Collecting outstanding debts

[sophatnoahsark]

Hello,

We have recently had two parents leave our nursery owing a lot of money... Has anybody here got any experience of this? Can we get it back? How do we get it back?

Many Thanks

[narnia]

First, write to them, by recorded letter, telling them the amount they owe and when you expect it to be paid. If that doesn't get a response, send another ( keep copies), if they accept the letters, Royal mail will have a tracking service so you now they have been received. Tell them that failure to pay will lead to Small claims court proceedings. There are agencies who will collect it for you, but they charge quite a large % of the debt, so you need to consider if it is worth it. You could, if brave enough, go with a committee member to knock on their door and simply ask for it?

[narnia]

........oh, and learn the lesson: money up front in future, from everyone

[woodlands1997]

We had this with one family, left, moved house and no one knew where they had gone - lost that money unfortunately. Then another family who we are in the process of taking to small claims court, left out of the blue owing money and never came back so I do feel for you :-( we find the 'bad' payers often start off as good payers and then progressively get worse, we are just a lot stricter now!

[woodlands1997]

How do you do money up front though narnia? Ours pay monthly and it seems harsh to refuse a child if they are one day late paying for genuine reasons but then of course you've got to keep rules rules?

[narnia]

The family books a number of sessions...........................and pays for them. Simple. They get a period of grace to pay late and I have the right to charge a late fee if i feel it is necessary. And rules (!) are there to protect your business. No income= no wages=no staff= closure

[narnia]

As to families that move on and can't be found...try facebook....................even look up a friend that you knew they had while they were in your area, you might be able to track them that way

[woodlands1997]

The problem we have had is they book, they pay for a few months then one month don't pay (which can be anything upto around £1000 then we say, then they disappear!! I suppose that is unavoidable though and thankfully hasn't been many but is very frustrating!!!! Good idea re Facebook!!!

[Guest]

Had same problem myself. Had two children leave last year....one owes a thousand and the other around 600...dont know wehather to try small claims court..Anyone got any experience they can share...... two weeks unpaid amd oput they gor from September 2014.. to be honest get sick of it

[Guest]

That stressed with it cant spell lol

[Foreveryoung]

I took two people to small claims court back in 2004 both for less than 400 so things may have changed but in my experience a blinking waste of time ! had to pay court costs, then parents didn't attend was awarded full amount plus court costs. This went on persons file etc which is obviously damaging to them in gaing finances..... They never paid ! Even got debt collectors to take up case as paying them a percentage would be better than no money at all, they ignored all letters! As it wasn't over a thousand pounds you carnt execute balifs - wish I had a more positive story but in my opinion based soley on my experience I would never again go to small claims unless it was for over thousand. Ended up more out of pocket by end of it. x

[tish501]

Same here...owed £450....parent paid back 5 months at £5 a month and that was it.....I too paid court costs to lodge the claim....but they are savvy debtors...they know the routine ....would not do again....

[Happy01]

I have tried the small claims option but it failed for me....bailiffs were sent round but the parents just said all the belongings weren't theres or they werent the parents so spent money to end up with nothing in return!

[hopeytg]

This is all just so wrong, I am also owed money, have tried letters etc but cannot afford to go down the small claims route because of the examples above. There should be a affordable way to recover money owed, if they walked out of Tesco without paying they'd be arrested.

I have learnt my lesson and am not giving an inch this term, and parents are very clear of the policy and know that if they don't pay their child will be denied access. So far it's been very effective! It is very difficult when you have to discuss money with parents but I have learnt to be much stronger. In our newsletter I told the parents I had had to pay wages from my own account due to unpaid bills (we are committee led!) and I think it pricked a few consciences! Unfortunately the one that still owes no longer as a child in the setting.

[Guest sn0wdr0p]

Last couple of bad debtors who left over the summer as their child moved schools have had visits from my husband. One family hid when he knocked at the door so he went round to the back garden where they were hiding. He was not impressed and told them so. They have paid up! Sending him out again this weekend for £120 from one family and £300 from another. Will let you know how he gets on.

[Guest]

We have some parents like that and nothing was ever done. I emailed one earlier who says she can't pay, will pay at the end of the month but will take her child out of nursery immediately. I know already that she will do a bunk with it and not do anything.

I will now not allow more than a couple of days grace period and then that's it but it's the old existing parents that have just been let off for ages.

What also helped was really understanding how much in tax credits they get to avoid excuses such as oh my tax credits haven't been paid. I then send them a calculation asking for the part that has to be covered by parents and CC our business support at the local authority in the email saying she will check with the LAs contact at HMRC why there is a delay. And suddenly we receive money.

There is also a childcarers hotline at HMRC that you can call where you believe parents may have misused tax credits.

[Guest sn0wdr0p]

Very interesting indeed. I didn't know there was a hotline. I have just looked for info about it on HMRC website and have printed off the leaflet which I am going to display prominently on a staff noticeboard which is near our reception desk and will highlight certain areas which parents may 'accidently' see (I hope) as they wait for their child and hopefully this will act as a deterent.

[Guest]

Yes I didn't know that either until I looked into it as we were having lots of problems with parents not paying and blaming the tax people.

We were in contact with them the other day and they are investigating the families that may have misused their tax credits even if they left already!

For us the benefit was having someone CCd in with a council email address.. seems to have scared a couple into paying.

[garrison]

Very interesting indeed. I didn't know there was a hotline. I have just looked for info about it on HMRC website and have printed off the leaflet which I am going to display prominently on a staff noticeboard which is near our reception desk and will highlight certain areas which parents may 'accidently' see (I hope) as they wait for their child and hopefully this will act as a deterent.

Could you post a link to this leaflet please as I can't find it

 

Ta x

[Guest sn0wdr0p]

www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/wtc5-hs.pdf

Sorry but of a technical duffer so I have copied and pasted the web address. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[finleysmaid]

I have had two losses this term ...both £450 ish both booked in for beginning of term and no show....one no contact at all (though i know the family so have spoken to her sister...at least that way i know they are safe!) the other said she had got confused and thought we were the local school nursery ...complete load of rubbish.....i suspect the school nursery have given her a late place. They are not an easy family to deal with so have decided school can have 'em!! they might regret it very soon :blink:

[Guest]

That's what I sometimes think.. The last parent with outstanding debts and a bad attitude is leaving tomorrow as I told them they can no longer attend unless they pay. Shame for the child but I have had enough now...

[HN2015]

Just to let you know I have today called HMRC tax credits on 0845 300 3941 to report a parent for not paying £112.00 at the end of the last school year and the child has now left for school.

 

A very nice chap I spoke to didn't know if he could do anything so put me on hold and went off to find out. 2 minutes later he is back with the good news that HMRC are able to investigate and reclaim the tax credits from the parent and eventually (very very slowly), award the unpaid fee's to the child care provider.

 

All I needed was the child's name, DOB, parent name and address.

 

It may only be £112.00 but our nursery is a registered charity and every penny counts.

 

Without this forum I wouldn't have known anything about the HMRC and tax credits route to get unpaid fee's paid so thank you!

[tish501]

I have a family owing £330 and child left for school..Inherent bad payers....so this is a lifeline as she claimed that both her children at nursery during the summer but they were only odd days though....will

check this out today ..thank you very much.xx Gave up on small claim courts...too expensive for such

little return.xx

[Guest]

I'm so glad that I came on this forum and seen this thread - I'm owed so much money it's ridiculous!

[BroadOaks]

We have had a debt collecting company approach us recently and they seem quite reasonable actually.

 

guardrec.co.uk

They emailed me info + prices as follows:

 

In Regards to the outstanding debts own to the business i feel one off our new packages would benefit yourself.

New Starter Packages, Monthly Offer

2debts+2debts (over 12 month peiod) £149+vat

5debts+5 free (over 12 month period) £299+vat

5debts+5 free (over 2 year period) £349+vat

10debts+10 free (over 12 month period) £529+vat

10debts+10 free (over 2 year period) £599+vat

Unlimited debts (over 12 month period) £849+vat

Unlimited debts (over 2 year period) £999+vat

 

and i presume a fee per debt recovered will be added but i haven't got any further.

 

anyways i just thought i would add this to give a guide, i am not on commission

[finleysmaid]

a solicitor will write a letter for you very cheaply (or a solicitor parent if you have one!) probably around the £20 mark...but we can get one written for a fiver....usually when we send these we get a fairly prompt response!