Can a nursery charge when they are not open??

[STACEYANDKAY]

Hi,

I have recently been having a dispute with my daughters nursery. This has been about the Early Years funding as they are trying to give me back the fees that the local authority pay, as opposed to the actual hourly fee the nursery charge.

I know this is wrong as I have the Early Years Funding guidelines. So whilst challenging them, I said I am only going to pay the amount I should and calculated their hourly fee of £865 per month divided by 49 weeks of the year (they close for 3) etc etc.

Last year when I asked them how they can charge when they are closed and I was told that they dont, they calculate and annual figure and divide it by 12, so that we pay the same each month, but they dont technically charge for those weeks.

Now however, they have changed their minds and say 'well, the staff have to be paid too'.

I'm sure there will be a law that stipulates that a company cannot charge for a service they are not providing?

Someone please help, I go back on Tue and really need to have a convincing argument. I refuse to pay £865 a month, when I know I shouldnt be!

Thanks

Charging even when the nursery is shut is totally normal in my experience.

I get paid for NOT working Bank Holidays so why wouldn't nursery staff?

and the 3 weeks they are not open are likely to be treated as part fo AL for the nursery staff, so that they have sufficient cover the rest of the year. If they divided the total annual running costs by 49(instead of 52) to arrive at their hourly rate that would increase but the EY funding may not if it is already at a maximum. Your posts are confusing me tbh. You started by saying that they charge you for closed weeks but then say EY funding is less than they charge anyway. They can still charge you for extras which may be included in the headline rate (such as lunch and snacks). I'm not sure what your complaint actually is. Some months no EY funding would be applicable (ie August), others for only a part of the month, and they receive it only 3 times a year so how can it reduce monthly invoices, in advance.

OP - back to my orignial question - regardless of what they bill you each month, what is their daily rate?

Ive done the sums for you - (assuming your DD goes 5 days a week) if their daily rate is £39.92 then they are charging you for the days they are shut and you can complain, if their daily rate is £42.37, then they have already discounted the days they are shut and spilt the discount evenly between each month - which is standard practice so you get the same bill each month and can plan for it.

TBH I think it may well be easiest if you could just give the actual figures.

And we'll all whip our spreadsheets out.:)

As far as I can discern you are correct to be working it out on a 49 week basis.
Unless there is specific information in the contract stating otherwise.