Paying nursery fees

[MobLife]

Wanted to find out if people are still paying their nursery fees?

Both me and partner are keyworkers but our child's nursery has shut indefinitely even for those who are keyworkers

At present we've been able to manage our shifts in such a way as to juggle the childcare, however one of us is about to be redeployed and this is likely to change so we'll need childcare. We can't afford to keep paying out the equivalent of a mortgage each month especially if we're now going to need that money to find alternative childcare
Nursery have said there's no obligation to keep paying and whatever people can give is wonderful-so I know they're struggling too

What's everyone else doing?

[Ginger1982]

Our nursery isn't charging parents anything, which I'm grateful for. I would massively resent paying over £500 a month for looking after my own child whilst trying to work.

[Thegirlhasnoname]

We were going to have to pay full fees until the job retention thing was given the go ahead by the government. Now we’re paying a ‘retainer fee’ of 20% of our usual monthly fee to keep the place open for our toddler once all this is over. Bit odd to pay to retain a place when, like yours, it has closed for the time being as there wasn’t enough uptake by key workers to make it financially viable by much better than forking out the equivalent of our rent each month whilst they’re closed.

Maybe ask if there is a retainer fee that they’d be open to?

[IamChipmunk]

We paid 4 weeks and then nothing. They are stll open for key workers though.

[AnotherFuzzyJumper]

Ours have furloughed their staff and asked that we pay a 20% retainer fee. This amount is covered by husbands work childcare vouchers for us so we're happy to pay this to keep the spot.

[Figgygal]

25% retainer
Thankfully ds is now 3 so EY funding meant it’s only £110 this month otherwise i would begrudge it

[mindutopia]

Our nursery is closed and no we aren’t paying anything. I feel a bit bad (I’m still working from home and receiving my normal full time pay, dh is self employed but doing okay enough, business is down but not terribly). But they haven’t asked. I suspect it just may work out better for everyone to be furloughed.

[Settlersofcatan]

We were paying 80%, from May it's 20%. Somewhat bizarrely they are not charging NHS workers... the only people who are still using the nursery.

[Spacemonkey2016]

It's actually in our Ts and Cs that fees are still payable in the event of a pandemic, so I was expecting to pay, but they changed their minds and we aren't being charged.

[Ewanthescreamsheep]

20% which will then be credited once they reopen, which I am happy with.

[Travellingraspberry]

We were charged 30% of the fees for April and just waiting to hear what we'll be asked to pay going forward now they know what help they can get from the government. They mentioned reducing fees by 10% for the rest of the year once things get back to normal. Happy to pay whatever they need to survive as we need a nursery to go back to.

[unhappyclap]

Not being charged anything, which is very helpful at the moment.

[tappitytaptap]

Ours are charging full for March and April then some convoluted system for later months where they pay and then credit you back later, but parents are challenging this as they feel it’s unfair as they are still open for keyworker staff and have furloughed a lot of other staff (and I’ve seen their accounts - no, they are not short of cash)

[YouJustDoYou]

No, we don't pay but she and all the others still has a place.

[ListenLinda]

Ours charged full fees for april but they shut to all, even keyworkers. So our LA found us a temporary one and we are to pay them instead. We can’t afford too so not sure what their nursery want us to do but we could lose their places. The temporary one has said they can stay there though, which is a relief.

[MobLife]

This is really helpful-thanks everyone
Sounds like there's quite a range in terms of what nurseries are doing so think I'll get in touch with them to find out what the deal is with keeping our place open and what we're expected to pay for this