Advice required Re: travel costs not being reimbursed by employer

kingfisherblue

I'm with other posters on this - the children's parents should be paying a small amount extra to cover the costs of adults who accompany the children - entrance fees as well as transport costs. She should also check:
* that there is appropriate and adequate insurance in place
* risk assessments have been carried out
* emergency contact information is available
* adult:child ratios are properly adhered to.

If any of these are not fully in place, she should refuse to go. She should also point out that it should not cost her anything extra to carry out her dutues - and paying for her own public transport and entrance fees is an additional cost that she should not have to pay.

Tell her to ask for the nursery's policy on trips away from the nursery setting (what are the chances that the nursery doesn't have one?!)

Is your partner in a union? I have a feeling that she isn't, but if I'm wrong, she could take it up with them.

Your partner could also raise a grievance - just asking for a copy of the company grievance procedure might be enough for the nursery to play ball and pay her expenses.

Savvy_Sue

surely nursery age children wouldn't have any transport costs when using public transport, or do Under 5s no longer travel free?

Doesn't sound reasonable to me, btw! Outrageous!

stubs

Thanks for the comments.

Firstly, after making my post I could no longer get in touch with her yesterday assumingly because they're not allowed to use their phones during working hours. When she arrived home she told me that she'd stood her ground in the morning and stopped back from yesterday's trip to speak to the head manager who corrected her deputy manager about the travel and entry expenses.

It seems that the deputy manager had spoken out of place and hadn't checked with her manager before denying the requests for travel money. She was miffed at the suggestions being made that parents would have to pay more to cover the cost of staff travel - partly because she was paying for her child to go along.

Anyway, that's been sorted now. However, it seems that all is not well at her workplace. Some of the staff still haven't been paid the wages they're owed, and a handfull of those have been told not to come in next week - their hours are being cut due to financial difficulties.

The nursery is a shambles! They're understaffed and the facilities are out of date. My partner has told me on a couple of occasions that Ofsted have turned up following complaints from parents about the bad conditions and incorrect adult:child ratios. Each time Ofsted turn up though, they call the nursery in advance, and the management call staff into rooms off their lunch breaks. Managers that are on their days off are called in to increase the numbers and the management also start to help out in the rooms (day to day they're always in the office and don’t help out in the rooms even during staff lunches or staff shortages due to holidays).

There are other bad practices that go on there, and my partner has said she would NEVER allow anyone she knew to take their children there. I’ve told her to use the Ofsted visits as a chance to speak up and report what goes on, but she fears a reprisal from doing so. Others have tried in the past and have been treated terribly afterwards, and their jobs made almost impossible by management coming down so hard on them – basically made to leave the job, but done in a way that is difficult to prove it’s related to whistle blowing.

The majority of my career has been working for large organisations with structured managements and formal HR procedures and practices. I find it difficult to imagine how difficult it must be to work for such a badly formed business with little support for the staff and where bad practices can’t be reported in confidence that they will be dealt with correctly and in confidence.

In answer to some of the questions;
The children going on these trips were part of an older group, currently in the out of school club or something – I think due to the schools being on holiday.
No, she is not a member of a union. It’s not something I have experience in either to be honest. We are going to look into it this week.

About the grievance procedure – last year my partner had a grievance with a room manager that didn’t get anywhere;
Basically, she was given a very harsh dressing down in front of other staff and parents for not closing a child gate correctly (whilst carrying trays back to the kitchen). She was in a real state when she got home due to the way she’d been shouted at, and was very close to hand in her notice. The next day, a member of staff reported to her that she’d overheard the room manager laughing and joking about the incident with other members of staff, including another manager, infront of parents. She agreed to write a statement and stand by it. I helped my partner draft a letter of complaint as I wanted to make her stand up and make an official complaint against the manager. Not only had they not taken her aside to discipline her formally, but they didn’t give her chance to explain herself, and they didn’t offer any suggestions for improvements to the procedures that led up to the incident. The letter prompted a meeting between the general manager, the room manager and my partner. She asked to have someone neutral present to take notes but this was rejected. The person who witnessed the incidents was also refused to be present. In this “meeting” the room manager broke down into tears and started pouring out her problems at home etc..etc.. basically, the grievance went nowhere, and my partner received nothing in the way of written acknowledgement. She was left feeling like it had been brushed under the carpet so to speak.

I’ve now told my partner to keep her head down and stay out of the firing line until she can find a new job. She’s desperate to leave this nursery and we’re applying for as many jobs as possible in the hope we can find her somewhere better to work.


(Sorry for the length of my post - just needed to vent a little )

smileylondongal

I'm so glad that your travel issue has been sorted but disappointed to hear about what goes on at the nursery, particularly as I'm just about to put my baby into nursery so that I can look for work! 'Yikes' would be an understatement as I heard horror stories like these.

Hopefully she can find her way out of there and to somewhere with better standards that more closely reflect her own. Good luck.

kingfisherblue

Your partner should definitely join a union. My daughter is a care worker and member ship of Unison costs her less than £10 a month - it is a sliding scale, depending on amount of income. You can join online and pay by direct debit, so no need to go through payroll or even inform the nursery that she has joined, unless she needs union support at some point in the future.

Your partner is entitled to a copy of the grievance procedure and personally I would have a copy even if she doesn't intend to submit a grievance at this point.

You or your partner can contact Ofsted anonymously and inform them of understaffing, rtios, and other issues. You could tell them that the nursery has always been informed of visits beforehand and ask if they can arrange a visit without prior warning - it can be done.

You can also contact the Early Years team at your local council and inform them of your concerns, anonymously if you prefer. You can ask for an advisor to make an unannounced visit to the nursery. Some councils will do this, I'm not sure if all will though.

Your partner should also be aware of ratios for older children - she can find this information from both Ofsted and the Early Years team. If the older children have been taken out without enough adults, she can submit a complaint about this to both of the above. Ofsted and the council can request to see registers, permission slips, etc.

Unfortunately many private nurseries are not well run. There is a lot of legislation for childcare providers and it is up to them to keep up to date and obey the law. Ignorance is not a defence. Individual workers can be prosecuted, as well as the company, so your partner might not be able to keep out of the firing line if there are breaches in the law. Another reason for joining a union, IMO.

Good luck with the search for a new job.