Guest Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Hi Can i just ask what people do if parents do not pay there fees, i have sent letters, telephoned and they say they will pay but they don't, what is the next step, we have been chasing this money for 3 months now with no joy, do we just right it off.......... what do others do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Treasurer sends a reminder letter and invoice with a copy of the fee's policy which says if the money isn't paid after two weeks we will suspend the place. Playleader speaks to them, hears all the usual stories and reminds them of the policy. I (as chair) send a letter giving the final day we will accept the child. We've never had to actually suspend because they generally pay then but we have come close and on two occasions they left, never to be seen again so we lost the money. I've learnt you need to keep on top of it. I know we want to provide for the child but I also have to provide the rent and the staffs wages so I have toughened up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrison Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 We do all the usual letter sending but then take them to court if they dont pay. Usually though when we threaten to suspend the place they pay up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I follow procedures in our fees policy ( all parents have a copy of this on induction) which involves sending reminder letters, writing a payment plan and finally a letter stating that the outstanding invoice would be passed onto a debt collection agency or small claims court. I have never had to do either, the threat seems to do the trick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Does it cost anything to go to the small claims court, i have never done this, we have one parent who owes £249.00 we have been chasing the 3 months, she has now withdrawn her child and isnt coming back in september, we have sent a letter threatening court action but this hasnt worked, so its either follow through or walk away............... I have decided i will keep on top of fees from septemeber and not allow it to go this high again............................ as they say we learn from our mistakes LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I know some people on here have gone through the small claims court but when I looked into it, it seem's the failure rate is pretty high. Plus, I dont have the time to do it all which is why I put the past down as an experience and got tougher. I dont know how you'd go about using adebt agency though, I would have thought that would also need some sort of court authority maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 sometimes it could be worth trying a solicitors letter... when we did it, it did not cost much to have them do one for us... but that was a while ago now..the fact that it was 'official' showed we meant business and they paid up on that occasion... not sure about small claims costs , the chance of getting the money even then can be slim.. the benefit of doing it is that it does show on their credit record for any doing checks a CCJ can cause a lot of issues when going for credit so puts a spanner in the works ... if it was a large amount I would have done it just for this inconvenience to them! as others have said ours was 2 weeks non payment a letter and a word that if no payment at next session child could not attend...and if no payment bu the second session due the place withdrawn and a child on waiting list offered the place... never got this far.. but if they would no pay upfront we had to be strict with them.. had a parent who was treasurer who hid the fact that she never paid any fees for her 2 children attending! So from that point no one with a child attending was ever left unsupervised doing the fees.. I used to check them once a week.. was cheaper to pay me to keep track than the losses.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 we had this problem and in the end decided it wasnt worth the time to pursue as very unlikely to get any monies anyway. we actually had one parent a few years ago who walked away owing a few hundred pounds who then had the nerve to put her next child on the waiting list for a space - needless to say we wrote a letter which said this would only be possible if monies outstanding were paid upfront - surprise,surprise she never replied. we now have a book keeper who keeps on top of these non or late payers and parents are told that they need to keep weekly payments up to date - failure will mean that their child will not be able to attend anymore. those that are going to be funded the following term and may want more sessions are told this is only possible if payments are up to date / payments being made regularly. i think you will always get the parent who will walk away owing money - its just trying to keep the amount to as little as possible. i dont think some parents actually realise how this non payment can affect the pre-school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 those that are going to be funded the following term and may want more sessions are told this is only possible if payments are up to date / payments being made regularly. So simple and yet we havent got this written down anywhere! We soon will have though 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 While it is not the same situation, I have found the following information useful in the past when having to take action against a high street retailer. While the situation is different, the process for recovering money owed to you through the courts is still the same: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/how-to-complain If you scroll to the bottom under "Step 5" it explains the process of how to take someone to court to reclaim losses. Maybe this will help, or at least point you in the right direction of how to get started if you decide to take this route. The main website to get the ball rolling is: https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy P Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 We pay our accountant a small fee to chase any money owed which does work quite well. Im sure it must be the whole 'officialness' of their wording on the letter!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anju Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Similar to others on here. I recently created a Fee Policy which all parents are made aware of, which includes charges for late payment etc http://eyfs.info/files/file/581-%7B%3F%7D/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 my committee wanted a lesser cost if still open, but my worry would be that at only £4 an hour people would just decide to be late for that amount and it could throw your ratios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anju Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 It's really hard to judge it isn't it. But I finds parents think that's still a lot to pay - well, they object to paying it! So it seems to mostly work for us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 We have 2 parents who are in arrears at the moment. We sent gentle reminders at first but in the end we had to get tough and threaten suspension of the place and legal action. Since then we have managed to arrange payment plans for them and it is slowly getting paid off. We always try to be understanding but things get out of hand really quickly and the debt quickly mounts up. This makes it even harder for the parent to pay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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