Nursery e-mails me 5 pm...

[Friendshipissue]

To announce that they are closing the room DS is attending with immediate effect. No advance notice or indication. Just a brief note about staffing challenges, recruitment issues and how sorry they are.
I'm really sorry childcare providers are struggling I really am because of the shitty circumstances they are left in.
I don't know what to expect from this thread apart from getting it off my chest. I wish we had a bit more notice to at least to get into waiting lists, organize our meetings with DH, cancel our medical appointments etc.

Weather is different though and actually under the consumer act 2015, if a service provider doesn't provide a service you paid for, you are entitled to a refund. I think people are generally understanding for a one day closure due to snow. Leaving someone in the lurch for childcare is a completely different matter.

Our village nursery shut last month for good.

Your local authority should have reasonably up to date data on vacancies within a certain proximity - they have to report on this to Ofsted to ensure they have sufficient childcare places. They may also have a brokerage service, soni recommend contacting them

I'm so glad you left a follow up, I was so confused 😕 😂

This is the problem with using private businesses. Government need to move back to LA provision so it’s not for profit

That's rotten they must have known they were in trouble.

It happened near us too. Nursery which also ran an Afterschool ran out of money and closed.

The other afterschool in the town snapped up their staff and filled it's provision but it still leaves a shortage of spaces for kids.

Same thing happened to me – and it was on the day of DH’s funeral. Absolute nightmare. I clubbed together with another family and hired one of the now out of work staff as a nanny and it worked brilliantly.

It’ll likely still be covered - not providing a service because they didn’t have legal ratios is not likely to be something the OP will be able to go off claiming all the costs for as you suggested.

Nursery owners aren’t stupid - they know that staff illness or leaving can leave them unable to operate. They’re not going to leave themselves open to legal action (which would be relevant for one day or ten)

Well clearly but wouldn't the nursery need to ring everyone and actually speak with them instead of relying on an email?

That's rotten they must have known they were in trouble.

I would say it's a rare nursery that doesn't realise they're in trouble. Financial and staff worries are unfortunately common in most nurseries, but there's very little they can do about either.

Much like when Ofsted close a nursery or childminder down people don’t get to go claiming a fortune at small claims.

That is a nightmare for you and extreme for them.

Are they paying deposits back? I would be very worried you are going to be out of pocket financially too!

What a nightmare! We would be screwed.

I hope you get sorted soon. They must have know it was coming a long time but were probably hoping for a last minute reprieve.

@Twattle I think all your points are very valid but belittling parents for wanting to know if their child has eaten or asking where their hoody is (if they've labelled it with a name etc) when usually we are asked to provide appropriate clothing, isn't unreasonable.

It's such a shame this is happening, the government has so much to answer for but never will.

Nope. They’ve notified parents. It’s not always possible to ring around and there’s certainly no requirement to.

Lots of nurseries are only one or two resignations away from closing a room to be honest.

A baby room of 9 babies with a level 3 leader, a level 2 and an unqualified/student - if the level 3 quit suddenly, or even quit with lots of notice and they couldn't recruit, and they couldn't get a last minute qualified person from and agency (there aren't any), then they would have to close the room.

I keep seeing this sentiment recently on MN and not to derail the thread, can you just not? “it’s horrid for children to be in nursery 7-6” etc etc. All it is is shaming parents who have to work full time.

I’d love to either be at home with my child or get a childminder - unfortunately childminders are like gold dust round here, I can’t afford a nanny and I need to work to pay the bills and put food on the table, so if I need to put my children in nursery, I bloody well will. I pay an absolute fortune for decent setting and my babies have been well cared for by assigned key workers who form a great relationship. I’m not leaving them in a sodding gulag.

Disclaimer I am 33 weeks pregnant and staring down the barrel of revisiting childcare after 7 years, so I might be particularly sensitive but I am sick of seeing this anti nursery sentiment on threads. Not everyone has the luxury of affording a “home from home experience”

Countries like Sri lanka/ Phillipines, have tens of thousands of fluent, child friendly graduates from great universities. Our immigration system doesn’t work for us if skilled overseas workers can’t get visa’s…. More things like this will happen.

This is awful OP, I'm really sorry. How old is your LO? Exams are over so maybe look for a local sixth-former to help you out while you find something more permanent? Can you wfh for a while with a teenager being 'mothers help'?

Sorry this happened to you - what a stressful and shit situation!
How are things now?

Our nursery setting only seems to attract younger girls as staff, understandable as they are so underpaid in the sector but recently one after the other keep leaving to do things like work abroad and they’re now onto using bank staff. We barely know who any of the staff are anymore. The sector is massively in crisis and it’s very worrying.

This makes me so angry. There are so many parts of our society that are not functioning because of utterly incompetent planning and strategy on behalf of the government for decades. Early years, housing, health, education - I could go on. I'm bloody fuming about it.

Cowardly politicians going to votes in extending childcare whilst not funding providers to provide this. Utter incompetence and cowardice from the Government.

This happened to the nursery I worked at recently. Staff and parents got an email at 6:30am on a Monday saying nursery was closed with immediate effect, we were out of a job and there's no money to pay our wages.

Cowardly politicians going to votes in extending childcare whilst not funding providers to provide this.

We all know though that that’s not about childcare really. Or even children. It’s about ultimately cutting the age that feckless lazy mothers (the opinion the government clearly has - not mine) can claim benefits without work obligations.

They don’t care that it won’t actually be possible. Being able to actually get childcare won’t count anywhere when work commitments are considered.

We shouldn't need immigrants! We should fund the sector properly so that people are able to make living working there! Lots of people want to work in early years - they just can't afford to. My old nursery was funded by the LA and paid a good salary, with good conditions and a proper career structure. They got over 100 applicants when they had a vacancy (which was not often as staff stayed). Early years is a not a job people don't want to do - that's not the problem. Its a job people can't afford to stay in.

Have to disagree with you there @wavingtreetops . People don't want to work in nurseries anymore. Every nursery I have been to have massively struggled to recruit. When they do end up getting someone, that person usually ends up leaving shortly afterwards or are constantly absent. Many nursery managers say they don't get a single application. I work for an agency and people sign up, do one shift and then decide it's not worth it for the pay, stress and way you get treated by staff.
Now, more than ever, there are so many kids with behavioural problems and not the funding to give them 1/1 so the staff team who are already stretched to the limit, are also dealing with that. Couple in constant nappy changes, cleaning, demands from management and parents, all on next to minimum wage then you can see why nobody wants to do it.
0f course there are some exceptions. For example, I know a few pre schools which run school hours, pay well and are fully staffed but they are few and far between.