to not want to pay nursery fees when it's closed?

[estornudar]

Nursery is closing on Monday, as many are. I have emailed Head Office to ask if the fees for that day will be taken off next month's invoice but it has been met by stony silence so far, and I am expecting an email saying no at some point.

AIBU to not want to pay nursery fees when it's closed? How are other nurseries handling this?

Do you expect to get paid if your own workplace is closed?

I don't get people saying does OP get paid for bank holidays - if they do, it comes out of the holiday allowance so why does this make a difference? Surely nursery workers get annual leave too?

I agree. Don't get those comments either. The business pays for staff holidays not the customer 🙄

To answer your question, my nursery is staying open therefore if you choose not to send you have to pay still which is fair.

Because it’s the same thing, just one side of the coin is benefiting - which she has no problem with and the other side is benefiting someone else - which OP has an issue with.

OP is not providing her employer with the service they are paying for on Monday, yet OP is still getting paid.
The nursery are closing on the bank holiday too, but OP thinks they shouldn’t get paid.
Why should the day come out of their annual leave allowance when it sounds like it’s an extra day for OP and for most workers?

but it doenst matter what people think the rules should be / whether you should pay or not - what matters is what your terms and conditions say

if you signed to say you pay bank hols then you have to pay.

argue it if there is nothing mentioned in the t's & c's

@Katlow not sure about nurseries but preschool staff can generally only take holidays in the school holidays not during term time.

@Tillsforthrills the problem with nurseries and charging to cover paying staff for bank holidays is most only make parents who send their children in on Mondays pay for them. If your DC goes part time and not on a Monday, you might not get any days in a year you pay for when the nursery is closed. If they go Mondays, it's at least 4. I'd have had no problem if the cost of bank holidays had been distributed fairly across all parents - but as it was I choose Monday to be a non working day because that made more financial sense with the way nurseries do their days. We later moved to using a childminder who luckily only charged for days they were actually open.

No one is saying the nursery workers shouldn't get paid, what is being said is that they should be being paid by their employer.
So say I work in a massage parlour (?) I've had to cancel all my clients for Monday and I won't be rescheduling their bookings, should my customers still be paying me?

What's this got to do with it?

The business pay the staff.

It's more a case of "do you cancel a client and still make them pay"

If you had a hair cut cancelled would you still pay them because "the staff need paying"

At no point have I ever said that I don't expect nursery staff to be paid for the bank holiday. They should be. But I think that the nursery chain should foot the bill as ultimately it was their decision to close. If nursery was staying open I would send my child in and be happy to pay!

Your comment about employees providing a service to their employers is complete and utter nonsense. That is not what a service means in a business sense. If you'd booked a hair appointment or decorator on the Monday would you still expect to pay them? Of course not! Why should nursery be any different?

@Katlow - exactly.

The business should pay. Bizarre that people think the clients should pay for a service they're not getting. I charge my clients for the work I do for them.

With nurseries, you usually pay to hold the ‘place’ regardless of whether they attend or not. So if they’re ill, you’re on holiday, or it’s bank holiday, you still pay for your child’s spot.

I'm happy to pay in those instances, but this isn't a situation out of their control, they have made the decision to close.
I'm not saying they could have control over the queen dying but it's hardly like there's a flood that's damaged the nursery or freak weather conditions. As much as it's sad, people have still got to go to work.
Even if bank holidays are mentioned in the contract, you sign that contract under the assumption that there are 8 bank holidays that you can sort your childcare out for.

At the end of the day, as PP said, if you usually pay bank holidays on your contracted day then you haven’t a leg to stand on.

If you don’t agree to T&C’s don’t sign them but you’ll find it difficult to not pay bank holiday on a contracted day.

Yes but there can always be extra bank holidays, they are not confined to 8. I can see why it jars if you belong to a successful £ chain nursery but it’s the T&C’s.

I would prefer nurseries to increase the fees slightly but not charge for bank holidays. However that would make the headline prices increase so people might choose a different nursery.. it's annoying as I want to send my child in on a Monday but the bank holiday thing puts me off. It's a big cost difference if you only use the nursery 2 days a week

I mean if you’re getting paid I really don’t see the big deal and fury of having to pay nursery

You really aren't losing out here. Let's say you usually earn £150 on a Monday, and spend £50 of that on nursery. This Monday, you will still get your £100 net income, but instead of working hard, you get to spend the day hanging out with your DC. Nursery still get their £50 to pay their employeers. The only party missing out is your employer.

So to parents that are of Monday if the nursery was open would you still be sending your children in anyway?

They all do, you either get min of 20+8 bank holidays, or you get at !east 28 including bh

I am off on Monday as it happens and I am being paid, but that's actually besides the point

That's exactly the point. They are either transparent and charge for bank holidays or the up the fee and use that to pay staff for being off. Are you expecting staff not to be paid or for the business not to be viable? Those in the childcare sector have very small margins and would struggle to absorb an unplanned cost. Many are closing due to financial difficulties.

Childcare is expensive and if you really want that to change you need the government to act and do what they do in places like Germany.

I am off on Monday as it happens and I am being paid, but that's actually besides the point.

is it really?

what industry do you work in OP?

My issue is is that I'm not being paid, as I'm supposed to be in work on Monday but can't because of lack of childcare. So I'm losing out on my days wage PLUS the cost of nursery. But I still don't think someone who is being paid should be paying for a service they're not receiving.
I specifically picked my nursery because, even though I pay well above the odds for my area, when I did my research I saw that they paid their staff well. I've no issue with the staff being paid for the day off, in fact, I encourage it because workers who are happy are going to be more enthusiastic and I think it's important that they are treated well. I don't think that nursery staff should be paid minimum wage, hell, you couldn't pay me minimum wage to look after my son all day long every working day a week id go off my rocker, never mind 3 per staff member.
But how is it fair to charge parents for an internal business decision? Bank holidays are not a given. And I may be wrong, I'm fairly young but have been in the work force for 12 years and I've never come across extra bank holidays like their have been this year so it's not something we should be expecting.

Why can’t the nursery staff’s employer pay them, like OP’s employer is paying her?

How are businesses expected to plan for the unplanned. This bh was short notice.

I find it unfathomable that people expect those in caring roles to be in servitude to others, almost like they are less deserving of the bh that is given to others. No wonder its hard to recruit to those roles.

Katlow are you on a zero hours contract or self employed? If zero hours then you should still get holiday pay. If a normal contract you should be able yo have a conversation with your employer about the bh and the implications for your childcare.