To not want to pay playschool £5 because I have to work?

[mumfor1standmaybe2ndtime]

My employer has changed my work hours, I used to work 6am til 9am. I now have to work 7am til 11am when ds is at playschool or basically lose my job.
Now I am unable to be a parent helper at playschool and have to pay them £5 when I am on the rota. Am i being unreasonable to not want to pay it?

We don't charge parents who can't do it. But it means those of us who can have to do extra, and that isn't massively popular.

Yes playschools are government funded but because of the required adult child ratio they need adult helpers to function. To not have them there would mean to have to pay somebody to have the right ratio, so that's why you have to be there or pay.

I can see how annoying it is when you haven't wanted to change the hours, but YABU I'm afraid; I guess the playschool have to have this system in place as if there was no penalty people could chop and change and let down at the last minute and the rota would be an impossibility to run, which would end up in the playschool finding it hard to even provide the service you need.

The pre-school DD goes to has a 50p charge per session that is in lieu of parents helping at sessions. This is paid by funded children and non-funded children.

I am perfectly happy to pay it. When DD started, it was fully explained to me - if it wasn't explained to you then I can understand your being a bit put out, but I would say it sounds reasonable.

I think YABU, its not the preschools fault that you need to change hours or that you didnt read the paper work properly. Its your employers fault, but thats how it goes. £5 sounds reasonable to me, when DD1 was in nursery when I worked it was £39 a day!

hold on hold on hold on.

This is supposed to be a FREE government funded place...

So why is the OP getting charged for it?

it is an extra hour you wrote "I used to work 6am til 9am. I now have to work 7am til 11am "

How does your DS get there when you are working?

Your playschool is breaking the rules.
The lastest OFSTED rules say that it is NOT allowed to set up rota's for parents.
They have to basically nag parents to help.
Totally stupid as well but it just means that EVERYONE will not be able to go to playschool that day if no-one can be found and the GUILT factor is all opressive on the SAHM or the working mothers who might have a day off.
I would like my DD2 to atten 4 sessions a week but if she attends that xtra session then i will have to help out that day every week! I already do help out once a week as it is.
It's my only time without DC for at least 3hrs!

I have just spoken to them, ds has had sickness bug this week so I have had to stay at home and loose money from work. Was supposed to help today, but can't.
I have to loose money from my wages and pay £5!
I konw that playschool's do have a lack of funding and do my best to help. I have sold raffle tickets and donated toys for the children. I am just cross I guess because I feel that it is not my fault that my employer has changed my hours. God knows!

Well, if they are a nursery for which the government is PAYING than why can't they PAY some staff?

I do really dislike the idea that childcare is something so easy that any old sausage should go in and do it, and that if you don't want to spend your alledgedly child free time with your child and others, you deserve a penalty.

Once a week? Are there only 10 children in the preschool? How many parents do you have in at one time?

Do you have to pay £5 per session or per half term? £5 per session would be less reasonable than per half term.

There you go, quote OFSTED at them.

I think this is quite standard. Could you ask a friend to do your playgroup duty and you return a different favour? Why not ask if there are other jobs that need doing on your own time - washing, sorting, etc.

If you used a nursery you'd probably end up paying lots more than £10 per term.

I have to work 7-11 because that is when ds is at playschool! Can't access the building at work until 7am now, so can't work 6-9.
Doing same amount of hours each week, just spread out differently!

If everyone refused to help or pay then your playschool would most likely shut down.

Message withdrawn

sorry - see what you mean about your hours now.

Dh takes him to playschool on his way to work, I then have to leave work at 11 and pick him up.
Yes it is cheap to only pay £10 per term. My question is - Why should I pay a funded playschool place. I can't help that I have to work.

mum for 1st......please dont take offence at what im going to say my eldest ds is 14 all thru his and my other 2 ds life ive seen things that are unfair and unjust and it still continues some things are worth the battle others arent its upto you to decide how much hassle £5 is going to cause you -i agree i wouldnt like to pay it but nor did i like paying £7 odd per child for crap school dinners i object to paying £6 for crap school book bags i REALLY object to paying £17 for a school rugby top that was shoddily made......i could spend every day moaning but ive learnt 9the hard way) it doesnt change things often -so i pick my battles more carefully

Colditz - obviously i'm not familiar with the way the OP's playschool works, but i just wanted to point out that just because the Government is paying the funding for 3 and 4 year olds does not mean that the Government pays the wages nor can they take on extra staff.

Playschools are businesses like many others. The government do not have a hand in the staffing arrangements (except to govern the staff-child ratios) or paying the staff, they just provide funding for children attending.

Fallenmadonna, The maximum we have is 13 children, we have the playleader a grade 3 helper and a parent helper.
Out of the 13 sets of parents only 3 parents seem to help out regularly and out of the others most are NOT working, they just don't like helping out.
Oh yeah, we also have a couple of parents who have not paid for the xtra time over the fee 2.5 hours for the last 2 years and they NEVER help out.
All going to change in September as the playleader and helper are leaving as it's getting too stressfull due to personal home life...just hope we can find new workers.

What the government pays is not enough to pay for enough staff to provide the required adult child ratio.

Therefore helpers necessary.
That's it.

Playshcools already have their back to the wall financially, they really struggle, and what they need is supportive parents.

Are you serious? Your playgroup place is funded therefore it doesn't cost you anything for your childcare whilst you work and you are complaining about £5 which allows the group to keep running as I presume it allows them to pay a worker and keep up their numbers for the session.
YABU imo - playgroups rely on parental support - yours recognises that not all parents can be there so it's implemented another option. I know £5 is a large chunk of your wage - but welcome to the world of the working mother. I'm going back to work after m/l on Monday and will be left with bugger all once I've paid for 3 lots of childcare. That's how it is.