Charged for sending my child to school during lockdown

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Hi, just want to see / get an idea if anyone else is experiencing this. I work for emergency services therefore my child has been attending school during lockdown. Recently however the school advised that i need to pay for the outside school hours my child is attending ( breakfast & after school club). That was not the case the first 3 weeks but now it changed. It works out that I will be paying circa £250 a month for childcare. I'm a single parent, normally friends and family help but now obviously its not possible. Anyone else facing this?

We paid for this from day one.

I’m not sure yet but I’m working on the presumption that I’ll be paying for before school hours yes.

Do you normally pay?

Really? What is the school doing with that money, considering the staff are unlikely to be getting paid more?

Nailsneeddoing, well that depends who runs the after school club. We used to have an outside agency coming in to do it, so if that's true case here, then I would have thought payment was still required.

DD's school have been doing this the whole time, and during the Easter holidays. They're using their normal after school club provider, so they need to pay them.

We were paying £3 per child per day for food (breakfast and lunch available but we weren't usually sending them for breakfast club time ), which had to paid in cash each day. That was a challenge getting £6 in cash for each work day without making unnecessary trips to shops. Starting next week we don't pay but send packed lunch.

Nails presumably there are normally different parents paying that money, who are no longer paying it because their children aren't attending.

It sounds tough if you have to pay that much extra a month.

What would you normally pay for before and after school care?

Unless I'm missing something isn't it just standard that parents pay for school wraparound care if they need it? Whether it's state or private it's always going to cost more if children are there longer than the usual school day.

I'm sure it's an unwanted expense if you normally use friends and family but it can't really be a surprise that childcare isn't free?

But surely you'd always have to pay for childcare out of school hours?

Not sure why you think it would be any different now?

Staff need to be paid! Cleaners need to be paid! Resources and snacks need to be paid for!

This isn't intended to be a "freebie", it's intended to be a service to ensure a provision is in place to allow essential workers to work.

Paying for childcare is part of the costs of having a child.

What do you normally do?

I'm not sure why people would expect breakfast and after school club to be free?
These aren't usually included and staff covering these will be paid separately from school hours.

8-6 free in our area )Scotland) hub was open through the Easter hols too.

@NailsNeedDoing

Really? What is the school doing with that money, considering the staff are unlikely to be getting paid more?

Teaching staff don't tend to cover after and before school childcare- it'll be TAs and other support staff, who are paid hourly.

Has everyone missed the part of the post where the OP says she usually uses friends /family so doesn't use breakfast/after school club??
To be honest I hadn't even given this. Thought I assumed it would be free for some reason, it doesn't seem really crappy that it's costing you extra to send your children to school.

I assumed it would be free for some reason, it doesn't seem really crappy that it's costing you extra to send your children to school

Breakfast and after school clubs are not school though. They are childcare.

What do you normally do for childcare before and after school? How much does it cost you?

She isn’t being charged for sending them to school. She’s using extended hours, of course it needs paid for.

Of course you'll be paying for wrap-around care! You can use tax-free childcare for this, btw.

OP has already said that friends and family help with childcare.

So hard that people if you normally rely on friends and family for childcare. Have a word with the head. I'm sure they will be able to help out (most schools have discretionary budgets for this sort of thing).

Has everyone missed the part of the post where the OP says she usually uses friends /family so doesn't use breakfast/after school club??

No, I hadn't missed it. She didn't previously use it, so didn't pay for it. She is currently using it so needs to pay for it. That's obvious, surely!

Unless her school previously offered free breakfast club and free after school care that is, of course! If that's the case, then of course its unreasonable to suddenly start charging.

Surely people expect to pay for the services they are using?

What @TrainspottingWelsh said.
After school club/wraparound care at school you always have to pay for in my experience.
If you usually use friends or family instead of school, can see why you think it sucks having to send them to after school clubs due to lockdown, but that's just the way it is.

Have a word with the head. I'm sure they will be able to help out (most schools have discretionary budgets for this sort of thing).

What sort of thing? The OP not wanting to pay? I don't see that the fact that she usually uses friends/family for after school care is relevant, to be honest.