COVID-19 nursery closure and refund

[justthisreally]

I have 3DCs in a private nursery. A staff told me today that they are getting themselves ready for the closure in the event of government directive. I asked if parents will be asked to pay for the period of closure. She said that all depends on what their head office decides when the time comes.

I'm self employed. And if I need to look after my DCs, I worry that I will have no income but have this huge nursery cost?

AIBU to expect my private nursery to not charge (including refund for the fees paid in advance) in case of closure?

@cologne4711 I agree, that's why I said There has to be a bit of understanding from both sides.

Of course you have to pAy.

Why oh why, is this the response?! Why would you have to pay full whack over an unspecified timescale for a service you aren't receiving?!

I was having similar thoughts op.
What about people who would have to pay for alternative childcare? I pay over £1000 for 12 days of the month for a private nursery, would probably have to pay around the same for alternative care for the same period - as well as pay the nursery who are not providing a service??? So basically by most people’s vote on here would be out of pocket??? That seems crazy.

Nurseries will have to pay their employees of course but there won’t be any more overtime or bank staff and bank staff are usually a significant minority of staff at any given period so I would expect the nursery’s costs to fall actually.

Considering that they almost certainly will close at some point I would consider giving notice at that point. At least then you can't be charged for months when you can't use it.

surely you have a contract with the Nursery? have you read it to see what (if any) your rights and obligations are in the event of a period of closure?

Nurseries will have to pay their employees of course

Yep, but again they are businesses, they will need to enact whatever their business continuity plan is, be that using reserves, take out loans or making people redundant. A nursery can't just charge parents full whack because they haven't reserved sufficiently for something like this.

Lots of small nurseries are charities and thus not allowed to keep immense reserves or take out loans

Perhaps the sensible thing is for the nursery and the customers each to take a 50% cut of the loss?

DS goes to his old nursery for breakfast club and after school club a couple of days a week and I’m fully expecting them to continue to charge, at least at first, if they have to close. I mean, perhaps they won’t charge because they have insurance, I don’t know. But if they don’t, I’d expect they’ll go bust if they don’t continue to charge and that wouldn’t be great.... on the other hand I’m not booking holiday club until the absolute last minute.

The most depressing thing I've taken away from this thread is that a big chain plans to pay its staff only SSP while charging parents the full whack. So a reduction in staff costs, massivel5lowered running costs ( especially if eligible for the business rates break this year)..

If I found out my child care provider was doing that I'd give notice on principle

Profiteering in a crisis at the expense of both your employees and your clients... not nice

I mean, perhaps they won’t charge because they have insurance, I don’t know They almost certainly don't. I mean, they might have bought it - but the insurers are currently refusing to pay out.

That's what we're asking our customers to do vingt - it isn't enough to cover the wages (they're 2/3 income approx) but it seemed like the fairest thing we could do.

And I agree listsandbudgets - assuming this is actually the case. If enough parents don't pay it might be that the income does only cover SSP level for the staff. Although, if they're closed because the government orders it then it won't be a sick pay issue except for those who are actually sick - not sure how they think that will work tbh.

I would fully expect to pay for nursery, maybe with a small discount as no food, nappies etc. required. I'd hate them to go under, DS is so happy there.

I want to know what job pays enough for £4K nursery fees plus living costs

A nursery can't just charge parents full whack because they haven't reserved sufficiently for something like this. You quoted me but I wasn’t suggesting that nurseries still charge full fees . I was saying that bank staff fees will go to zero which will mean a decent reduction in nursery costs on its own.

Most nurseries will rely on lay off clause for the staff ie unpaid leave or SSP if relevant. SSP is going to be refunded by the government. Why on earth would I pay them in full? If I'm unable to work because my employer shuts down temporarily or indeed because the kids are at home and I need to look after them I won't get paid. Why would anyone continue to pay the nursery in full whilst being on unpaid leave themselves? Or are all of you on extremely generous contracts allowing to take fully paid defendant's leave for 4-5 weeks??

@TartanHare That is ridiculous, staff should be paid in full if parents pay full fees!

TBH our bank staff cost is practically nil; the agencies here are useless and frequently don't have anyone when we ask so they're only used as a backup backup. We have extra staff for sick/holiday cover as a result.

We do have a lay off clause but we damn well won't be using it to profiteer, it's only going to be used if we physically cannot pay everyone. Please don't be using one shit company to extrapolate to a whole industry.

btw - the government has no mechanism for reclaiming ssp. And it's months away from having one. So whilst they will get it back eventually it does nothing to alleviate the more immediate cashflow challenges closure will present. They might be bust before they get it...

Statisticallychallenged - be a great employer but don't ask customers to pay for a service they are not receiving.
I'll be damned if I pay my nursery if they shut down and I'm on dependant's leave as a result. Most employers don't pay more than a few days dependant's leave and most will rely on lay off clauses. Shit yet but it's life. You may want to be a generous employer but the parents using your services may not be able to afford it.
I'll be able to pay what I can to help out. But not full whack and even 50percent seems high if I'm not earning as a result in the meanwhile.

'Happy' not 'able'

The lay off clause is not something businesses use to make money. It is meant to be used in a situation exactly like this one: temporary downturn in work.

Lots of small nurseries are charities and thus not allowed to keep immense reserves or take out loans and if my DC was at one of those nurseries I would do everything I could to support them and see what was financially viable for us both

We're not planning on taking enforcement action but we can ask and we will prioritise those who support us when we reopen - we're ASC rather than nursery so our fees per parent are obviously much lower than nursery and (knowing our client base) a large proportion of them will still be getting paid.

So far they are mostly supportive of our approach. You might not agree, but we're happy with it.

Work in a private nursery myself - and basically if the parents do not pay the fees then all of us will not got paid simple as that. What do I do then

Secondly the nursery won’t be able to pay the rent / business rates etc - so would probably close down then there won’t be a nursery to come back to.

Hopefully you're correct! Both me and DH work for rather big successful companies with decent T&Cs and as part of my job I work with small and medium sized employers. I can't imagine many of our clients will be able to pay the staff in full if they shut and I wouldn't even expect my company and my husband's to do that, although I expect they will not shut and instead rely on home working. However if one is us has to be on dependant's leave to look after the kids we won't be paid for that time and I wouldn't expect anything else. I'm surprised that you think some employers will fund dependant's leave. Maybe you're right, let's see.