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?

Guess we won't expect to treat you or your children at my hospital if you need it then? My children will be cared for elsewhere while I see other people's children. I'm glad to be able to make that sacrifice, even when it receives absolutely no gratitude.

Guess we won't expect to treat you or your children at my hospital if you need it then? My children will be cared for elsewhere while I see other people's children. I'm glad to be able to make that sacrifice, even when it receives absolutely no gratitude.

Posted four times and I'm not even going to edit that.

I'm a solicitor and we are open Christmas Eve, it's a normal working day. Technically I'm off this year but only because I booked it as annual leave.

I absolutely hated the fact that I had to put my sons into nursery so that I could work and I will always be so grateful to the lovely nursery workers who looked after my children with such care for me.

I can’t even imagine the mindset of begrudging them one half day off over the course of a year. On Christmas Eve, no less.

To me, being cheap to this extent is one of the most off putting qualities a person can have.

@Vivi0 , they aren’t. That’s not what it’s about at all. Not one person on this thread begrudges nursery workers a day off. But unfortunately if you have to work Christmas Eve, closing the setting puts working parents in a difficult position.

It's a good thing that not one single person on this thread begrudges nursery workers a half-day off then.

I am absolutely delighted for you that you have never been in a financial position where losing a whole half day of nursery fees, and then on top of that having to either take an unexpected half day of leave at short notice, possibly unpaid, or pay for fill-in childcare to cover it, would put you in a difficult position financially. Lots of people aren't as privileged as you clearly are. A lot of people's wages barely cover the nursery fees as it is. If the nursery owners want to give their staff a half day off on Christmas Eve then that's great, but there is a proper way to do it. Which is first of all to put it on the calendar at the same time as they put all other Christmas closures on the calendar, to give parents plenty of notice to book leave or alternative childcare, and also to pay for it the usual way they pay for all other staff holidays. It is NOT acceptable, or necessary, to fund it by stiffing parents for a half-day's fees that they paid for but won't receive - parents who are NOT all as well-off as you clearly are.

What about those whose nursery closes for two full weeks? Half a day is nothing in comparison.

What a patronising post

personally one of the most off putting qualities I find in a person is someone with a complete lack of reality
many people have to work over the festive period. No child will be emotionally scarred by going to childcare on Christmas Eve

Well, you wouldn’t choose that nursery, would you?

They aren't charging you for that though surely

The parents aren’t getting stiffed for 2 weeks of fees though. Nurseries have their rates very clearly set out, by the day, half day or hourly rates, and parents are charged for the days/hours their child is booked to be in nursery. Some nurseries pro rata it (so your days/hours for the whole year are added up and divided by 12, so you pay the same amount each month, but you are still only paying for the days you’ve booked) and some bill monthly for the days/hours you have booked that month (so your bill in December is lower than other months due to the Christmas closure). Whichever way they choose to bill it, the fees are calculated to cover all their costs and overheads, which obviously, like every other business, includes staff annual leave.

So in OP’s case, if they wanted to close early on Christmas Eve they should have factored that into their plans and calculations, and they should already have it covered financially. They can’t just charge parents for that day and then not provide that service. Imagine if you went to Tesco’s this week and they said “you know what, we’ve decided to give our staff an extra half day off over Christmas, so we’re adding an extra £50 to everyone’s shop this week to fund it. Oh and if you object, you’re clearly a tight-arse”.

This isn’t just aimed at you, there are dozens of other people in this thread saying the same thing, but it really is staggering the number of people who seem to think that nurseries, alone of any other businesses, do not factor in staff holidays into their fees, and need to rely on charity/defrauding parents in order to give their staff time off.

Yes they do actually charge for those two weeks!! And all bank holidays are paid for also. All the nurseries here are the same.
You are very lucky in England believe me.

The parents here do all pay for those closed weeks, and some services close a week in summer too. The fees are worked out by how much the service needs to generate per child per year and that's dived by 12 so payable monthly (some but not many do weekly/fortnightly payments.). It would be very very rare to not pay while creche is closed here

It's just different mechanisms
of funding. Either you cover holidays directly, or you pay more per hour/day for the time that its open.

Where is “here”? But anyway, I think you’ve missed my point? Whether OP’s fees are calculated monthly, or whether they pro rata them, staff leave is already factored into the fees she pays, so if they then suddenly add an extra half day of closure without a refund, then she is being stiffed. It doesn’t matter if some other nurseries in another country have an even more unfair way of charging (do they really charge for bank holidays, or is it just pro rata’d?), it’s still unreasonable.

<I am absolutely delighted for you that you have never been in a financial position where losing a whole half day of nursery fees, and then on top of that having to either take an unexpected half day of leave at short notice, possibly unpaid, or pay for fill-in childcare to cover it, would put you in a difficult position financially.>

Why 'at short notice'? Why 'unexpected'?

Read. Your. Contract.

Before. You. Sign. It.

And if it isn't in the contract, then sue them! (But I bet it will be)

@Vivi0 - Completely agree!

Oh my god! Why is this so hard?

Nursery needs to make £x per child per year.

They open a limited number of hours throughout the year (not overnight, not weekends, not bank holidays, not Christmas eve pm or the week between Christmas and New Year, laid out in terms and conditions

They charge £x/3 per term

OR they charge £x per year divided into hourly amounts for the hours they are open.

Same amount, same hours, same holidays, same difference

But some hard of thinking parents will feel that's 'fairer'?

It does receive gratitude. I've had a child in hospital over Christmas and I was very grateful that staff chose to work instead of being at home with their families.
I have lovely memories of baking on Christmas Eve at home and getting excited with my family. So it is a big sacrifice you're making.