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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

cost of nursery trip - different depending on days booked

45 replies

jemima39 · 04/07/2018 17:43

We have multiple children from our extended family at the same nursery, some get 15 hours funding, others get 30 hours. An end of term trip is happening and the ones who are booked in on the specific day the trip is happening only have to pay for the trip £6.50, if it isnt a day your child would normally be in nursery you have to pay the full child care rate, £21 for 3 hours or £42 for the whole day, so one parent is paying just for the trip - £6.50 and another parent who has 2 children there is paying almost £60! Do you think the nursery could have jiggled the days around and somehow made this work? They have already told the children about the trip so although the parents have been given the option to pull the children out for the day they will be disapointed

OP posts:

insancerre · 04/07/2018 18:40

Perfectly normal way of doing the trip
If it's not your normal day then of course you have to pay extra to book the child in extra
Organising trips is a nightmare when children have different attendance patterns
It's not the same as a school where every child is in every day
But you always get the people who complain

Timomax · 04/07/2018 18:41

Sounds reasonable. If you want them to go why don't you just go to the same place at the same time and pay yourself.. this is what my nursery do.

4GreenApples · 04/07/2018 18:43

Why would they do that, Brie? Tell some parents they don’t need to pay for a days childcare if they come on the trip themselves??

Well, my nursery did this for kids who weren’t booked in on the trip day. But TBH I do wonder if it was more about not having enough spare staff on hand to keep ratios right, than it was about making things cheaper for the parents.

Ifeelreallylow · 04/07/2018 19:09

I'm assuming that your talking about free hours.

So if your child gets 15 hours free but the trip is on a day they wouldn't usually go then you have to pay for the hours. Where as if some other kids are booked in for free hours that day then they don't have to pay for the hours aswell.

It's ironic this as this happened at my dd's nursery a couple weeks ago.
But the nursery didn't actually tell parents this prior to the trip. So there's been uproars there.

Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar · 04/07/2018 19:15

From the nursery’s point of view it doesn’t make a difference whether the end user is paying directly or being funded, does it?
The hours are paid for. Someone who is neither paying or entitled to a free place would be using the staff’s time for free. And their time is blatantly not free, it carries a cost that has to be covered.

happinessiseggshaped · 04/07/2018 19:19

NO one gets free childcare. You get funded childcare which is subsidised by the tax payer and usually heavily subsidised by other parents at the setting who are fee paying Because the funding doesn’t generally cover their overheads.

Thatssomebadhatharry · 04/07/2018 19:48

Erm nope the people who have kids in that day have to pay for the day too or do they get free childcare. You are being ridiculous. What you mean is they should juggle the days for you. They wont be able to satisfy everyone.

Original poster

jemima39 · 04/07/2018 21:39

not quite sure why this got such a visceral reaction? I'm one of the parents with 30 hours funding so I'm only having to pay for the trip, but I have concern for those having to pay such a large amount so their children can go on the trip. Its a nursery where most parents are using the funded hours, parents who are uni students or low income jobs at the hospital for example, so this money is a lot to them out of their weekly budget

OP posts:

Zephyrsinskyatnight · 04/07/2018 21:44

Just dont let the kid on the trip. Its not their nursery day anyway? Take them yourself, cheaper.

Sorry but i feel this is fair. If those with 15 free hours, or 30, want their kid to go into trip /nursery then they would know this exceeds childcare allowance and would have to pay.

Thesearmsofmine · 04/07/2018 21:45

They don’t have to pay though? It isn’t compulsory.

Mindchilder · 04/07/2018 21:49

If they can't afford the trip they don't go.

ChesterCake · 04/07/2018 21:54

They don’t have to go on the trip though do they? As it’s only costing more if it’s on the day they dont usually use the nursery. It’s an optional extra surely?

I would just say to my children no because you don’t go to nursery on Fridays, maybe the next trip will be on a Monday that you go! (for example)

feathermucker · 04/07/2018 21:56

Perfectly fair. If it's not a day that they would normally attend, then of course you pay for the childcare!

Otherwise, you'd be expecting them to take your child for free. How would that be fair?

If it had been organised on a day your child would've been in and you'd only had to pay £6.50, I doubt you'd think it was so unfair then.

Tumbleweed101 · 04/07/2018 22:10

Either they pay or don’t go. The nursery are willing to take everyone but will need to cover their staffing costs etc as well as the trip costs. It isn’t a compulsory trip and nurseries can’t subsidise children the way schools can for those who might be on low incomes. It is unfortunate for the children whose families are in that situation but there isn’t much they can do aside from not offering the trip to anyone.
I’m assuming if parents want to go with their children and meet up with the nursery that’s fine.

Original poster

jemima39 · 04/07/2018 22:17

Feathermucker - it is on a day that my child is in all day so I'm only paying £6.50, doesnt mean I cant feel its unfair on other parents?

Zephyrsinskyatnight - it only exceeds their child care allowance if they unlucky enough for their childs funded days not to fall on the same day as the trip, different parents will being paying vastly different amounts just because of which days they have chosen at the start

I know its a logistical nightmare for the nursery and they cant please everyone but the staff and told all the children and got them excited so many parents are feeling obliged to find the money

OP posts:

BoomBoomsCousin · 04/07/2018 22:20

It's not unreasonable to require fees to be paid. Most nurseries run close to the bone with funded hours not being sufficient to cover costs. They can't magic up extra money and it wouldn't be that fair on the parents who are already paying nursery fees for the day of the trip to find out some children were getting an extra day free. But it was unreasonable of the nursery to tell the children who were not scheduled to be in nursery on the day about the trip. As it is, many parents will feel a lot of pressure to pay for their children to attend the nursery on the extra day so they can go on the trip.

Nursery could also consider letting parents swap a day for the trip day - though this may be logistically hard for the nursery to manage because of the need to cover staff wages. And they could do more trips on other days with only some of the children going each time and parents choose which trip their child goes on but, again, logistically that might be difficult. I am a bit surprised at a nursery going on a trip tbh, it sounds like they are trying their best to provide a rich curriculum.

BackforGood · 04/07/2018 22:47

I have to agree with everyone else. If the parents who don't normally have hours booked on that day want their dc to come, then they would obviously have to pay for the childcare. The fact the Government are funding their current hours is irrelevant - the Nursery still have to stay within ration, whoever is paying.
In fact, it is the families whose dc are there on that day that are more stuck - they, presumably don't have a choice about their dc going on the trip ? So will have to find the £6.50 even if that is difficult for them. Whereas people who don't normally attend that day clearly have the option of not going.

4GreenApples · 04/07/2018 23:13

In fact, it is the families whose dc are there on that day that are more stuck - they, presumably don't have a choice about their dc going on the trip ? So will have to find the £6.50 even if that is difficult for them.

Yes, that’s the way it was at my DC’s nursery. If the nursery had organised a trip for the pre-schoolers (3 & 4 yr olds) on e.g. Wednesday, then the pre-school room was closed on Wednesday.
So if your 3 yr old was booked in for Wednesdays, then you’d have to pay up the £6.50 for the trip, or keep them out of nursery on the Wednesday. Not great if money’s very tight and keeping them home from nursery means having to take a day off work.

cadburyegg · 04/07/2018 23:15

I don’t get the problem here. My ds’s Nursery had a trip out to a wildlife park a few weeks ago, on a Thursday which is not one of his days. I could have sent him but I’d have had to pay the cost of the trip and an extra days childcare so we didn’t bother. I certainly felt no “obligation” to pay for him to go and didn’t think anything of it.

Nurseries are a business not a charity

Amanduh · 04/07/2018 23:21

It’s not unfair though. It’s entirely perfectly sensible and fair and the best way to do
It?

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