Do people do this?

[Opinionsneededplease38]

Child has week on, week off custody with separated parents. A works full time. B doesn't work.
A wants/needs child in nursery to work. B doesn't want/need child in nursery during their time.

Can child be in nursery every other week and will A have to pay for both weeks?

One half says it can't be good for child or normal, other half says differing childcare needs between parents must be a regular occurrence.

The child will require a full time place paid for each week regardless if they attend or not.

Sounds like 50/50 is tricky with a pre school age child

You would need to see the policy for the particular nursery. I’m sure people do this but you may end up paying for a place you are not using.

I think you’d have a very hard time finding childcare for alternative weeks. A nanny would probably be the best bet if they wanted lots of free time but still a very difficult find.
Any chance of changing the agreement to certain days rather than each other week so that nursery is only needed for 2/3 days each week?

Much more usual to split each week & child goes to nursery part time every week

Although tbh even more common for non working parent to have child most of the working week when they are very young.

Any chance of changing the agreement to certain days rather than each other week so that nursery is only needed for 2/3 days each week?

This was going to be my suggestion.

So parent B commits to every Thursday and Friday (and maybe alternate weekends) and the child is in nursery Mon - Wednesday?

Some nurseries or childminders may accommodate it but will be very few. They have to do similar for air cabin crew and others with irregular shift patterns....if you could find someone with similar but opposite arrangement that would be a solution...but again unlikely.

Splitting the week seems better.
How old is the child and how many funded hours do they get?