fimbo Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 some of you will know the problems I have been experiencing with my commitee over the past few years, it was decided last June that we would become a CIC , run by staff, school govenors, teachers and some parents.... since the decision was made, we havent had anything to do with the commitee...we have seen the chair once, they sign a cheque if needed ( they are the only signatories, there are only 2 of them ). All of their children have left preschool now, and are in school. Things have been alot less stressful, we have been able to self -manage, without the stupid restrictions the commitee had continually put upon us. But.....we are still no further forward with regards to the management....the commitee will not do what is needed for us to become a CIC, the accounts have not been finalised ( our year end was end August 2012). I tried to call OFSTED last month to ask for our login 'key' so I could complete the online SEF...they would not speak to me, only to our nominated person, who is the Chair. The chair doesnt want to call Ofsted as she has "nothing to do with preschool anymore" I now complete most of the day to day finances....which gets passed to the chair each month ( along with any monies recieved)....so the committee seem to be still completing the accounts ( but we arnt really sure if they are or not ?) there are only 2 committee members left ( they are quite close friends) and we are worried that the finances are not being managed properly. to be blunt.....how do we get rid of them ??.....they have no interest in the day to day running of the preschool, they have no contact with us anymore, yet they still want to be in charge of the accounts and the money....... we are a registered charity,we nearly closed last year because of poor management....but me and my team have managed since July to make us financially viable again..... I have a meeting with our Buisness advice people at the end of the month, but was wondering what actually could be done to get shot of them :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredbear Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Hi Fimbo doesn't sound like you are being supported as a committee should be. Are you members of the PSLA if so a ring for guidance might be the way forward. Depending on your constitution if you have one, it should state how long members may remain on a given committee, I think it's 6 years in total on ours. Can your Early Years advisors not offer you any advice with this.. When I read posts like yours it really saddens me how little some settings are helped. Sounds like you are doing a great job in keeping your setting going. Hope some others might come along to offer any advice too. Fx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fimbo Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Our EY team were involved during the initial discussions in June last year....but we have had no contact since, we are members of an organisation similar to PSLA ( well we used to be, not sure if the commitee paid the renewal). As said, we have a meeting at end of the month...and if we are no further forward I will contact our EY team again, im just worried I will open a can of worms...Im concerned that the charity commision will tell us to close etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Hi Fimbo, I don't know too much about the workings of a CIC, but who is your registered body? Did this change when moved to CIC status? ie did you become a newly registered setting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplewednesday1 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 If they are the committee they hold legal responsibility for the registration with Ofsted. "If registered childcare is run by a committee, the committee is the registered person. Each person making up a committee must understand their responsibilities in taking up such a role. If we decide to take action against a registered person who fails to meet their legal requirements, this can include taking action against individual committee members of the organisation." http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/factsheet-childcare-committee-run-registered-childcare-provision If it was me in this situation I would get myself completely ready for an inspection and then make a complaint against the committee. The complaint may trigger an inspection but it also might 'force the hand' of your committee members. At least then you can start afresh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Oh my! Can you open a new bank account and start paying your money into that? Presumably you are still getting wages from the other account? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hi Fimbo - what a difficult situation - firstly I would contact Ofsted again and explain what is happening and ask if they could ring the Chair ( as chair refuses to ring them) secondly contact Charities Commission and ask them to also to contact Chair with regards to outstanding accounts, they will advise you and may contact Chair or treasurer on your behalf - it may be worthwhile asking one of your school governors to try and make some headway with remaining committee members to explain the new management system and thank them for their work but now is the time to sort out, take over of finances- and definitely check the financial situation - I am not saying they are but is there a money handling policy for committtee - how do you know if monies are being handled correctly - good luck and keep us updated, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hello don't know if I can help or not my setting is a CIC. We changed from committee run. When we did this we became a company and registered again with Ofsted. The committee should have closed down the old ofsted reg and you should be running with a new one. That way ofsted talks to you or the registered person for the CIC. Shuting the account is down to the committee to close off but by now you should have your own account. If you were a member of the PLA you cannot take any funds from the charity accounts. We had a solicitor who supported us with this sounds like you may need to do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynned55 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Taking money from a charity account is nothing to do with belonging to PSLA or not. It is dependant on you being a charity and what your constitution says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Fimbo i think you need help from your LEA for this ...have you got an advisor that you can speak to? get on the phone to them and ask them to help sort it out. I think you need someone to mediate and i dont think ofsted will be able to do that...it needs to be someone who can go and speak to the committee and get them to see that if they want to walk away they have to do some work to get out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fimbo Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 many thanks for all the replies, it is indeed a very complicted situation :blink: . I will take all the info you have all given me into my meeting next week - and will inform all there that unless progress is made I will be contacting my EY advisor, the charity commision and Ofsted. Thanks for the info regarding the commitees responsibility as far as Ofsted is concerned...i will be printing that off to take with me. As far as I knew, the playgroup as it was , would be closed down...then re-registed as a new provision...but this means the commitee have to be pro-active in doing this, but they have done nothing since it was voted upon in June...they have attended a few meetings with our buisness advisors and a meeting with out EY team. they dont seem to want to give it up, or cant be bothered to do anything about it.....so I may have to bite the bullet and complain to whoever will listen. I will keep you posted ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 As I have no experience here - just very good luck!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I don't have any experience of committee run settings either but wanted to say.........Go fimbo! :1b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 The committee as a whole are the registered person, the nominated person is so Ofsted know who to speak to instead of having to go round everyone telling them all the same thing. As the registered person the committee will be liable for any shortcomings in the financial side of things, they cannot simply walk away because you have voted to change how things run, they have to be there to tie up the loose ends. Its not a choice. The charity commission can close you if they dont get what they want regarding the accounts, or presume you've closed already and remove you from the register, but to be honest I dont think they follow that up very rigorously. Our accounts are late but if you go on the CC website you can see how many other charities are late with your area, in our case it was close to 100. You do need to let the committee know this though. Your committee are also your employers so they have a duty there too. Throw some employment laws at them, I wish I knew enough to give you some tips but try the ACAS site or Direct.gov for ideas. To change to a CIC you will lose your charitable status too, so you need t check your constitution to see if you can transfer the money and resources over to the CIC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaMum Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 What is a CIC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 CIC = Community Interest Company Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SazzJ Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Were going through the same thing and to be honest we have recieved a great deal of support from our Sustainability Team from the LEA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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