Urgent advice needed please

[Minnie mouse]

Where do i start i am so angry at the jobcentre :angry: They meet childcare costs for 2 of my mindees parents and i was due to be paid last week! Well i rang up last week and was told as the advisor only works 3 days a week my payment was not processed til the 5th (it should be processed thelast day of the month) so therefore it would be with me by this wednesday. So today came and i still have NOT been paid :angry: i have rang up the jobcentre again and was told its bad news the adviser forgot to have it signed by "the boss" so she didnt actually process it til the 12th! So now i have to wait another week for my payment i am so angry as my mortgage goes out on the 17th and its allready a day late!
So basically what i wanted to know was- should i do a policy of late fees which says something like if payment is more than a week late i have the right to refuse childcare until full payment has been made, meanwhile childcare will be charged at full rate.

What does everyone think? Can anyone word it better for me please, im not too good with words lol.
Thanks for reading and sorry its so long. x

[cuddlybunny38]

you can add late fees but dont think you can withhold care. someone will be alomg who will know though

[Hebs]

I know you can't refuse for working parents but is it same for non working parents?

[sarah707]

You can't withold care... it's against the law.

All you can do is give notice, ask for your money and get legal advice from your insurance company.

What are the terms of your contract? Some say if you're not paid within 7 days, you will issue a reminder... others say 5 working days. YOu need to check ...

Anyhow if there's no money within 5 or 7 days (depending on what your contract says) then you should issue your reminder letter and at the same time, if you wish, you can give a letter to terminate the contract. Then you must by law wait for the notice period you have stated in your contract.

However it's the job centre you're talking about and they will pay you eventually, they are always in their own time zone I'm afraid. :(

[Minnie mouse]

Thanks guys, my parent is sorting it out so this hopefully does not happen again (as if it was this time next month we would be 2 days over christmas and nobody would have any presents :angry: )But like you say its the job centre so i shant hold my breath.

[twise]

When i had this problem and wasn't paid for two months i was told it was not up to the jobcentre to pay for the late fee as they did not sign the contract!!!!

In the end i just gave up as i felt I couldn't really charge someone who was on a very limited income £5.00 per day for every day late.

I was eventually paid after many threats !

She has now moved onto full time education and I get paid via a student loan which again comes with its own set of problems regarding payment!!

tracy

[Blaze]

Personally I'd add the late fees on your next invoice & see...:D

[Minnie mouse]

i havent actually wrote in the contract i charge late fees tho?

[Blaze]

Do you have it in a signed for policy?

[Minnie mouse]

I shall have a look,then again i havent had my policies list signed yet as still making the list, but i know mum would sign it. :)

[LittleMissSparkles]

I charge £5 per day per child for late payment of invoices unless we have had a prior arrangement agreed. I didnt know that you could not withold care though Sarah, I have in my policys that if invoice hasnt been paid with cleared funds within one week I will not care for that child until it has been paid...... will have to update and amend that onei think x

[sarah707]

I charge £5 per day per child for late payment of invoices unless we have had a prior arrangement agreed. I didnt know that you could not withold care though Sarah, I have in my policys that if invoice hasnt been paid with cleared funds within one week I will not care for that child until it has been paid...... will have to update and amend that onei think x

there was a big debate about it recently and there were policies posted from both Ncma and MM ...

Basically you are in breach of your contract because as usual everything is weighted against us...

We have to keep working until the end of the notice period and only then can we get help to reclaim any money.

Doesn't seem fair does it? By then they will potentially owe 6 weeks money :(

[LittleMissSparkles]

there was a big debate about it recently and there were policies posted from both Ncma and MM ...

Basically you are in breach of your contract because as usual everything is weighted against us...

We have to keep working until the end of the notice period and only then can we get help to reclaim any money.

Doesn't seem fair does it? By then they will potentially owe 6 weeks money :(

Sometimes I wonder who is on the childminders side ! xxx

[barbarella68]

The answer to your question LittlemissSparkles is nobody is on our side.

[Minnie mouse]

Its very annoying to think nobody is on our side when we work so hard and make so many children happy :angry:

[angeldelight]

Poor you

Hope you get it sorted soon

Angel xx