TORO Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Dear All, I am not sure if this is the right Forum for this. Money has been missing (fees) in the nursery, it first happened last month when the fees where left in the office desk drawer for me to collect £45, called a meeting obviously no one came forward, told them it will come off their salaries. It happened again today, this time the money was in the safe (small hand held ones) and locked, £50 missing, i had the keys, and it seems that someone picked the lock, because the person left the eqiupment she used wedged in between the safe, possibly panicked and forgot to take it out. This is really disappointing, and am very angry cause i really threat them o.k i think advance (subs) given when needed etc allbeit it is taken out of their salaries later. I suspect a member of staff, because she was the only one who spent a lot of time in the office yesterday typing reports, and when i told her she was looking really shifty scratching her legs, it would be a real pity, because l have sort of promoted her temporaily has a DM. The money was there on tuesday, because one of our parents paid me £250, and have not received any since tuesday. I told staff i would report matter to police, what do you think, apologies for the long story Thanks Toro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Just wanted to offer you good luck with this one. I'd make sure that no-one else had keys to safe at all and all fees only accepted by one person - explaining to staff that this is being done to protect them from accusations etc. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Firstly I just want to say I can understand that you might feel a range of emotions at the moment, and quite rightly, but you really need to put your feelings aside and deal with this in a detached manner. I think you are on very dodgy ground taking money away from staff who in all probability had nothing to do with the theft. Both from a legal viewpoint and a moral one. How do you think the staff who have not done anything wrong feel about being penalised in this way? How do you think a court would view it should someone decide to take action against it! Personally I would gather everyone together who could possibly have had access to the office during the time period stated. Explain to the what has happened and tell them that in light of this you have no option but to go to the police. Tell them that you will do this the next day but also that you are going to give the person who has committed the crime the opportunity to come forward privately to speak to you if they so wish. If no one comes forward then ring the police - a crime has been committed and it would be really bad for everyone to have suspicion hanging around. This will lead to people making their own assumptions and could have really negative consequences for innocent people. However, don't say that you are going to report it unless you are actually prepared to do so! In terms of your own suspicions, unless you have proof then again you need to put these aside. You may be completely wrong in your assumptions and reading more into someone's behaviour than is actually there. Finally you need to completely review the procedure you currently have in place regarding cash and perhaps think about investing in something more substantial if it is likely that you have large sums of money on the premises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 I agree with Happymaz, a difficult but serious situation. Also can you 'prove' that you had the said amount in the safe? Does your recording methods show exactly how much money is on site and what date it is moved from site into the bank? Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 I agree with Happymaz One of Peggy's hitherto unknown talents: mindreading! My first reaction is to say that like Beau I don't see how you can deduct missing money from people's wages - I'd say that legally you are on very dodgy ground indeed. If you call the police it may be difficult to prove who took the money: especially because you didn't report the theft straight away and presumably fingerprint evidence has gone. The person who took the money might well decide to tough it out: she knows her job will be at risk if she confesses, and might well decide to gamble that the police won't find any evidence. Whatever you decide to do it sounds as if you need to put some new procedures in place for cash handling and storage so that this can't happen again. As Beau says you just have to put your own suspicions aside in order to maintain your relationship with this member of staff who may be entirely innocent. Beau's solution sounds workable - although I would probably gather the whole staff team together and tell them all how disappointed and hurt you are that this has happened, and outline your procedures for handling and storing cash. As Beau said if the matter is not investigated then suspicion amongst the team will be rife. As an employee I think I would probably want to refuse to take fees from parents in these circumstances - especially with the culprit still at large. Reading that last sentence, I guess I'm saying that if the person doesn't confess then you have no alternative but to call the police. If she does confess what course of action will you take? You need to take that into consideration too. Good luck - let us know how it resolves itself. Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TORO Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 Thanks for your prompt replies l really have no intention of taking money thought someone would come forward. l can prove money was taken because receipt was given to parent and it was logged in the fees sheet, which is normally cashed up on fridays. Regarding my 'suspect' i was told by a member of staff when i called them in that she has been seen taking food from the kitchen to take home i.e uncooked rice etc (don't laugh) obviously without permission. I think i would have to report this to the police relunctanly Thanks toro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Regarding my 'suspect' i was told by a member of staff when i called them in that she has been seen taking food from the kitchen to take home i.e uncooked rice etc (don't laugh) obviously without permission. Well if you have a member of staff taking food from the kitchen then you have someone who clearly needs some support so that is worth following up anyway. If you talk to her about this she may well open up and confess if she has taken money - if she is taking rice to feed herself/her family she must be desperate. However this may be unconnected with the money going missing. It may be worth doing this before calling the police but ultimately I guess you have no option but to call them in. What an awful situation - but it has made me think about how we handle money in our setting. Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Regarding my 'suspect' i was told by a member of staff when i called them in that she has been seen taking food from the kitchen to take home i.e uncooked rice etc (don't laugh) obviously without permission. Again, a serious accusation, will the whistleblower sign an official witness statement to this effect? In fact this reminds me I have seen on this forum before a policy for whistle blowers. Another system you may think about looking at / introducing. HappyMaz has a point, why would she need to steal rice? Not an excuse for theft but worth trying to get to the bottom of. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 hello Toro have just read everyones replies and yes it is a difficult situation Would you consider having a set time for the parents to pay fees e.g. on a Friday morning from when you open until 10am during which times yourself or an assigned member of staff is avialable to take payments. If parents are unable to pay these fees to you in person, could they then post you a cheque? If this isnt possible then it may be worthwhile considering lodging the money in the bank on a daily basis and this will then take temptation away. Even honest people can be tempted if they find themselves with money troubles, a situation all too familiar at the moment due to the credit crunch and also xmas on the way. Feeling for you at the minute, its a tough situation. You know what you should do and what you would advise others to do, but when it arrives at your door its not as simple as that. Hope you get this resolved soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 You know what you should do and what you would advise others to do, but when it arrives at your door its not as simple as that. How neatly this little sentence sums up so many of life's dilemmas, mummyspud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 HI Oh dear, i sympathise totally. we have been here a few times in my setting, tho money was taken from people's bags over time. as total of 8 staff had mloney taken. we never found out who did it although we had suspicions. we did contact the police in the end and they said there was nothing they could do, since we are a small setting and could not prove anything (helpful i know) so sorry no advice, just symapthy and understanding. Dawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellerkaren Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 you have my sympathy and understading. when we had this situation in the past we put a locked case attached to the filing cabinet this was locked and only the owner of the setting has the key to this all money taken is loged into a fees sheet and a receipt is given, the money is then put into a envelope and child's name, date money i taken and if it was cash or chq also the staff member signs the envelope. i hope this helps. karen xXx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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