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?

I can't remember when my son's nursery used to close on Christmas Eve - I think it might have been at lunchtime. They were also closed for a week between Christmas and New Year but the December payment was the same as the rest. They said it was factored in.

I will say that there was one time when they had to close for three days when we were actually on holiday - we still got the refund so from that perspective they played more than fair.

I knew it was you

you have posted loads of times about this nursery and your dissatisfaction with it

Why do I need to look at my contract? I look at the invoice and the invoice states full rate

So it’s a yearly fee, split in to 12 monthly payments?

Or each month varies according to attendance

You're very prickly with your answers, @purplehairrinse

How much notice have you been given of the midday close?

I really couldn't begrudge a half day on Christmas Eve, especially not if I had childcare covered.

Given your child is already missing (potentially) a week before Christmas Eve, that you are presumably paying for then surely money isn't your primary concern? Or are you trying to claw back every penny because your child is missing nursery?

From what you've said, I feel your rage is a bit misplaced here.

I get why this is annoying you. But it’s standard practice and you can’t really do anything about it.

So chalk it up as one of those things that you have to suck up with nurseries and then put it out of your mind. No point dwelling on it.

I think we have them too but they’re disguised as parties. Next week is the Christmas party between 4pm and 5pm 🤣

The saddest thing in the world to see is a setting with 6 plus staff stuck working until 6pm on Christmas eve , with only 2 or 3 children and knowing parents are actually at home with their siblings.
I know that you are paying for a service but staff really try to make it magical but there is no substitute for being at home with family on Christmas eve.
My daughter works in a nursery on minimum wage and it is nice for staff to get a bit of a break, sometimes she only has 4 or 5 days off over Christmas .

This.
Mine are no longer at nursery but when they were this used to annoy me as a single parent district nurse I had an all year round nursery (and had a relative to rely on for bank holidays/weekends) but i payed for a more expensive nursery so my dc could be in nursery then they'd do things like this (usually with little warning) and paying 'double ' for childcare on Christmas eve is not cheap and parents won't be able to claim it back from uc etc.

Our nursery does this and I'm used to it now, and they do so much for the kids that I don't begrudge it, but the first year we were there, they realised they hadn't charged parents for boxing day and started trying to get all of us to top up our January payment by £54 or something to cover that shortfall.
We'd only been going for 2 months and I was so, so cheesed off. I refused to pay it at first because I didn't understand the system and thought they were being really cheeky on a month that we really could have done without an extra payment going out, so I definitely understand your gut reaction being a bit "FFS!"

Right, you pay for the term. And term ends at lunchtime on 24th. What's the problem?

I see where you are coming from, I love the nursery my children attend, the setting is lovely & the staff great….
However I’m a paying client, who does not live near family, and has to work Christmas Eve.
I can see were the OP frustration comes from, especially if they are paying & have only been told recently (not sure if this is the case) Our nursery doesn’t allow the staff to babysit children in the nursery, so we’d be royally screwed.

Because your arguement is that you are paying for something you aren't getting. We all suspect this to be false, as you took out a yearly contract which most of the pp on here believe states the times the nursery will be closed, including Christmas Eve pm.

My nursery is shut for 2 weeks over Christmas and I have to pay. Count yourself lucky.

Is this brand new information as they’ve only just decided to do it? Or do they always do it?

I can't imagine being arsed about something that doesn't even effect me. Your kid isn't going that day. Get a hobby darling 😚

Our nursery is closed Xmas eve and too right, the girls work hard all year, my kid adores them. They deserve Xmas eve at home. I'm working Xmas eve and had to sort childcare which is fine by me.

I think it's cheeky of the nursery owners to charge for it as a normal weekday but not provide the service. Different if half day closing on 24 Dec was written into the contract you agreed because if so, you might not like it, but you did agree ...

My eldest's nursery used to do that on Xmas Eve (or the nearest weekday) and same NYE, but it wasn't in the contract and there was no fee adjustment. So I used to deduct the relevant amount from the Dec fees and tell them why. The nursery owners weren't happy but legally no leg to stand on. (I'm a lawyer btw.)

Youngest's nursery it was written into the contract that Xmas Eve was early closing and fees were accordingly spread across the whole year and apportioned equally each month so I accepted that is what I had agreed.

If I told my clients I was going to bill them for half a day's work that I wasn't going to do, I'm sure they would go ballistic.

Ours is closed the full day and we still have to pay - I’m working 12-8pm too! Think this is the norm now though.

Urgh, don’t try and put people down by calling them “darling”. It’s shit enough when men patronise us by using these terms, let’s not do it do each other.

Yeah but "low paid workers".

I

You pay a termly fee

the term ends at midday on Christmas Eve

enjoy your time in Spain OP!

Many of us need nursery to be open Xmas Eve to provide childcare while we ourselves are doing “hard hard work for shit pay”, especially if we are paying for a whole day!

I get paid a salary.

Most of the time we get told to log off/ go home by 2pm on Christmas Eve unless there’s something deathly urgent to do.

Do you think they should deduct those hours from my wage?

Do you like getting paid on your Annual Leave days? So do the people who work at the nursery.
Do you still have to pay your mortgage/rent and coucil tax on days you aren't using your house? So does the nursery business.

You get paid monthly presumably. You have the money to pay your monthly bill. YABU to expect it to be less. If they made all the other weekdays of the year £0.07 more expensive in order to make this one day £18 cheaper you'd still pay the same across the year (which they would have to do as their costs would be the same) so don't be petty.

What if you nail tech stopped half way through, becUse it's Xmas eve. Is nursery not a service