NCMA KEEPING UP WITH MM

[The Juggler]

Thought you might like to see this.

I couldn't attend the greater london NCMA forum today so I forwarded my comments to the Forum Leader. I was just passing on comments about CM's generally feeling that MM were offering more protection in terms of their insurance and flexibility in terms of paperwork. I was concerned as a member that that are going to continue to lose membership unless they are able to 'catch up' with MM and their offer.

The comments were meant for the policy forum members to take to their meeting but the lady I passed it to obviously sent it straight to NCMA head office.

Here you go....

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I have recently received an email from you regarding NCMA membership. Thank you for the feedback and expressing your concerns with us.

Every NCMA member is greatly valued so by listening and responding to your wishes and concerns will enable us to evolve the membership to greater suit your needs in future years.



I hope to provide you with suitable responses to your concerns within this email, allaying any fears of our current membership features or benefits:



NCMA paperwork – The NCMA contracts have evolved over a number of years following feedback from our members and other parties. Although they may provide a more detailed written explanation of the contract of service compared to others, the design is to ensure that both parent and childminder are protected and help ensure legal clarity in the majority of disputes. Following conversations with our legal team they have felt that almost all of the contracts of service written by childminders would leave gaps and risks open for both parties, so to continue to request the use of NCMA contracts helps to ensure consistency and clarity for the member and legal team.



Other offers - I have attached a page from the forthcoming edition of Who Minds which I feel appropriately outline the other features/benefits of NCMA membership. I hope this is of interest.



Dispute Support – Although I can’t directly discuss what our competitors may be able to offer with regards to legal settlement, I can assure you that our legal team are increasingly aware of the need to find prompt monetary resolution to any legal outcome or requested action. We track the performance of our legal team’s capability to fulfil this and will continue to review/seek to improve our efforts in the forthcoming near future.



As mentioned earlier in this email, your feedback is of significant benefit to us. I will retain your feedback for forthcoming meetings to discuss further and will inform you of further developments.

In the sincere belief or our increasing commitment to your membership and professional needs, we look forward to many further years of membership from yourself and colleagues.



If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.



Regards

[squiggle]

very interesting reading...

i moved from ncma to mm last year due to the 'unorganised' legal support i received when i went to court over a non-payment. i won the case but due to the solicitors incompetence my case could have easily been thrown out of court due to some very important paperwork they had missed sending to the court.

To be honest i lost all faith in ncma and have found mm better.

xx

[The Juggler]

very interesting reading...

i moved from ncma to mm last year due to the 'unorganised' legal support i received when i went to court over a non-payment. i won the case but due to the solicitors incompetence my case could have easily been thrown out of court due to some very important paperwork they had missed sending to the court.

To be honest i lost all faith in ncma and have found mm better.

xx

exactly. I think they need to know how members (or ex-members) feel. if they don't keep up they are going to lose substantial membership income and that will impact all childminders if they have less money to reserach and lobby on our behalf.

[TheBTeam]

My cm friend had to fight with the 'help' of the solicitors advised by ncma and to be honest it was awful, the only thing they did was act like a postbox between the parent and the cm, they literally just forwarded on letters and asked for her response, they offered no advice whatsoever, even when the letters clearly only needed the response of the contract is the document to adhere to and it states clearly!

We expected that they would deal with the law side of it, but no, they left her to deal with every reponse including the legalities of the contract and then they just posted it back!

[Pipsqueak]

From the NCMA response they are skirting around the issues. IF MM can offer that level of support, then why can't NCMA - the people who are actually supposed to represent actual childminders.
when I asked for support from the legal team - you have hit the nail on the head - they acted liked a post box and you hear it time and again - shoddy incompetent legal support.

I can understand that the contracts are for the protection of both parties, but they seem heavily weighted in favour of the parent and in addition they seem to be not worth the paper they are written on when it comes down to it.

This will probably be my last year with NCMA.

[ajs]

i say that every year and then i just renew because the effort allways seems too much to make
if you use ncma contracts will mm still represent you in the event of a dispute

[Pudding Girl]

MM will help you regardless of if it's their own contracts or not.

[The Juggler]

i seriously think i will keep my ncma membership going but use mm legal cover this year.

i hope those who have bad experiences complain properly about the lack of support otherwise, they are not going to realise how far behind they are....

mind you last thing you want to do in a dispute with parents is handle it yourself, with little help from NCMA, then have to take them on as well:panic: :panic:

i hope everyone else attending the regional forums will push this issue too so that NCMA can kick some butt in the legal team....

[TheBTeam]

i seriously think i will keep my ncma membership going but use mm legal cover this year.

i hope those who have bad experiences complain properly about the lack of support otherwise, they are not going to realise how far behind they are....

mind you last thing you want to do in a dispute with parents is handle it yourself, with little help from NCMA, then have to take them on as well:panic: :panic:

i hope everyone else attending the regional forums will push this issue too so that NCMA can kick some butt in the legal team....

Their naff delayed response in regards to clearing paths in the snow is another example of if we don't actually give you any advice then we can get out of helping when you tell us what you have done!

[The Juggler]

Their naff delayed response in regards to clearing paths in the snow is another example of if we don't actually give you any advice then we can get out of helping when you tell us what you have done!

i think you may be right hon. I know it's a charity but if you're paying for legal advice and cover then you need to have it when you need it..... it seems to be getting beyond a joke especially with a high incidence of non-paying parents at the moment.