Nursery requests payment during lockdown for a child not attending!!

[Abimz]

Urgent Question‼️⁉️
Hello dear mums, did anyone else get an email from their child's nursery asking for a 25% payment for a child that has not been attending nursery for over 2weeks in the month of March (which I think the nursery is owing me for unattended hours).

The 25% payment is for the month of April and nursery stated that they are offering parents 75% discount (of which the child is still not attending nusery as the nursery clearly stated that both parents are not keyworkers and child doesn't qualify to attend nursery till the stay at home period is over).

This is surprising as my child is at home with me and nursery is acting as if they are doing me a favour of 75% discount and for me to pay 25% rest of the usual nursery fees.

Please, does anyone know which government authority to report this to?❓
Any advise regarding the above?❓Thanks

Mine has asked for the full whack so count yourself lucky.

At this point, I'm more than happy taking the risk of withdrawing my child from the nursery and I would find another one when all this is over,*

Good luck with that! It's because of people not paying nurseries and childminders that you'll struggle to find any open when this is all over.

Our nursery is charging 75%!

i can't count the number of times, my child was not accepted to attend because they have a policy of your child can't attend nursery with 48hours of being administered calpol and they donot administer calpol to child, they always call me to come and pick my child from nursery in such situations and still charge me for the hours my child can't attend
Errr yes that’s how nurseries operate. Do you think if your child gets ill they can just turn to staff and say their wages will be lower and not charge you.
Think you need to understand it’s a business and read your contract.

As for payment during lock down, every nursery is different, everyone’s situation is different just discuss it with them. If you withdraw your DC you will likely be liable for a months notice, likely the full amount! Read your contract

Why aren’t your employers furloughing you, or why aren’t you claiming the self employed grant?

In either of these scenarios you would be better off each month paying only 25% as a retainer.

Nurseries are money focussed. They are businesses and the government grant for the free hours does not cover their outgoings.

You sound abit naive op

Check the contract if you take your child out

You'll have to pay the notice period.

However. It's VERY normal. It will all be in your contract that you signed.

There is no one to speak to. Or refer too. The nursery aren't doing anything wrong.

We are paying ours 20% and I'm happy with that. If we don't pay then they will go out of business.

If you don’t want to pay (though I think you should), you need to withdraw, but you need to check your contract as you could still be liable for payment for several weeks.

And no, there is nobody to report them to because they’re not doing anything wrong.

Well it is possible that OP has a zero hours contract so cannot work if no childcare - but will not be eligible for furlough if her employers are still operating. She wouldn’t be being paid then I don’t suppose?

Although that would probably make her a keyworker so childcare should be available somewhere locally 🤷🏻‍♀️.

It’s very normal for them to charge you op. You’re very lucky to only pay 25%!

This is happening nationally to everyone with children in a nursery

If they didn't charge, they can't pay their staff and other ongoing costs.

If all the nurseries go bust during lockdown where on Earth do you expect anyone to find childcare when normal life resumes?

How do they expect me to sustain making the payments when I don't get paid myself as I have to look after my child.

How do you expect them to sustain running a nursery when they don’t get any income?

Our nursery has asked for 100 percent from anyone receiving full pay, 50% from everyone else and having separate discussions with others who have lost their jobs etc. We are both classed as key workers (not frontline - so can wfh) so aren't using it but we have just paid the full fees for April as we would like there to be a nursery still there when this all blows over. I do think it's a really difficult situation though if you are in a precarious financial position yourself - there isn't a winner and you can't pay if you aren't getting paid yourself! Maybe have a separate discussion with them?

Their sickness policy (I.e. withdrawing her when she is sick and continuing to charge) is the same absolutely everywhere. You can't expect them not to charge you because she is unwell! That's not money focused it's the way these settings are run. I doubt there is a nursery out there which refunds fees if your child is ill. I think your expectations are unrealistic.

I have continued to pay my childminder in full, because I am still in receipt of tax credits. If my payments stop I won't be able to pay them.

Being charged full amount we usually pay, although we also get the 30hrs free

if he happy with 25%....... mine wants payment in full to keep his place, they are properly shut now too!!!

Ours are asking for 20% but I'm voluntarily paying 50% as I want there to be a nursery to return to when this is over. If they go under, there will be a huge shortage of nursery places in my town, and I need there to be a place so me and dh can return to work.

I love the staff, and everything they have worked hard to create. But if you want all those people to lose their livelihoods for the sake of 25% fees, then don't pay and let them go under, your choice.

OP they cannot demand payment for a service they're not providing.
It doesn't matter what your contract says - you cannot contract out of statute law. The consumer act 2015 is explicit.

They can ask, but it you can't afford it, of course you're entitled to say no, if you're on a low income of course you cannot afford to keep another business afloat and you absolutely should say no.
If you can afford to pay - then you absolutely should.

I can't count the number of times, my child was not accepted to attend because they have a policy of your child can't attend nursery with 48hours of being administered calpol and they donot administer calpol to child, they always call me to come and pick my child from nursery in such situations and still charge me for the hours my child can't attend.

If your child needs calpol they should not be in nursery. This is a standard policy and I don't see how it's the setting being "money focused".

I think where nurseries are shut, and unable to offer a service, it's completely unreasonable for them to charge parents 100% to keep their child's place open.

Surely they should be putting most staff on furlough and applying for the Government support to pay their wages.

A small retainer from parents to help make up the shortfall is not unreasonable.