AIBU to think nursery should refund afternoon closure during heatwave?

[MakingLasagne]

Our nursery is closing at 1pm tomorrow due to the heatwave.

The reasoning given:
As you may be aware we have implemented a number of measures to keep children and staff safe and as cool as possible including fans, AC, lots of water and ice play and encouraging drinking water to stay Hydrated. However, we are concerned this won't be enough during these very high temperatures and children particularly in the afternoon.
We are also very mindful that some staff members will have to collect their own children from schools which have had to close/close early.
We are sorry for this disruption that this will cause but do believe it is in the best interest of the children, and would prefer to give you as much notice as possible.

My child doesn’t attend on Fridays so I have zero skin in this game, but a parent has asked if the afternoon will be refunded.

Nursery response: unfortunately there will be no refund issued for the half day closure as the decision to close was made as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children and staff. While we appreciate the inconvenience this may have caused, safeguarding and safety must remain our highest priority.

They’re not the best tbf at this stuff - we’ve had multiple room closures in the last year or two due to staffing (in fairness these have been refunded). My child is leaving in a month and I won’t be short changed, but do you think they’re BU about the refund?

YABU = they’re right not to refund
YANBU = they should refund

It's a delicate balance if it's a staffing issue though. If they're so rigid with their staff that they won't let them collect their own kids if schools shut early, the staff will just leave. I'd rather take a half day unrefunded than a high turnover of my child's key workers.

I'm a childminder and shut at 12.30 on Tues, Weds and Thurs this week - red area and temperatures were around 36.
I have refunded any paying parents though most of mine families don't pay.

Forecast to be about 8 degrees cooler here tomorrow, thank goodness!

They should refund.

My childminder (who won't shut - she's epic and kids have come home very happy last two days) has said that to shut the pre-school / nursery has to explain why to ofsted and refund the funding. she might not be right.

Completely appreciate this but one of the reasons I pay £100+ a day over a CM is for consistency! And BB is a huge network. My Year R daughters teacher is unwell and has been off for a fortnight, her school have got cover because they have to. And that’s not a commercial agreement…

I think local authorities are collecting that information (on closures) rather than Ofsted and it is up to the local authority if you have to return the funding.
My local authority has said we can keep it due to the heat.

I'd rather take a half day unrefunded than a high turnover of my child's key workers.

You might be happy to take half a day without a refund. But others clearly aren't.

The nursery have aircon, and have managed to keep the children cool for the rest of the week, but find themselves closing early due to staffing. I'm sure the parents understand why the nursery is closed, but if refunds have been offered in the past for staffing issues they should also be offered this time. It's not ok to lie and say they're closing for the safety of the children, when it's a staffing issue.

I don’t believe it’s a staffing issue. The same generic email has been sent out to affected nurseries. The staff are well organised and there is always a good rota. You’re lucky that you can take a hit finanacially. I don’t have that kind of cushion as a sole parent. I pay over £100 a day. if I can’t work, I can’t pay the bills including theirs…

This is interesting. Maybe if it’s up to the LA, we should be raising this with them and with our MP. I’m sure they want as many parents in work as possible.

It’s a private business, the LA won’t give a damn.

The LA will only deal with the funding, not private fees.

I meant in relation to BB keeping the funding given by the govt. If they aren’t refunding us. Someone up thread made reference to it.

I'm not sure nurseries can draft in temp staff like they can supply teachers though. If the nursery said "we're staying open tomorrow but to give our regular staff opportunity to pick up their kids from early doors school in heatwave, we're getting loads of key workers your babies/toddlers don't know to step in", there'd be uproar!

I do think they'll change their mind about refund though.

Oh, of course. That’s a great point. Hadn’t thought of it.

I would agree except there were tonnes of supply staff drafted in in winter when we had a flu spike! Surely that’s the benefit of being in a big chain (and why they can justify the ££££)

Should refund.

I've just looked on BB's main website at their terms & conditions and it says that if they close for three days in a row they will refund – so that's why they have stayed open when temp has been higher past two days. Really sneaky!

https://bbcdn2.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com/downloads/TandC-v9-25.pdf

Our nursery have closed two afternoons this week and honestly I hadn’t even considered a refund. I expect (and hope) the staff are still getting paid, just as we did when our office closed due to heavy snow making it dangerous to get there. That said, my work are pretty flexible and I can work back the hours as and when over the weekend, so we’re not losing out on income. I’d probably feel differently if we were.

My son attends the exact same chain nursery and had the same message word for word. YANBU but I wouldn't hold your breath. They're extremely tricky over billing issues at the best of times.

They should refund or offer credit. They would have no qualms ordering a parent to remove a child from the setting for 48 (paid) hours if they had one loose shit. It’s hot there. It’s not cooler at home. They are piss takers.

Because it's a formal setting. This is precisely why alot of parents opt for nursery over childminder. You are paying for a service....lack of staff.....get agency workers.

My kids are teens now but this is ridiculous. Its no different to being at home!! If anything, the nap children will sleep longer. Setting will still be taking the funding i guess.

We have heatwaves every year!!!

we have had this with our nursery as they have closed half days since Tuesday. They are very quick to close and obviously as fees are being collected are in no rush to remediate and find solutions.

It also crossed my mind and wondered if the staff are being forced to use their holiday for the closure as this would be a win win situation for the nursery from a ££ perspective. It is really bad.

I have written a complaint to the head office.

That’s great for you but some people’s work isn’t flexible. Mine is great but as a sole parent to a breastfed baby that takes hours to sleep, I don’t have any spare time to make back hours. That’s why I picked a nursery with long opening hours. I pay for a service and expect to receive it.

as I said upthread, the Competition Watchdog has ruled this practice of closing and keeping fees has been ruled illegal. So we are not unreasonable in expecting a refund.

In that case they should definitely refund, as it's clearly a blanket decision from head office, rather than focusing on each nursery.

It shows that it hasn't been done for the safety of the children, as each setting will be different depending on the building and amount of children they care for.

I googled around on this because our CM did the same and I wondered if we should give a refund. Mostly because I overpay her anyway (I pay for full day hours, she bills hourly not half day / full day, just in case we’re running late but typically don’t use 1-1.5h each day) and I had to take unpaid dependent leave to cover this so I wanted to claw some of this money back

Google seemed to suggest that weather is beyond their control so most contracts won’t cover this. I didn’t query it as it’s not a hill I want to die on