NCMA - not impressed!

[halor]

I decided to go with mm for insurance and will be using their paperwork but I also decided to join NCMA as I wanted to trial them and also see if I got any business through i child, I'm certainly not impressed though.

When I joined I got the link for the free resources, these however are no help whatsoever as they are on PDF format where the right click has been disabled. I cannot alter them in anyway and found them useless because of this. When I phoned them they said I needed aide and I explained that I have and it's up to date. I asked them to convert it into word and email me it but the lady said this wasn't possible. She also said she would send me the printouts and also give me a ring back after she'd looked into it a litle. Guess what........ no phone call!

Just had to ring them again as was told when I joined I would be sent the membership pack which would have my login details etc. got it through the post today and all it is is a handful of very badly photocopied sheets telling me who my QIP is and that I should go to the local children's centre a they have lots if activities there. There was also a couple if sheets telling me how much it is to join and convincing me to take out a membership, erm i already have! Just phoned them and the lady basically said 'well that's all you get and your membership card' I explained that the only card was the one advertising te membership. The lady was quite abrupt, said that was all I would get. I managed to get her to tell me my login so I could at least access the members area online.

Why oh why did I not listen to the cm's I know who said not to bother with joining them?!

[christine e]

Are you sure that what you have received today is from NCMA? Not sure what a QIP is and that is why I am wondering if what you have received is from NCMA

[halor]

Are you sure that what you have received today is from NCMA? Not sure what a QIP is and that is why I am wondering if what you have received is from NCMA

Yes, the letter inside tells me who my quality improvement partner (QIP) is and that they will contact me soon to arrange a visit. It also says my details will be sent to my peer mentor. The lady on the phone said its all correct. I at first thought I got it as I've only just registered and wasn't sure if this was to kind of welcome me to childminding rather than the actual membership pack.

I think possibly your right and its not from them in as much as its not the membership details. I was very suprised at the quality and lack of detail.

[Pixie dust]

You should get a small certificate with your membership number on and a small wallet size card.

[christine e]

First of all I need to explain how different local authorities support childminders. In some LAs there is no support at all and in others the LA appoint staff themselves and in others they put it out to tender and organisations like Pre School Learning Alliance and NCMA tender to provide the service. I think what you have received today is to do with local support and not your membership to NCMA.

Not sure exactly what you mean about the i child stuff.

Suggest you tel ncma again on 0845 880 0044 and ask for membership services and see if you have any joy.

I am a proactive member of ncma and really want to help you sort this out so please either come back to me via this thread or pm me and I will try and help

Cx

[halor]

You should get a small certificate with your membership number on and a small wallet size card.

That's the kind if thing I was expecting. The woman on the phone obviously didn't listen to me properly. I told her everything that's there and also that there was no login or membership details. Oh well, thank goodness for you guys! Thanks :-)

[rickysmiths]

It doesn't sound as if it is from NCMA they don't offer a Quality Improve Partner or Peer support that sounds as if it is from your LA Early Years. No wonder the lady at NCMA was confused.

[loocyloo]

It doesn't sound as if it is from NCMA they don't offer a Quality Improve Partner or Peer support that sounds as if it is from your LA Early Years. No wonder the lady at NCMA was confused.

maybe your LA childminder support is from ncma? where do you live? i know when i lived in hampshire, all the development officers, networks etc, were all linked to ncma. where as in north yorkshire, it is just LA appointed staff.

does the paperwork have a local (ish?) number to call? i'd call whatever contact details that are on the paperwork and ask what it is/who has sent it? it does sound like you local support to me.

[halor]

It's in a ncma folder and the letter is on ncma headed paper. The lady who I spoke to was quite abrupt, maybe I caught her at a bad moment. I'm very confused although that's not unusual for me lol!

[halor]

maybe your LA childminder support is from ncma? where do you live? i know when i lived in hampshire, all the development officers, networks etc, were all linked to ncma. where as in north yorkshire, it is just LA appointed staff.

does the paperwork have a local (ish?) number to call? i'd call whatever contact details that are on the paperwork and ask what it is/who has sent it? it does sound like you local support to me.

That's loocyloo, that makes sense. I'm in west Kent and the address to contact is Maidstone so I think your correct. Thank you :-)

[rickysmiths]

maybe your LA childminder support is from ncma? where do you live? i know when i lived in hampshire, all the development officers, networks etc, were all linked to ncma. where as in north yorkshire, it is just LA appointed staff.

does the paperwork have a local (ish?) number to call? i'd call whatever contact details that are on the paperwork and ask what it is/who has sent it? it does sound like you local support to me.

Thats very kind of you but I am a bit beyond having a support cm! Our County sacked NCMA a couple of years ago and we don't have any peer support anymore I was a Support CM and we were stopped as well. We have no support at all.

[christine e]

That's loocyloo, that makes sense. I'm in west Kent and the address to contact is Maidstone so I think your correct. Thank you :-)

Certain what you have received is from your LA and I can understand your confusion suggest you ring the number I mentioned earlier in the thread about the ****** stuff and ask when you will be receiving your membership pack from them although thinking about it how did you manage to login and access the ****** stuff if you haven't received your membership number?

[rickysmiths]

First of all I need to explain how different local authorities support childminders. In some LAs there is no support at all and in others the LA appoint staff themselves and in others they put it out to tender and organisations like Pre School Learning Alliance and NCMA tender to provide the service. I think what you have received today is to do with local support and not your membership to NCMA.

Not sure exactly what you mean about the i child stuff.

Suggest you tel ncma again on 0845 880 0044 and ask for membership services and see if you have any joy.

I am a proactive member of ncma and really want to help you sort this out so please either come back to me via this thread or pm me and I will try and help

Cx


Christine NCMA have teamed up with i Child and NCMA members can advertise their vacancies on their site. A friend of mine has now taken on a couple of parents and I have recently taken on one from there.

[christine e]

Christine NCMA have teamed up with i Child and NCMA members can advertise their vacancies on their site. A friend of mine has now taken on a couple of parents and I have recently taken on one from there.

oh dear I think I am confusing everyone now. Yes I understand about the i child resources and I have received quite a few enquiries now which is great - it was the bit about having problems with the resources which I was not following and suggested that halor rings the number I gave her because I am wondering if she did infact ring ncma in bromely or her local office.

[loocyloo]

Thats very kind of you but I am a bit beyond having a support cm! Our County sacked NCMA a couple of years ago and we don't have any peer support anymore I was a Support CM and we were stopped as well. We have no support at all.

????? sorry rickysmiths, i don't understand your reply!

i was using your quote, to reply to the OP.

i was a support minder too! i still do support some minders, despite being 200 odd miles away !!! LOL ! amazing what skype can do!

[halor]

oh dear I think I am confusing everyone now. Yes I understand about the i child resources and I have received quite a few enquiries now which is great - it was the bit about having problems with the resources which I was not following and suggested that halor rings the number I gave her because I am wondering if she did infact ring ncma in bromely or her local office.

The resources I mentioned is the free starter pack they are currently offering when you take out membership, they email you the link as soon as you join, and it was definately the main number i rang rather than local today and the other day when I queried the starter kit. Just suprised the lady I spoke to didn't realise it wasn't a membership pack when I listed what I'd received. Luckily she did give me my password etc on the phone so I could access the website.

[bunyip]

First a declaration of interests - I'm an NCMA member, supporter and critical friend. OK, got that out of the way.

I think NCMA's link-up with 1ch1ld was well-intentioned and poorly executed. The vacancy-matching service is less than great. The vacancy information lacks flexibility for those of us who don't just offer 'nursery hours' (though I have no idea how this compares with the likes of Childcare.co.uk, so maybe unfair criticism on my part). 1ch1ld features very low on any reasonable internet search - and this may actually be a tribute to the investment made in getting Childcare.co.uk to rank so highly on search engines.

The 1ch1ld resources are, frankly, total pants. But so are all the MM resources that I've seen. I can get my 12yo grandson to create better on a pc in less than 20 minutes. What is so difficult about 'resources' that we're all expected to go sticky-knickered at the sight of yet another colouring sheet or reward chart. :huh:

NCMA suffers from 2 big problems:-

1. They do a lot of good work very quietly and are absolutely lousy at self-publicising. eg. They recently made a key statement opposing the Truss proposals (whilst UKCMA were still hiding behind the parapet and MM kept quiet - if their business interests and magazine content are anything to judge by, then they have every reason to support the Truss doctrine.) BUT, instead of making it clear they were the first and only organisation for CMs opposing Truss, NCMA got on with it quietly. Was it headlined on the front page of the NCMA website? NO - instead the front page item was a survey about where CMs do their shopping. :panic:

2. NCMA tends to be the first organisation that a new, green, never-been-self-employed-before, CM joins. When the CM makes a series of naive errors over contracts, arrears, etc. and NCMA legal fail to pull them out of the hole they've dug for themself, the CM jumps ship to MM, declaring it was all NCMA's fault and "they never do anything for us". The CM then either uses the experience of their own failings to sort out their own paperwork, cash-flow, etc.; OR is still in a mess of their own making, but has nowhere else to go as regards legal/insurance cover, so never goes back to NCMA. They content themselves with the fact they're saving money. Meanwhile, the CM continues to reap the benefits of a campaigning NCMA ("they never do anything for us") without the bother of paying NCMA membership. :(

[halor]

First a declaration of interests - I'm an NCMA member, supporter and critical friend. OK, got that out of the way.

I think NCMA's link-up with 1ch1ld was well-intentioned and poorly executed. The vacancy-matching service is less than great. The vacancy information lacks flexibility for those of us who don't just offer 'nursery hours' (though I have no idea how this compares with the likes of Childcare.co.uk, so maybe unfair criticism on my part). 1ch1ld features very low on any reasonable internet search - and this may actually be a tribute to the investment made in getting Childcare.co.uk to rank so highly on search engines.

The 1ch1ld resources are, frankly, total pants. But so are all the MM resources that I've seen. I can get my 12yo grandson to create better on a pc in less than 20 minutes. What is so difficult about 'resources' that we're all expected to go sticky-knickered at the sight of yet another colouring sheet or reward chart. :huh:

NCMA suffers from 2 big problems:-

1. They do a lot of good work very quietly and are absolutely lousy at self-publicising. eg. They recently made a key statement opposing the Truss proposals (whilst UKCMA were still hiding behind the parapet and MM kept quiet - if their business interests and magazine content are anything to judge by, then they have every reason to support the Truss doctrine.) BUT, instead of making it clear they were the first and only organisation for CMs opposing Truss, NCMA got on with it quietly. Was it headlined on the front page of the NCMA website? NO - instead the front page item was a survey about where CMs do their shopping. :panic:

2. NCMA tends to be the first organisation that a new, green, never-been-self-employed-before, CM joins. When the CM makes a series of naive errors over contracts, arrears, etc. and NCMA legal fail to pull them out of the hole they've dug for themself, the CM jumps ship to MM, declaring it was all NCMA's fault and "they never do anything for us". The CM then either uses the experience of their own failings to sort out their own paperwork, cash-flow, etc.; OR is still in a mess of their own making, but has nowhere else to go as regards legal/insurance cover, so never goes back to NCMA. They content themselves with the fact they're saving money. Meanwhile, the CM continues to reap the benefits of a campaigning NCMA ("they never do anything for us") without the bother of paying NCMA membership. :(

One of the reasons I took a membership was because of the changes wussy trussy wants to bring in and im hoping to renew it each year for that reason. I think (although I'm wet behind the ears) they're the only people who fight for the cm's, it just sounds like their a bit pants with other things :-)