Day nursery fees

sjlbates

Hi there

I wonder if anyone can help or had experience with this...

This is the second nursery I have used for my daughter and they charge for days that my daughter isn't there. For example Good Friday and Easter Monday as she is normally in on Monday, Tuesdays and Fridays.

By email I said that I have been charged for these bank holidays so I would be in credit and asked that I will be refunded at a later time. I had no response so I chased up in person and was told that as stated in the terms and conditions that I would be charged regardless, for Christmas, Easter and their staff training days.

To be honest I didn't look at the terms and conditions as assumed like the previous nursery that I wouldn't be charged for days she isn't in due to public holidays ie. not our own holidays out of choice.

I have since looked at the terms and conditions and there is nothing that clearly states that parents would be charged for these holidays and training days (which they do I think 4 times a year during the week).

The only thing it does state is 'We calculate your fees by multiplying the number of sessions you attend by 52 weeks and dividing it into 12 equal monthly payments'.

Does this cover them? Can they really charge us for holidays when the nursery is closed (and we are off work so can look after our kids!) Is this the norm or can i go back to them and what should I say...?

I personally think it's ridiculous, fees are so expensive anyway, 3 days costs about the same as my monthly mortgage payments. Any thoughts?! Are they taking the P**S??

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

sjlbates wrote: »

Hi there

I wonder if anyone can help or had experience with this...

This is the second nursery I have used for my daughter and they charge for days that my daughter isn't there. For example Good Friday and Easter Monday as she is normally in on Monday, Tuesdays and Fridays.

By email I said that I have been charged for these bank holidays so I would be in credit and asked that I will be refunded at a later time. I had no response so I chased up in person and was told that as stated in the terms and conditions that I would be charged regardless, for Christmas, Easter and their staff training days.

To be honest I didn't look at the terms and conditions as assumed like the previous nursery that I wouldn't be charged for days she isn't in due to public holidays ie. not our own holidays out of choice.

I have since looked at the terms and conditions and there is nothing that clearly states that parents would be charged for these holidays and training days (which they do I think 4 times a year during the week).

The only thing it does state is 'We calculate your fees by multiplying the number of sessions you attend by 52 weeks and dividing it into 12 equal monthly payments'.

Does this cover them? Can they really charge us for holidays when the nursery is closed (and we are off work so can look after our kids!) Is this the norm or can i go back to them and what should I say...?

I personally think it's ridiculous, fees are so expensive anyway, 3 days costs about the same as my monthly mortgage payments. Any thoughts?! Are they taking the P**S??

Most nursery's charge for the bank holidays - they still have to pay staff even if your child isn't there, It's the same as if your child is sick, the staff still need paying. There should be something in the T&C's - ask them to show you.

But in answer to your question - Yes, it is normal practise, and no, they aren't extracting the urine, they are running a business

Lunar_Eclipse

Normal practice sadly.

We used to pay just under £1000/month per child for nursery 16 years ago. Still seems extortionate and yet we're not even in London.

sjlbates

wow, astounding how nurseries can get away with this! They may be running a business but why should us parents be charged for a service that they are not providing on that particular day, most businesses won't charge or am i misinformed? They could factor that in their fees or give us a day in lieu..

pigpen

My daughter is charged for days her daughter isnt there too.. £179 a week I think she pays and that is set to rise £10 a day from April. .. It does seem to be the norm!

GwylimT

sjlbates wrote: »

wow, astounding how nurseries can get away with this! They may be running a business but why should us parents be charged for a service that they are not providing on that particular day, most businesses won't charge or am i misinformed? They could factor that in their fees or give us a day in lieu..

All businesses do this as they still have staff to pay, building rent etc. If they didn't just charge people that normally had a monday, then they would increase every service users fees to cover the cost of a bank holiday.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

sjlbates wrote: »

wow, astounding how nurseries can get away with this! They may be running a business but why should us parents be charged for a service that they are not providing on that particular day, most businesses won't charge or am i misinformed? They could factor that in their fees or give us a day in lieu..

Flip it - Why should your employer pay you a wage on a bank holiday when you aren't at work?

like I said, it should be in the terms and conditions. I've never known any childcare not charge you for bank holidays. If you don't agree to the terms then unfortunately the only choice you have is to not use that childcare (but as I said, this is common practise)

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

and childcare costs - I look at it this way.They were open for 10.5 hours a day and my children got:

Breakfast
Morning Snack
Lunch
Afternoon Snack
Tea

as well as being looked after. The cost was £36 a day - That's £3.60 an hour, and they did an outstanding job of looking after my kids when I wasn't able to because I had to work

onlyroz

Pretty sure it's normal practice. You'd also have to pay if they had to shut due to snow. If it bothers you then why not enrol your child from Tues-Thurs instead?

duchy

sjlbates wrote: »

wow, astounding how nurseries can get away with this! They may be running a business but why should us parents be charged for a service that they are not providing on that particular day, most businesses won't charge or am i misinformed? They could factor that in their fees or give us a day in lieu..

Most of their customers will be salaried and paid for bank holidays themselves - Do you intend to give your employer a day's pay back for the bank holiday or just give them 8 hours extra work in lieu of the fact you took the bank holiday off ?

You are completely misinformed as most nurseries charge for bank holidays and sick days - the ones that don't tend to charge more so effectively you're still paying for it -it's just presented differently.


If a child isn't fulltime at nursery then it makes sense not to have a Monday as a regular day as most bank holidays (not all) fall on Mondays.

This question comes up on here fairly often and it always amazes me how many parents have signed a contract with a nursery without reading it or fully understanding it.

sjlbates

i would change the days if i could. they don't state in the terms and conditions that they do this and didn't mention it once when going through everything when enrolling her. Is that not misleading, don't they have a duty to say that they charge on bank holidays? cos I was told it is stated in the terms and conditions but it isn't can I not argue my case against paying these days?