IF private nurseries shut down?

[Undecided91]

So yet another Q about Corona! What IF private nurseries start closing? Are we supposed to still pay upftont fees? My son goes to nursery and if he cant go I cant work so potentially I wont be paid but then would I pay the nursery regardless? How would this supposed to work? i.e. it cost around 70% of my wage to pay the nursery but if we dont pay - we lose our place. I am so confused and scared tbh...

[mylittlewoodenword]

I back your question. I have my for one day a week, but this is worrying for so many parents. She was originally 2 days a week but cancelled to one day a week due to the worry of paying for nursery and keeping DC at home. I kept one day a week to not loose the place.

[eeyore228]

I would ask the nursery.

[forrestgreen]

I would say if they close then there's no fee to pay. Have a look at your contract. So it's doubtful they'll be wanting to close.
As a childminder, if I didn't open I didn't charge.

[Jobseeker19]

I would also like to know if I would still get paid as a nursery worker.

[scrivette]

I am pretty sure you would still have to pay unfortunately, assuming they would be told to close by PHE, as they still have to pay their staff.

[Undecided91]

I dont think theres anything in the contract about corona virus or any similar potential long term shut down. We do pay for bank holidays etc even though they are closed. And we do pay for when my child is sick and cant go (where I stay home with him and dont get paid because I cant go to work) but it is usually just a few days. Now wer are talking about weeks...months...? I wonder what are other parenta thoughts on this x

[Kawahara]

It's a shit situation because if you dint pay there may be no nursery to go back to. Insurance may cover it, but often business go under waiting for a pay out.

On the other hand....how do you afford to pay when you cant go to work.

[Undecided91]

Exactly that... if I dont work I dont get paid. How can I pay the closed nursery then? Take a loan? Because we are not talking about a couple of hundred pounds. We are talking thousands here :( I hope we wont come to this

[DressingGownofDoom]

I have wondered about this too. If the nurseries close and don't get paid it could mean they have to close permanently. But if we have to pay for weeks/months and can't work then that would be a disaster! I should like to think the government would create a fund for day nurseries to cover this exceptional circumstance but I think that might be a bit optimistic.

[Rhayader]

I think you would have to look at the T&Cs of the nursery.

[LouQoo]

A friend of mine works in a nursery. They had been told on Friday that if they have to close then the staff would be paid SSP but the customers / parents would still have to pay full fees. Terrible for her as she is looking at less than half her pay but has a daughter at the nursery she works at, so will still have to pay the fees to keep her place.

[Borderscotch]

All the major nursery insurers have said they will not pay out for coronavirus closures.

[rosie1959]

Dont see how they can charge for a service they cannot offer

[TW2013]

Wonder whether maybe nurseries should stay open but also take older children and be just for essential workers.

[mummabubs]

I feel like one of the 'lucky' ones in that my DS's nursery doesn't charge for Bank Holidays/ days when they close so I'm hoping they wouldn't charge. However they are also one of the most expensive nurseries for miles about so we don't feel like we save much even with the bank holidays. They've published a preliminary Coronavirus policy which states all parents will have to antibac upon entering and leaving. (We live in an area that has had 2 confirmed cases so far).

[WinterCat]

I would expect the nursery to have some form of insurance to cover them and their outgoings for this sort of thing. Perhaps that’s very optimistic of me though!

[MrsBooks]

@Borderscotch where have you got that information from? I work at a nursery and have been trying to get ahold of our insurance company all week to ask this very question.

[EYProvider]

I’m a nursery owner.

Insurance companies are not paying out for coronavirus, and this is ALL insurance companies. I was told this categorically last week by my insurance provider, which is the biggest insurer of nurseries - Morton Michel.

This means that if parents don’t pay in the event of forced closures, staff won’t get paid, rent won’t get paid and all nurseries will be forced to close.

That’s stating facts by the way, not being dramatic. Money does not grow on trees and you can’t pay out what doesn’t come in.

In a nutshell, the childcare industry will collapse.

[WinterCat]

@EYProvider could you work with parents to offer a reduced rate, one that literally covers the basics as there will surely be some savings (no food, arts/crafts etc no used) so that it would be a slightly smaller bill? I appreciate rent and staff salaries won’t change, but I would have hoped other things might not be quite so much.

[Borderscotch]

www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/nurseries-not-covered-by-insurance-for-coronavirus-closures

[Babytigerrr]

@EYProvider

Will you have to close when schools close though?

Surely if theres a choice you wont?

[Ilove]

You need a nanny. I’ve taken advice and have measures in place to protect all my families - I have 6 different families a week.

We work through most things.

[PlugholePencil]

If this happens I’d pull my child’s place and then put them on a list again when places start to reopen.
No way am I paying full fees if the nursery shuts.

[Babytigerrr]

Many people (myself included!) Cant afford a nanny so am not sure thats a helpful suggestion!

[EYProvider]

@Babytigerrr - I’ll do anything I can to stay open, but if the government orders the nursery to close, there won’t be any choice.

@WinterCat - The basics cost nothing. Parents don’t understand how expensive nurseries are to run, and it’s because staff costs and rent are astronomical.

You need so many staff to meet the minimum ratios, and £8.21 an hour plus Employer’s NI plus pension payments for unqualified staff alone is actually crippling in comparison to what actually comes in. And that £8.21 rises to £15 an hour plus for a Level 3 or 4.

Then there is rent, which in London, can be in excess of £4000 per month.

Most nurseries are barely scraping by - no way could they pay wages and rent if no money was coming in.