Just signed with michel Morton!

**jadavi** · 28-09-2012, 01:04 AM

...and feel great about it. I didn't like being tied to Ncma paperwork (though the expenses accountancy book was really helpful) the contracts were ridiculously lengthy and expensive. The support meetings were crap (sorry) and gave me no support or useful discussion and the back up re getting the pack etc really slow...
Here's hoping for a better year with MM!

**sarah707** · 28-09-2012, 07:03 AM

I've been with them for 18 years and they have always been there for me when I have needed them

**ziggy** · 28-09-2012, 07:20 AM

I'm just about to re-new after my first year. Love the fact i'm only paying half as much. Contracts v lenghty but cover everything.

My friend also using them now.

**marian** · 28-09-2012, 07:30 AM

I made the move 3 years ago and they were brilliant in helping me with a non paying parent

I continued to be a member of the NCMA - so effectively paying more in the long run - but stopped this year when they decided to open membership and not solely childminders

Marian x

**Joda** · 28-09-2012, 07:54 AM

I really like the MM paperwork and have been with them for 5 years now.

**rickysmiths** · 28-09-2012, 08:08 AM

Just to clarify.

MM insurance actually costs twice as much as NCMA insurance.

In order to take advantage of the lower insurance cost you do have to pay for membership of NCMA.

Please don't muddle this up because it gives a false impression.

Also MM include Employers Insurance in their Public Liability Insurance even if you don't need it which is why it costs more. NCMA don't do this and only charge a small extra fee for Employer's insurance if the cm needs it.

**hectors house** · 28-09-2012, 08:11 AM

I decided in June to change to Morton Michel - I decided that the NCMA weren't doing enough to support childminders anymore (opening up to every tom, dick and harry) and I could get far better advice from this lovely forum for free. Also the quality of their stationery wasn't to the same standards it used to be - with less pages in register, accident/incident books and the costs kept going up.

I used to be insured with Morton Michel many years ago when *****minded the first time around - we got free cover paid for by our County Council!

**rickysmiths** · 28-09-2012, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by jadavi

...and feel great about it. I didn't like being tied to Ncma paperwork (though the expenses accountancy book was really helpful) the contracts were ridiculously lengthy and expensive. The support meetings were crap (sorry) and gave me no support or useful discussion and the back up re getting the pack etc really slow...
Here's hoping for a better year with MM!

My understanding is that MM paperwork is no less expensive than NCMA paperwork for its members? My understanding is that the MM Contracts are longer than the NCMA ones?

I have just had a look and indeed we can bust the myth that MM are cheaper than NCMA once and for all.

MM Contracts are a lot more expensive, approx 30%, Insurance is approx is 100% more expensive.

MM 10 Contracts £13 for Policy Holders £2.17 each (£26 for non Policy Holders)
NCMA 10 Contracts £10 for members £1.67 each (£19 for non members)

I must say in order to protect myself I have never begrudged the cost of a Contract (£1.67 ) and in the overall picture of the money I make from the Contracted child the cost is minute, even children I only have one day a week.

While I respect people's choice in choosing to Insure with either MM or NCMA. I do object to the way the move from NCMA to MM is often portrayed as being done because of the high cost of NCMA when it is not correct and this kind of thread is inflammatory and inaccurate.

I hope the above information helps to give a more balanced view.

**rickysmiths** · 28-09-2012, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by hectors house

I decided in June to change to Morton Michel - I decided that the NCMA weren't doing enough to support childminders anymore (opening up to every tom, dick and harry) and I could get far better advice from this lovely forum for free. Also the quality of their stationery wasn't to the same standards it used to be - with less pages in register, accident/incident books and the costs kept going up.

I used to be insured with Morton Michel many years ago when *****minded the first time around - we got free cover paid for by our County Council!

I have just checked that and I have Registers from 2000, 2004 and 2011-12 all slightly different styles and they all have the same number of pages 36, so I don't know why you are saying they have reduced?

There is still no question though NCMA paperwork is cheaper than MM. As far as costs going up, of course they do just like heating, petrol, food and everything else NCMA has to cover their costs unfortunately the costs of the raw materials keep increasing which is why we are all paying more for everything.

Just because they have widened their membership doesn't mean they will stop representing childminders.

**Logan** · 28-09-2012, 08:59 AM

I am with NCMA myself but I've just checked and there are only 6 contracts in the pack for £10, but the cost per contract of £1.67 rickysmiths quoted is correct.

Edit: just checked and there are 6 contracts in MM pack too

**pinkbutterfly** · 28-09-2012, 09:28 AM

There you go ... have a free attendance register on me

I have also spent time typing MM contract into word and I change it if I need to. It also gives me the flexibility to email a draft before printing it. It saves time ... so no more lengthy meetings to sign the paperwork ... 10 minutes and it's all done.
I have had some issues with NCMA ... whenever I rang the person couldn't give me a straight answer.
With MM when I had a non payer they handled it very well ... I got the owed money from MM the next day without the need to go to court.
MM all the way.

**pinkbutterfly** · 28-09-2012, 09:31 AM

If anybody wants my typed contract just drop me a message.

Edit: I actually added the contracts here. Please remember that you need to edit them to suit your needs. No more moaning from now on about the contract prices

**hectors house** · 28-09-2012, 10:50 AM

I used a whole pack of NCMA revised medicines pages in just a couple of months - one page for each child (only 6 pages in pack - I had 8 children part time), only 5 slips on each page - so a child who comes 3 days a week with conjuncivitus or a chest infection soon gets through slips - 2 of the children are very prone to chest infections. There is also only 6 thicker pages for contact details/drs details etc and on the back seems to be a "blanket" permission to administer medicines like Calpol for teething etc - which I felt was in breach of the Stat regs. When I rang up for clarification the person I spoke to didn't have a clue about the stationery or the Stat regs. I have not used this form as I insist on a signature every day rather than a "blanket" permission.

Register - (Rickysmiths) I stand corrected on number of pages in register, have just checked back to when I re-joined in 2005 - The quality of the paper is now so much thinner - I write with a gel pen and with the latest register the ink shows through from back of previous page, (used to be thick blue paper) also the last register I had wasn't printed properly - whole line of writing missed "time of arrival and departures" - When I rang and told them they just checked and said "faulty batch, sorry they are all like that"!

Their insurance may be cheaper but I don't have to pay membership to belong to Morton Michel. I can't comment on price of MM stationery as still using up NCMA stationery. I was quite upset at leaving them but I learnt far more initially from the Bromley website and then from this forum. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I felt that NCMA was right for me when I started back up but it wasn't keeping me up to date.

**JCrakers** · 28-09-2012, 10:59 AM

I have mm insurance but do all my own paperwork/contract as I don't want to pay for something I can do myself

I've had mm insurance since I started 5 yrs ago.

**rickysmiths** · 28-09-2012, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by pinkbutterfly

There you go ... have a free attendance register on me

I have also spent time typing MM contract into word and I change it if I need to. It also gives me the flexibility to email a draft before printing it. It saves time ... so no more lengthy meetings to sign the paperwork ... 10 minutes and it's all done.
I have had some issues with NCMA ... whenever I rang the person couldn't give me a straight answer.
With MM when I had a non payer they handled it very well ... I got the owed money from MM the next day without the need to go to court.
MM all the way.

I think you will find this is contravening Copyright doing this.

**rickysmiths** · 28-09-2012, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by pinkbutterfly

If anybody wants my typed contract just drop me a message.

Edit: I actually added the contracts here. Please remember that you need to edit them to suit your needs. No more moaning from now on about the contract prices

You should not be sharing a document that is sold by MM and is subject to Copyright.

**rickysmiths** · 28-09-2012, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by hectors house

I used a whole pack of NCMA revised medicines pages in just a couple of months - one page for each child (only 6 pages in pack - I had 8 children part time), only 5 slips on each page - so a child who comes 3 days a week with conjuncivitus or a chest infection soon gets through slips - 2 of the children are very prone to chest infections. There is also only 6 thicker pages for contact details/drs details etc and on the back seems to be a "blanket" permission to administer medicines like Calpol for teething etc - which I felt was in breach of the Stat regs. When I rang up for clarification the person I spoke to didn't have a clue about the stationery or the Stat regs. I have not used this form as I insist on a signature every day rather than a "blanket" permission.

Register - (Rickysmiths) I stand corrected on number of pages in register, have just checked back to when I re-joined in 2005 - The quality of the paper is now so much thinner - I write with a gel pen and with the latest register the ink shows through from back of previous page, (used to be thick blue paper) also the last register I had wasn't printed properly - whole line of writing missed "time of arrival and departures" - When I rang and told them they just checked and said "faulty batch, sorry they are all like that"!

Their insurance may be cheaper but I don't have to pay membership to belong to Morton Michel. I can't comment on price of MM stationery as still using up NCMA stationery. I was quite upset at leaving them but I learnt far more initially from the Bromley website and then from this forum. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I felt that NCMA was right for me when I started back up but it wasn't keeping me up to date.

That is fine. There is no 'Blanket' permission on any of the forms or dividers in the Accident folder. They just repeat the permission to seek medical help and you can add other thinks if you want to or just cross them through.

I would have insisted on a replacement Register. I use black biro pen for all documents so they copy well so I have never had an issue with showing through.

I know NCMA have had problems with their Legal Line but they have done something about it and Vincents have long gone and so have the company that replaced them. I have had to phone and have found the new company very helpful. I suspect I have a non payer issue coming up and will pursue it to the end so I will be able to tell you if the new lot are helpful of not.

**loocyloo** · 28-09-2012, 11:41 AM

[QUOTE=hectors house;1163917]I used a whole pack of NCMA revised medicines pages in just a couple of months - one page for each child (only 6 pages in pack - I had 8 children part time), only 5 slips on each page - so a child who comes 3 days a week with conjuncivitus or a chest infection soon gets through slips - 2 of the children are very prone to chest infections. There is also only 6 thicker pages for contact details/drs details etc and on the back seems to be a "blanket" permission to administer medicines like Calpol for teething etc - which I felt was in breach of the Stat regs. When I rang up for clarification the person I spoke to didn't have a clue about the stationery or the Stat regs. I have not used this form as I insist on a signature every day rather than a "blanket" permission.

i created my own forms for the medical folder, and i keep it in a different folder, as i found teh medical file wasn't thick enough to hold everything i wanted it to. i checked with ncma and there are no insurance issues with me using my own documents.

**hectors house** · 28-09-2012, 11:51 AM

Thank you loocyloo - something else for my "to do" list - create own forms for medical file - I already use my own minor injuries form, so good idea to see what works in the NCMA folder and what doesn't and make up my own without breaching copyright.

**pinkbutterfly** · 28-09-2012, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by rickysmiths

You should not be sharing a document that is sold by MM and is subject to Copyright.

It is a template and needs to be adjusted ... as every CM is different. I feel no ready made paper contract gives me flexibility I need. But I'll let Sarah check.
I had checked with MM before I typed my contract and they were ok with this.