Nursery charging us when they're closed

[ShesThunderstorms]

I just want to know what the general consensus is on this before I say anything, as if I'm being a bit mean I won't bother!

I have two children in nursery, we pay for them to go from 8-6 on the days they go. We've been informed that for two weeks over Christmas, on the days that they're open, they will be closing at 4pm rather than 6. But there won't be any reduction in our fees on those days.

We'll be affected on 4 of the days, which works out to us paying for 16 hours of childcare that we aren't receiving, not to mention one of us will have to use annual leave to finish early enough to pick them up on those days.

I feel like I sound mean as the ladies that work there are great, I don't want to deny them some early finishes around Christmas, goodness knows they deserve that and then some. But AIBU to contact nursery or head office to request that we don't pay for those hours that they're closing early? Or am I being a bit mean?

That's not right at all. I would check your contract and start looking for a new nursery.

very normal sadly. Our nursery operates 51 weeks of the year and is closed the week between Christmas and new year and bank holidays but state that the fees are stretched across the 52 weeks. on the other hand, when they closed for covid or for short staffing, they did refund us for the days which you would expect but I know not all nurseries do

Same. They close for 2 full weeks and we pay for it.

Yes but these aren't days they are closed so it's not comparable. These are days that the nursery is open in December where they have just decided to close 2 hours earlier.

Can you put the ts and Cs on here (anonymised)?

The basic position is that you have entered into a contract for a specific service, governed by the terms of that contract. If they are in breach of the contract then you are entitled to financial compensation. If they covered themselves in advance in the Ts and Cs that you agreed then that's tough.

However if they refuse to budge- either because they don't believe they are in the wrong or because they are just playing hard ball- the only way you can get that compensation is to sue them. Threatening to take your child out won't do any good, they all have long waiting lists so they will fill your place quickly and you'll be stuffed. You're not realistically going to sue them, and they know that. In any event, what you really want is the longer opening hours to be reinstated, not the money back.

One option is wait until your child has left and gone to school then make a claim- you have 6 years for breach of contract claims.

On a practical level, it's possible that there will be a staff member who would like a bit of extra cash over Christmas, could you offer to pay one of them to bring your child home and mind him/her there until you finish work?

I agree. It seems people are just reading the title then seeing the Op mention Christmas and think she's talking about closing for Christmas. Which is a completely different situation to closing early for 2 weeks.

In my experience

Closing over Christmas and charging parents is normal

Closing at 4pm when the usual finish time is 6pm and still charging the same price is not normal

Ours shuts for a week over Christmas, they do not charge for that. We do pay for bank holidays though which I understand.

sorry didn't properly read your post that says they're closing early on some days- that's not really on at all if it's not in the contract or t&cs. We have a parent's whatsapp group - if you do could you potential gauge the reaction from other parents and politely speak to the management as a group?

I know of a chain where local nurseries did this one year but head office didn’t actually know. The staff went out and partied from 4pm! If in your contract they’re open until 6, that’s what you’re entitled to!

I don't have kids and I know it's fairly standard to pay for closed days. You're paying for your place.

OP doesn't have a problem paying for closed days. She has a problem paying full price when the nursery is closing 2 hours early for 2 weeks.

Again though she's not complaining about paying whilst they are closed. The OP is rightly cross and frustrated that for 2 weeks on the days they are open in December they are now closing 2 hours early.

No one is annoyed at paying for the nursery place when closed over the festive holidays that's not what this post is about.

And that should all be factored into the daily charge. I hate the way nurseries write their own rules and can get away with it!

Our nursery closes for two weeks but I'm unsure if we have to pay for it yet, can see anything in the contract.

It's barmy to close 2 hours early! It's actually more of a hassle than just closing for full days since it means you can't really organise proper alternative childcare for those days.

I'd be telling the nursery that not only will you not be paying for those hours, but you will also be deducting the (presumably higher) cost of organising childcare for those hours from your bill that month.

If it's in your contract it's fine. I've only ever known nursery close early on Christmas Eve.

What's their reasoning for it?

The nursery still have to pay their staff when they are closed. And the business rates on the building. And the mortgage, if there is one. And the utility standing charges.

I never understand why people make this argument. It's true of any business closed for any reason but nobody suggests we should all have a whip round for Barclays because they shut on bank holidays.

The fact that a business has costs is not a reason to pay for a service you don't receive (unless it's part of some contractual obligation).

It's actually more of a hassle than just closing for full days since it means you can't really organise proper alternative childcare for those days.

I agree with this. 2 hours at 4pm to 6pm its going to be impossible to find alternative childcare compared to a whole day and it will mean taking probably at least half a days leave for the sake of 2 hours.

A whole day would actually piss me off less than having to find 2 hours of ad hoc childcare on top of childcare I'd already paid for.

Definitely check your contract - it should be clear what happens with charging for things like this.

For what its worth, the nursery my DC went to and I was a governor at (local authority nursery), it was clearly explained that they shut for 1 week between xmas and new year, so were open 51 weeks a year. We had to pay for the 51 weeks, including when they were shut for INSET & bank holidays BUT we weren't liable to pay if they closed due to weather etc.

In your example, our nursery wouldn't shut early and if they did, we wouldn't be paying for the hours they prevented us for taking by choosing to close.

When they shut for the Queens funeral, no one had to pay and they refunded the fees as it wasn't an official bank holiday so didn't come under their existing terms and conditions.

Good luck

I think as everyone has said it’s down to the contact. Generally they do allow for this, I think.

Check what it says in your agreement with them / in their policies. Our nursery closes for around a week and a half over the christmas period and charges us full cost for that time. They also charge for bank holidays when they are closed. The only time we aren't charged is when they close anytime outside of the agreed days mentioned. For example, during covid if they didn't have enough staff members due to people isolating etc, they wouldn't charge for any days they were closed.

Honestly, they look after your kids, you need their good will. I'd just suck it up, why not use the AL to take extra days off...not much about having kids is easy. Where I am, many nurseries and holiday clubs are completely closed for two weeks at Christmas.

That's how all nurseries run

Why not use A/L?

Out Christmas annual leave requests had to be in by the end of October so if our nursery had done something like this we’d have been stuck.

Too much notice for emergency parental leave but not long enough to request annual leave. No family locally and no friends with kids at the same nursery.

No it isn’t. It’s not closed days, it’s random early finishes.

Oh that would piss me off.
The nurseries I used when would always ask parents to say when kids would be in/out so they could rota more staff hols. One nursery shut for a week but that was factored into the annual fees.