Nursery fees on bank holidays. [usual rant]

chalkiesalem_2

My son went to a nursery that is also an after school/ holiday club for 10 years. Luckily this year he was old enough to stop going.
We were only expected to pay for while he was there. We didn't pay for bank holidays / Christmas etc. We were also allowed 2 weeks a year where we didn't have to pay if we took him out for a holiday.

Spendless

I don't automatically get paid for BH's. I'm an agency worker so have to accrue enough hours in holiday pay and then request to take them that day, if I want paying for it.

Mine are now teenagers and childcare a thing of the past, but when I did use nurserys, they didn't charge me for BH's or any time they were shut. Of course I realise that the nurseries costs were absorbed into the fees, but to me that is a fairer way, for all users to be contributing to the costs, rather than the ones who use Mondays being the ones to cough up the most. Of the 8 BHs England has 4 fall on Mondays, a further 2 have the potential to do so in a given year,

Some parents may have to work BHs themselves, so they could be paying twice for childcare on that day, once for the nursery to be closed and not have them and a second time paying for any babysitter they find.

Lally86

I understand your frustration. A lot of people are in the same boat. But you are being unfair. You agreed to these terms & conditions. Most people get the BH off abd get paid and if you don't I'm sure you get paid a premium rate. Would you rather BH being available or would you rather we had no bank holidays, better yet why not cancel Christmas and Easter etc. We can't pick and choose what we want.
I have to pay for my children's nursery from 8-6 even though I only require 9.30-3.30 (core day) but apparantly I can't do that. Just be grateful you're not paying for an extra day a week that you don't use, for two children!!! (They only attend thurs & fri btw). But if I wanted the place I had to agree.

krlyr

spadoosh wrote: »

We dont charge if someone doesnt want a visit on BH we calculate the costs and incorporate it into a set price.

So....are you not charging for BH (despite no visits), except in small increments on everyone's pricing rather than one obvious 'bank holiday' charge?

Mr_Singleton

Lally86 wrote: »

You agreed to these terms & conditions.

Just be grateful you're not paying for an extra day a week that you don't use, if I wanted the place I had to agree.

Sorry to pick on you specifically but you make 2 interesting points.

Speaking very generally I don't believe that people do agree in the main to the vast majority of T&C's they sign up to but when you have no effective choice what can you do? T&C's have become appalling 1 sided it's all about your responsibilities and there rights all contained in 30,000 (yup, am looking at you Google) words of legalese that no normal person would understand.

Your second point illustrates it perfectly.... like it or lump it.

ognum

People who are contracted in general get paid for BHs so why should the nursery not charge.

If you are an agency worker and don't get paid you are either paid extra everyday for working for an agency or the agency gives you holiday days the same as other workers.

If you work on an ad hoc basis you either find care for your child on an ad hoc basis or contract to the terms and conditions of the nursery.

It's frustrating but in the big scheme of life it's a minuscule first world problem!

takman

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Sorry to pick on you specifically but you make 2 interesting points.

Speaking very generally I don't believe that people do agree in the main to the vast majority of T&C's they sign up to but when you have no effective choice what can you do? T&C's have become appalling 1 sided it's all about your responsibilities and there rights all contained in 30,000 (yup, am looking at you Google) words of legalese that no normal person would understand.

Your second point illustrates it perfectly.... like it or lump it.

T&C's are there to protect the company and they have to be written using exact legal terms to protect them from legal action. I'm sure no nursery T&C's will be anywhere near 30,000 words but a company like google that operates around the globe offering 100's of different services will need very detailed T&C's to cover everything they offer in every country.

People may not "agree" fully to the T&C's but they do sign to say they will legally comply with them.

takman

Thinking about this another way if nobody wanted childcare on a Monday the nursery could only open Tuesday to Friday and only employ staff for those days.

So the people who require childcare on a Monday also have to pay for all the Monday's where there is a Bank Holiday because the nursery have to hire staff and pay them on bank holidays due to this demand for Mondays.

So that is one way to justify it.

rpc

Our nursery only closed at Christmas and New Year. On the basis that over a few years it will balance across everybody, they didn't change their charging.

For bank holidays, which unduly affect Mondays, I do think it unfair to charge if they close and the costs of paying staff should be spread across everyone. That would be fair. But it is a free market and if you signed up to the Ts and Cs then that's on you.

trailingspouse

What puzzles me is why the nurseries don't realise that there might be a market for opening on a BH Monday (and on a Saturday/Sunday for that matter - not everyone has a 9-5, Monday to Friday job).