Playgroup Fees

[Guest]

Hi, we are a committee run playgroup who over the last 6 months have had problem after problem with staff and committee members leaving, having to de-register from Ofsted, having no money and problems with current committee members. I am the playgroup leader and before our new treasurer joined i used to have to take the fees every week, now the new treasurer wants to do this but sits at a table for the full playgroup session every day and sorts the money and books. I have told her on numerous occasions that this cannot happen and asked how she can concentrate with all the children gathering round her, she just won't listen and carries on. She then accuses me of the fees not balancing even though i don't touch the money. I have brought these issues up at our committee meetings and she has agreed not to do it again but carries on. Can anyone tell me how they take the fees in at the settings - do the parents bring cash, cheques in or does it go straight into the bank account.

Thanks, any advice would be most welcome

[Guest]

Wow, I thought I had committee issues but you sound as though you are really going through the mill - our treasurer puts bills in childrens trays, no fees are paid by cash unless previously agreed with the treasurer, who will receive the cash into her hands only, cheques are put in named envelopes by the parents and then posted into a lockable box, staff do not receive money at all. Hope this helps. I do know of another setting that operates a direct debit system aswell but we do not offer this.

 

I agree though she should not be there during a session, too disruptive. Is there another room she could go and work in like.....her house maybe!!

[Guest]

Hi, sorry to hear about your troubles. We invoice parents once a term, parents give cheques to our leader, she then passes them onto the treasurer.

 

Hope that helps.

[Buttercup]

Ours may be a bit different as I am the owner/manager so deal with the fees. when I opened two years ago I decided that weekly or monthly fees would be too costly and time consuming so i do ours temly. An invoice is sent out the week before the end of term stating how much they owe. This would be a maximum of 7 weeks (autumn term) with last term only being 5. I then ask them to pay by chq, cash or bacs within 2 weeks. this works well and nobody has complained.

 

Angela

[Guest]

Thanks everyone, we used to bill parents termly but found that our numbers dropped, the feedback we got was that it was a lot of money to pay out in one go due to the cost of living now adays, Since introducing paying weekly our numbers have grown significantly.

We have a back room which she can go to do the fees but she won't, she is down on our rota as a helper, she comes in but doesn't do anything except eat the children's snacks.

We have also had numerous complaints about her obtaining contact numbers for parents but when spoken to just shrugs it off. To make matters worse her son comes to playgroup and he is the child from hell. He will not do anything he's told, we are constantly telling him to behave but she just laughs at him, anything we say he can't do she says he can it's like he has a set of rules and the other children have a different set. Me and another member of staff have asked for a meeting with the chair as we no longer feel we can carry on like this, but all we get is who have we got to replace her when no-one wants to join the committee.

I don't know what to do anymore.

Sorry for moaning x

Edited June 12, 2009 by Guest

[lynned55]

Tricky, I think I would ask for a formal meeting with the chair. Explain your situation again and say how it cannot continue. I woud then follow this up in writing. If the chair is still refusing to do anything about the matter, I woul dbe inclined to refuse to open. The committee maybe your employers and responsible for the business side but as Manager/Leader you are respnsible for the day to day running and the childrens safety. Sorry, probably not much help to you but I can only tell you what I would do- it's me that takes all the money in our pre-school, then just pass onto treasurer.

[Alison]

our parents bring payments in sealed envelopes with the childs name the amount and date written on the front and hand them in at the start of session and I open the envelopes at the end, check the amount matches that written on the front and record who has paid what in a cash book, the envelops work as evidence of who has and hasnt paid,

 

I used to sit at the start of sessions taking fees entering it into the cash book, messing around handling change and panicking because some mums didnt wait for me to write down who had paid before walking off so I would be sitting there with cash thinking "whose just handed me this money?" it was a nightmare and time consuming

 

I asked parents to pay either weekly monthly or half termly depending on their own personal finacial circumstances and all fees must be paid uptodate the week before the end of term any outstanding fees are invoiced at the start of the new term (rarely happens)