Guest Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 We have a number of parents and who have stopped paying fees this half term, I wondered if anyone has well worded statement that hey use in letters to recover overdue fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 (edited) This is the last letter I put out to everyone, the specific ones relating to the people who left owing money didnt work so I havent included those. Good luck, I find you do have to be harsh at times although luckily I havent yet had to stand at the door and refuse entry! Fees_letter.docx Edited November 28, 2011 by Rea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I print our overdue fees policy on the back of the invoice and every now and then put a polite reminder in the newsletter about paying fees on time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 i'm afraid i can't include letter as our admin officer sends them but if parents do not pay after a reminder they are charged another £20 admin fee (they usuallly pay before this is added) if not we start to send them letters which state that if they do not pay by X date then they will receive a letter from our solicitor.....we managed to recover nearly £3,000 in overdue fees last year!!!!(or children that left without notice!)...i've had to get much more grumpy about it and since doing so have had much less hassle this year...everything states the rules! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Thanks that helps a lot, I feel a bit mean chasing money in the run up to Christmas but if we ignore it we are going to have families with large amounts of outstanding fees and we will have a huge challenge in collecting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrison Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Do not feel mean - you have provided a service and should now be paid for that. You wouldn't expect ASDA to wait til March for payment for your Xmas food would you ? It is exactly the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Do not feel mean - you have provided a service and should now be paid for that. You wouldn't expect ASDA to wait til March for payment for your Xmas food would you ? It is exactly the same Absolutely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 we had part of our policy if they didn't pay for 2 weeks we would reissue the bill with the date of payment by and if not paid we would refuse to take the child until they had paid in full. Along with something to say if they were having trouble making payments to speak to our treasurer in confidence - usually worked, never had many payments more than a week late.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anju Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 "Do not feel mean - you have provided a service and should now be paid for that. You wouldn't expect ASDA to wait til March for payment for your Xmas food would you ? It is exactly the same" I agree wholeheartedly with that too! I have stated on new fee structure that if fees aren't paid for two weeks the place (or the extra hours if it's a partly funded place) will be withdrawn. I've got one who owes £266.00 between now and the end of term; she's had a childcare grant for it and I think she's spent it on other things so goodness knows how I'll get the money. The annoying thing is, if I withdraw the extra hours I'll lose income over the rest of the year. Although, I won't lose anything is she never pays up!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 If you know the money has been spent elsewhere are you not under an obligation to the LA to tell? I would definitely look into it. Do you have a fee's policy? If not I'd get one sooner rather than later and state quite clearly that non payment after a given time will result in the child losing the place. In the meantime tell her that without at least half of the money you will regretfully have to suspend the childs place. It makes me very cross when people treat early years like it doesnt matter. We have rent to pay, staff to pay and 100 other things, people cannot go on thinking they can get away with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anju Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 In my case, Rea, the grant's a national student one, nothing to do with LA. also, I don't have proof - a strong suspicion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 I'd still tell her that without at least half the payment you will give her place to another child on your waiting list. Is there a college or Uni you can go to telling them the student hasnt paid the fee's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trekker Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Just a quick query..in a committee run preschool whose responsibility / burden is it to speak to parents about overdue fees and to tell them they have / will lose unfunded sessions as a result? I have been asked by my treasurer to do this (well told they'd leave it up to me ...with a no fees no payrise insinuation - even if in a 'jokey' way) which I dont appreciate not least for the fact that I have been highlighting how much work I have to do and how little time I have to do it and so on and yet still I am assumed to be undertaking what I feel should be the treasurers role here...why bother having one if I still have to do it all, collect fees, write reciepts, chase up fees that she tells me are still due...? Im really feeling put upon and taken for granted - Ive done it in the past (and I know most of us do) but really Im about up to here with people putting things on me especially when Ive made it blatantly clear I am struggling with the basics of my own role! I really want to take a stand and say actually I feel that is not my role...but not sure it will go down well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I'd say its the treasurers job but our staff mostly remind our parents unless its a big amount and its been going on for a long time then I will. Staff said, quite rightly, that speaking about money might affect the relationship they have with the parents on a day to day basis, so that's when I go in, (we havent got a real treasurer, a member of staff does it all!) You need to tell the treasurer that you havent got time to do her role on a regular basis, you can hand out invoices and collect fee's but you wont have time to count, check, write anything. Point out the importance of you getting your role right otherwise, payrise or not, the setting could be in danger of failing. Lots of committee members dont really understand the roles of the staff and the rules by which the setting must operate so it could be they have no idea why you need to focus your time on your role rather than theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 treasurer...it will be a conflict of interest for you to do it and may cause issues with the smooth running of the pre-school and your parent partnership!(well that's what i used to say anyway!!)...my administrator does this now...we recovered nearly £3000 of bed debts last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narnia Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Anju: if it is a stude4nt grant and you know for sure that she has received it, you CAN contact the LEA to inform them she has not passed it on to you. I had one who did exactly the same to us; she spent the money on a Husky dog! I phoned the LEA for advice and the lovely lady said she would write to the mum, advising that I had not yet signed to say I had received the payment for the child, and was there a problem, as they knew the money had been paid to mum and she would have to repay any money not used as intended. I also wrote to her, saying i was aware that her grant had been paid, and that if she didn't pay up, then not only would she have to repay the LEA, her fees would still have to be paid ( and by this time, it was £1,000...................yes, £1,000; she kept coming up with excuses which seemed plausible) and I would pursue the money in court if necessary. Mum then phoned me to say she WOULD pay it, in a month or so and could I just tell LEA she had paid??? NO way! Anyway, to cut a long story short, she did pay up, to the penny and I was able to thank LEA for their help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperrabbit Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) Just a quick query..in a committee run preschool whose responsibility / burden is it to speak to parents about overdue fees and to tell them they have / will lose unfunded sessions as a result? I have been asked by my treasurer to do this (well told they'd leave it up to me ...with a no fees no payrise insinuation - even if in a 'jokey' way) which I dont appreciate not least for the fact that I have been highlighting how much work I have to do and how little time I have to do it and so on and yet still I am assumed to be undertaking what I feel should be the treasurers role here...why bother having one if I still have to do it all, collect fees, write reciepts, chase up fees that she tells me are still due...? Im really feeling put upon and taken for granted - Ive done it in the past (and I know most of us do) but really Im about up to here with people putting things on me especially when Ive made it blatantly clear I am struggling with the basics of my own role! I really want to take a stand and say actually I feel that is not my role...but not sure it will go down well... Trekker - I totally understand where you are coming from, I had this problem until September when our last so called Treasurer resigned and actually I was still doing so for our new treasurer until last week when I decided enough was enough, and have printed off a list of the committee roles and highlighted the ones I think I should do for them, and the rest is up to them! feeling put upon seems to come with the territory in this job I think, we are really short on funds and have had to take a pay cut (me included) however the staff seem to think this is all my fault too, some of them are not happy and are taking it out on me (of course behind my back). I'm getting very close to the end of my time in this job, I feel Actually who's job is it when the committee don't do their roles?? Edited February 2, 2012 by thumperrabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynned55 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Strictly speaking it's the treasurer that should be doing it all that. When my kids were at preschool the treasurer used to be in the kitchen every Monday morning for first 30 minutes ready to receive or ask for money. However it was so much simpler then as everyone did th esame amount of hours and we all paid the same. Having said all that it is years since we have had a Treasurer that has had anything to do with fees apart from pay them into the bank and write them down in a book!! I work the fees out, type the invoices, give them out, accept monies back, record them, chase up unpaid and then pass the money onto the treasurer. Who has no idea of who owes, pays what. We have been very lucky and have only ever once had someone in the position of 'avoiding' fees. The 'reminders' I send out do come from the Treasurer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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