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

Lip_Stick

Didn't have training days at the nursery I sent my little one to. Bank holidays etc were charged at half price. They owe me £25 registration fee though that they never gave me back when I said my son was leaving. Best get on to them.

badgeraudio

Do you get paid for not working on bank holidays? I know I do.
So if you do why should the staff at the nursury and childminders etc be any different?

Staff training is a little questionable, but I agree with paying for no service on the bank holidays.

And this is coming from someone who has to pay up for this situation with my childminder.

Lip_Stick

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

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.

Surely they should be trained anyway, or at least any training days be during holidays? It's not a state nursery. And why would all staff have to go training on one day? Plus it's a paid for nursery. Parents have to work and can't have the odd day off because staff at their kids nursery are not up to scratch.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

I feel sorry for you OP, this happened to me when my kids were tiny, I had to pay for the nursery place (when they were closed) and then pay someone to look after my kids while I went to work. The whole thing is designed to make money. I got sick of it in the end as I was working for nothing on the days the 2 kids went to nursery so I jacked in my job, did agency at night, missed out on a nights sleep and ended up better off (tired tho'!)

Its a service but they have you over a barrel because of the emotional side of the business as you are leaving your most precious part of your life with them. Its very hard for parents who work and have to find child care.
Its very expensive too... it gets cheaper when they are at school if you are fortunate to find work that fits in with school hours. Some posters on this thread seem very black and white in their responses and it is not easy juggling everything, most salaries do not cover the cost of nursery places and leave much behind for bills and living costs, I dread to think of how much it is nowadays.

Don't let the comments make you feel guilty for working and providing for your family.

apples1

It's a private business like any other and surely the costs of running it (including staff wages, training costs, cleaning etc etc) should all be built into the model and the product or service charged at a price that allows the business to run well and make enough to provide a profit. These costs would in all other businesses be worked so that all customers pay a share within the price of the product or service. People who buy a sandwich from a cafe on a Monday don't pay more than those who buy one on a tuesday. The costs should ALL be worked out by the owner and incorporated into the hourly (or daily) rate they charge everyone. Quite ridiculous that you lose out because your child is booked in on Mondays!

Staff who work part time in a business get a pro rated number of bank
Holidays. It doesn't mean people who only work Mondays don't benefit from bank holiday entitlement. It should be the same at nursery. Employees who work four days a week get four fifths of the annual bank holiday entitlement. Parents that use a nursery four days a week pay four fifths of the weekly cost. This weekly cost should have been calculated to allow the owners enough to deliver training, give staff paid bank holidays, buy the toys, etc etc.

aheaton46

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

Its a service but they have you over a barrel because of the emotional side of the business

Just like any other business, if you don't like their terms and conditions you can go elsewhere.

The fact you choose to stay with them suggests you are happy enough with their service overall. Perhaps in part because they have happy staff who get bank holidays off and get well trained?

apples1

They should be giving staff bank holidays off and keep them well trained and happy without having to single out some parents to pay a disproportionate charge. It's the way they are calculating the charges that is wrong. Overall the amount they charge (in total from everyone) is fine but the distribution of these charges (i.e their pricing structure) that is wrong.

What can you do - politely suggest it would be fairer for them to charge another way and other than that - nothing! It's a private business. You choose to give them your custom or you don't.

Lip_Stick

aheaton46 wrote: »

Just like any other business, if you don't like their terms and conditions you can go elsewhere.

The fact you choose to stay with them suggests you are happy enough with their service overall. Perhaps in part because they have happy staff who get bank holidays off and get well trained?

The majority don't agree with you. My son's nursery never had these training days, and I sure as hell would have objected to paying full price for a day when my son wasn't allowed to attend!

Valli

Hang on a minute... this is a NURSERY run as a BUSINESS as opposed to an educational establishment paid for by the GOVERNMENT or LOCAL AUTHORITY and required to provide/notify staff training days.

I see NO REASON why there should be training days at all - and certainly not training days which some parents but not all must pay for. This is childcare for working parents not government-funded educational provision.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

aheaton46 wrote: »

Just like any other business, if you don't like their terms and conditions you can go elsewhere.

The fact you choose to stay with them suggests you are happy enough with their service overall. Perhaps in part because they have happy staff who get bank holidays off and get well trained?

price is a factor in how happy you are with a service.

It is not strictly speaking like any other business as there is an emotional side to it, there was for me anyway...