Problem with parents and solicitors now involved

[GemmaGood]

Hi all.

I was caring for a 5 month old, who would not settle, and parents expected me to give him one to one care and hold him all of the time, when this was addressed, and I informed parents that I am not able to give my sole attention to just one child, when I have a 2 year old son, and other mindee's at the setting, they ended their contract with immediate effect. They then decided that they were not going to pay the 4 weeks notice, so I contacted the Ncma and have gained advice from them. The father then decided he was going to come round to my home and start shouting the odds and threatened to take me to court. Anyway the police were involved as I thought his behaviour was not appropriate and that he didn't know if I had other children here. They then put a complaint in against me, which Ofsted have looked at, visited me and they were happy with everything I did, and sympathised, and thankfully the complaint was dropped.:clapping: However I am now dealing with the solicitors to gain the monies owed from the parent and they have sent a letter today saying that they have 14 days to pay the money or the will be issued with a court hearing.......... has anyone experienced this and what should I be expecting if they dont pay within the 14 days???

Any help and advise would be much appreciated.. and apologises for the long post xx

[Lo0py]

I imagine it will go down the small court route if they don't reply/pay-up- however, I must tell you not to expect much from the NCMA solicitors.

They actually outsource their services to a local clerk house if it is out of their immediate region so don't be surprised if no-one turns up to help you at the small court! (I can say this from experience because I actually filed a case against a childminder for breach of contract and she had no rep turn up!)

The other problem is that even if you do get a case awarded against the parents, there is no guarantee you will recover the money and you'll be forced to get the baliffs in or freeze their bank accounts. It is a long process and I'm still waiting to get the cash over a year later...not giving up though!

[Pipsqueak]

As Loopy rightly points out - this could possibly be a long drawn out thing BUT you do have NCMA solicitors on the case and you have proof you are in the right - breach of contract etc etc.
As with any judgement by the courts, if you are awarded it then you still may have a fight to get your money.

BUT - there have been many succesful cases - if you have a look around the forum you will find them.

Good for you standing your ground and I hope you get what is rightfully yours. What a horrid experience for you to have to go through but I totally sympathise - been there done that.

[wellybelly]

I dont have any experience of this, but i wanted to say well done for sticking with it and to wish you luck.

[jaz]

Just wanted to wish you luck

J

[her8y]

What an awful experience. Just wanted to wish you luck.

[sarahlou]

u should be really proud of urself i am owed over £700 from one famlily and never wanted to rock the boat and when I said enough was enough they declaired themselves bankrupt - I wish i had the courage to take it further but dont think I have the guts eventhough the money would be great - well done :clapping:

[LittleMissSparkles]

OMG cant believe I am reading this thread and getting ready to go to court tommorow for more or less the exact same thing , well near enough.... long long story been going on for nearly 20 months or more now hopefully tommorow will be the end of it. Will let you know what the out come is tommorow xxx

[Goatgirl]

OMG cant believe I am reading this thread and getting ready to go to court tommorow for more or less the exact same thing , well near enough.... long long story been going on for nearly 20 months or more now hopefully tommorow will be the end of it. Will let you know what the out come is tommorow xxx

Good luck for tomorrow, I have everything crossed for you :-)
bws,
Wendy

[Pipsqueak]

OMG cant believe I am reading this thread and getting ready to go to court tommorow for more or less the exact same thing , well near enough.... long long story been going on for nearly 20 months or more now hopefully tommorow will be the end of it. Will let you know what the out come is tommorow xxx

Wishing you lots of luck for tomorrow:thumbsup:

[squiggle]

i have been through the court process with NCMA help

I went to court and won - they didn't pay and ignored court letters so i did an attachment of earnings order which went to her employer and they did actually pay up in full a couple of weeks ago and i got a nice cheque from the court.

don't back down!! fight for what is yours

PM if you need a chat or any support

xxx