving both parties time to look for alternate care, hence the wording cannot include holiday, as if you/or parents were abroad for 2 weeks you wouldn't be able to advertise the space and find a replacement and they wouldn't have sufficient time to find alternate care.

[The Juggler]

i'm sure there are special conditions for term time contracts and I believe that parents CAN give notice from today. As someone said if it was start of August you would not expect them to wait 6 weeks then give notice.

Check with NCMA but I am sure that a parent/minder holiday not being included is different than for t-time contracts. Sorry to hear you got notice though hon :(

[melco]

i'm sure there are special conditions for term time contracts and I believe that parents CAN give notice from today. As someone said if it was start of August you would not expect them to wait 6 weeks then give notice.

Check with NCMA but I am sure that a parent/minder holiday not being included is different than for t-time contracts. Sorry to hear you got notice though hon :(

This is probably my error because of the way I charge for Term Time, I don't spread the money over the year, I don't charge more per hour, the parents just get charged for what they have so I don't get any money from them over the school Holidays :blush:. So due to this and January being a hard month for money I had to go by what it said in the NCMA contract where it states notice can not be given during a time when the childminder is not providing care. I know everyone runs their business differently so I understand that others may allow for holiday to be included in the notice and they may also charge over the holidays whereas I don't. So don't know what I would have done if they had given it at the beginning of the Summer Holidays!!! I would just not have got paid my notice, I am still learning x

By the way I emailed parents and they are fine with it - phew!!