Wanting to change how parents pay fees

[Rachel23]

At the moment my parents pay for the months childcare at the end of the month, but I am thinking it is wiser from Business point of view to have fees paid for the coming month so I cover myself, but how do I go about changing this because parents would then effectively be paying two months childcare in one go, I will give them notice f my plan to change the way I do things! In just not sure how to go about telling them! I want to cover myself incase anybody decides to leave without paying and if they do not attend I am then still paid for the month!

Am I being harsh in changing the way I get paid?

Thanks in advance! X

[Zoomie]

I would do it gradually.

Perhaps give notice now, that from February (so that everyone can get over the shock of Xmas) fees will need to start being paid for in advance.

So, at the end of January, January's fees will be due, plus 25% towards February.
Then at end of Feb, 125% of fees will be due again, taking the parents to 50% upfront
Hopefully by May time you'll have everyone paying in advance.

Obviously talk to your parents and if some need to do it over a longer period, take that into consideration on a case by case basis.

Any new contracts signed need to be paid for in advance from the beginning.

[The Juggler]

i would not do this with current parents. They signed a contract based on paying in arrears. You could introduce it for new parents but I think you may lose customers otherwise.

[Toothfairy]

As Juggler says, I wouldn't introduce this with existing parents but would with new families in the future.
Saying that, if you are having problems with a particular family paying late etc, then in that situation, I would do a contract review and state that further payments would need to be in advance due to their late payments.

Hope that makes sense

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I would sit down and talk to the parents - explain that working in arrears isn't possible but be prepared to lose some

[Daftbat]

Definitely not a good idea to do it with existing parents. It's not really fair on them. Anything I have changed over the years I have just done gradually and its always the best policy. You are in danger of alienating everyone especially if you say that's its to cover you incase they don't pay. Of course the other option is that if someone is late paying you can tell them that if it happens again you will be changing them over to payment in advance.

[Rachel23]

I think I may suggest it to problem parent and only introduce to new parents x

[hectors house]

I had all parents paying weekly by various means (cash, cheque, bank transfer) and one parent paying in arrears at the end of the month using childcare vouchers - when new people started I told them it was payment in advance but still had one paying in arrears, so I told them everyone else was now paying in advance and made the change during May when there were lots of bank holidays (child only comes on a Monday), so they only had to pay a few extra weeks and were quite happy to fall in line with others. So my advice would be to make the change when lots of bank holidays or when you or they are on holiday, or to do like zoomie says and ask for extra money each month - or instead you could ask for a deposit which will be refunded at end of contract.

[Kittycat]

I have always from day one had parents pay a mth in advance, that way if they pick up their child one day themselves or someone is ill they can't turn round to you and say I'm not paying this day as such and such picked up, wasn't in etc,

I would put it in writing however with Christmas on the way it might not be the most welcomed time to have 2 mths childcare fees, you could spread it out over 4 mths,

At the end of this mth do, fees in advance for next mth,
And if a parent owed £200 for the end of this working mth, spread it over 4 mths adding £50 extra on to the next 4 mths bill
If you see what I mean