A nursery charges for closed days (staff training and Bank holidays)!!!

trungdong

Hello all,

I've just found out that the Nursery that I'm sending my daughter to charges me for a bank holiday and a day they close for staff training. Do you think this is legal?

My point here if that I'm paying for a service, if they don't deliver the service, I surely don't have to pay? If you agree with me, I hope someone can advise me how to make a complaint about this.

I enclose part of my email conversation with the nursery for your reference:

Thank you for your break down of the calculations you have made but I have noticed that the Bank holidays and nursery closures have not been added in. These are all days that are stilled billed for and that all parents are contracted to pay. We are meant to have 4 day closures but as we are conscious of parents working commitments we have said 2 is enough. These days are used for staff training and even though the children do not attend staff are still working to help provide and improve the care and resources we provide for the children.

Best wishes to all

Dong.

Freddie_Snowbits

My Scout Troop charges you a set fee per term, whether you bother to turn up or not. I still have the electricity, water and rates to pay, the cleaner, and keep the plce tidy.

You can pay weekly or for a term, it allows me to set things to do, arrange visits with a set budget. Should you want your money back, you can of course collect your fashion accessory at the door, after I call you.

gordikin

What do their T&C's say?

unholyangel

I would have thought the sensible thing to do would be to incorporate the training days into the cost of the business over the year.

But then again it would depend on how the payment structure was set up and what the contract details are. For instance, do you usually only pay for the days you use their service or do you pay a set rate per week/month regardless of how many days you use?

PZH

trungdong wrote: »

I've just found out that the Nursery that I'm sending my daughter to charges me for a bank holiday and a day they close for staff training. Do you think this is legal?

It is usually standard practice for nursery and child minders to charge for holidays (usually at a reduced rate) and training days.

It is also usual that they charge the full amount for days that the child is not there (or not notified with enough notice) and a reduced rate if they are notified that the child is not going to be there (i.e. they cannot replace the child during the time away so they charge a holding fee so to speak).


All the costs should be in the T&C's that you signed.

trungdong

Thank you all for the responses. I never thought it was a standard practice for nurseries to charge for holidays and staff training closures, in other words, no service!
@holyangel: I'm paying the nursery monthly according to the sessions that I book for my daughter. They calculate the weekly amount from the number of sessions that I booked and each session's cost, and invoice me each month.

In their T&C, they said that: "There is no reduction for non-attendance, bank holidays outside Christmas week and 2 days staff training closure." So, I'm apparently contracted to pay for these.

I understand the need for staff training, and its cost has to be met in some way. However, it's not fair that some parents have to pay it and some don't, just because their children attend the nursery on different days.

My point remains, is this practice deemed fair under the law (regardless of their T&C)? I'm paying for a childcare service, if I don't get it and have to pay somebody else for the service on those closed days, why should I still pay the nursery? I'm paying for a service, not for them to run their business (and whatever costs involved)!

Charging for holidays is also outrageous IMO. The fact that no staff comes to work on these holidays and I still have to pay for them does not make any sense to me.

So the final question, if you agree with me, what can I do to make them change this practice (apart from leaving for another nursery)? Is there any place that I can lodge a complaint about this?

PZH

I don't agree with you, but you could try the National Day Nurseries Association for clarification of why the allow their members to charge for holiday and training days.

JodyBPM

I think its fairly standard practice, I'm afraid.

I do appreciate that it would perhaps be fairer to raise the daily rate for everyone to pay for the b/h & staff training days, but ultimately you'd still be paying for it however they arranged it!

Aquatronixjenny

Standard practice... My daughter attends Nursery on a Monday and a Friday so in April/May I'm going to have to pay for 4 bank holidays :eek:

We have Good Friday, Easter Monday, The Royal Wedding and then Mayday all in a row. The Nursery is shut but I still have to pay full rate :mad:

Its the same in all the nurseries.

Our Nursery is also quite cheeky in that if you go away on holiday and tell the staff, they still charge you full price for your session but they can also sell your space to someone else at full price. That really bugged me last year and now I leave it until the day before we go on holiday to tell them. At my Nephews Nursery you are allowed to sell your session to another parent yourself, but they don't allow it at ours.

I think the training thing is wrong, that should really be budgeted into the running of the business and the parents of the children that attend on these days should not be penalised.

I agree that something should be done about some of the practices. I know we signed the T & C's but when you are desperate to get your child into a nice Nursery when there is a huge waiting list you'll sign anything

Jeff_Bridges_hair

There's a reason they have training days you know.. Ive bolded it for you in case you may have miss-understood that these are to help get the best out of the nursery teachers thus improve your childs learning whilst they are there.

unholyangel

Well IMO as i said the fairest thing to do would be to split the cost of these training days over the course of a year. Thereby all parents pay for it as all parents will benefit from it.

Not really fair to charge one parent and not another. Then again, life is rarely fair.