Nursery closing early Xmas eve and still paying

[purplehairrinse]

Aibu for being annoyed they are charging the whole day but we have to collect before 12?

YANBU. Ours did slightly reduced hours over the holiday period without reducing the fees - I think the normal hours were 7.30-6.00 and they changed it to 8.00-5.30 - so it’s such a minor change that it barely makes a difference. But yours is charging for half a day that they’re not open!

Christmas Eve isn’t a bank holiday. My work is closing at 3.00pm so it’s certainly not a half day.

That’s fine - that’s spreading the cost out across the year so you pay equally every month regardless. That’s not the same as randomly closing on Christmas Eve lunchtime and charging parents for it 🫣

Nope no to holiday pay.

It's not part of the staffs " holiday" allowance or shouldn't be at any rate

Again, you keep repeating this like it’s fact but you have no idea what her contract says or whether it’s legal.

Parroting the same lines over and over just makes you look a bit silly.

As I've said before, if the OP prefers this they should find a nursery that takes that approach.

Yes, so you keep saying (with apparently no concept of the real world and how limited childcare options are for millions of people).

No I don't know what her contract says. How would I, because even she doesn't it seems. It is however, perfectly legal to do this if both parties have contractually agreed to it.

This is how services work though. If you don't like the terms, you get to take your business elsewhere. The nursery and under no obligation to change their approach because the OP now decides she doesn't like it.

It's factored in to the overall costs. You're not going to do your shop at Tesco's this week and be told at the till, "actually, we're charging you twice for this shop, to cover staff holidays over Christmas". If the nursery run their business properly, then staff paid leave should ALREADY be covered, including for this Christmas Eve half day (otherwise OP would have already encountered the same issue with Easter, bank holidays, and indeed Christmas Day itself). Your idea of how the world works is frankly bizarre.

I'm a nursery manager and we wouldn't ever charge for a service not provided. So no charges in bank holiday Mondays. Could you imagine paying for a decorator to not come and work? It's ridiculous....nurseries charge for closure and make staff use holiday days.

however: if as a parent you are happy with nursery and have a child who's happy there then I completely understand it's not a hill you'd want to die on.

Ok OP, in the interests of actually getting somewhere, here's what you can do.

Check your contract. If you then feel this is something you haven't signed up to, raise it with the nursery.

If you aren't in agreement with them still, after talking to them, talk to a solicitor.

As I've said, multiple times, that's one way to do it. Our nursery however structured things differently.

The overall costs though will end up the same.

You can still complain about a service taking the piss though - even if you’ve signed a contract (and assuming that contract is legal).

Check your contract is becoming like cancel the cheque.

I mean, what if your contract said ‘we will beat your children if they refuse to eat their food’? Obviously I’m being facetious there but the point still stands: the contract doesn’t supersede what is legal (and moral.)

As @Thehop says it’s not a hill most of us wish to hang ourselves on so to speak. I haven’t been thrilled with DDs nursery lately for a whole host of reasons but I don’t want to be That Parent. I do think sometimes that’s what they count on.

I expect all of talking about how the low paid staff deserve your money for not working all campaign to ensure higher pay for them and are willing to increase your fees throughout the year? Or is your interest in them more focused on a day of the year that you and your partner were planning to take off anyway?

Our old nursery used to close early, charge anyway, and all staff were required to take the afternoon from their annual leave. Similarly, when they increased costs by 10% citing staff costs, the staff only received a 1.5% increase that year.

Would you sign a contract that said this? Really?

Contracts aren't for shits and goggles, they are binding documents. You are supposed to at least read what they say.

If I did, it would apparently be permitted because I’ve signed it, right?

Contracts do not cancel out what is legal, is the point. Policies on what to do when my child is ill, how to make a complaint, health and safety and all of that, sure. Billing me when you’re closed? Um, no!

But we can go on this merry go round forever; neither of us is going to change our minds. I don’t like a lot of the posts here, though. Always on childcare threads; funny that.

So you can envisage a situation where you would sign a contract that says this? Really? Isn't that a bit of an idiotic route to go down?

To the point of legalities, it is legal to charge for days where nurseries are closed, if that's been contracted. Our nursery did it that way.

In the interests of moving the discussion on, I did outline above what steps I think the OP should take if she's unhappy.

Which is a privilege for people who aren’t working Christmas Eve. Those who are working have to find alternative childcare on a day when most people already have plans.

Yes, if you like. That’s totally what I said 🙄

Right, which is how many nurseries work (they charge their rate and then divide it by 12). That, or they only charge you for the days you book to be in, but that day rate is enough to cover staff holidays.

But CLEARLY, (given that OP is only bothered about the Christmas Eve half day closure, and not moaning about the rest of the Christmas period closure), OP's nursery had factored a Christmas Eve full day into the fees they charge the parents (however they charge them), and are now withdrawing that service without refunding the money. No other service would be allowed to do that.

@whentwilightfalls

MN is strange on this topic. The attitude is always the belligerent view that if you use a nursery then you should put up with whatever they offer because you are actually a heartless human in the first place with no morals or you wouldn’t use one. (Rather than it being a perfectly normal thing most kids use in some form or another!)

It's a form of (internalised) misogyny. Any service that is primarily used by mothers is seen as unimportant, and women are seen as being entitled and arrogant for expecting the same level of service that other people would expect from any other service.

Yes, indeed @PorridgeAndSyrup and well put.