To be really worried about childcare facilities closing?

[Bigfatspiders]

I just can’t see any way that this won’t happen at some stage over the next few weeks.
I have a DD who is in full time nursery and a DS who is in primary school. Our monthly outgoings on childcare are about £1500. We have been told that if they close, we still have to pay. I totally get why that is but there’s absolutely no way I can afford to take unpaid leave from work to look after them and still pay this.
Surely I’m not the only one in the same boat?

I own a nursery.

The last thing I want to do is ask parents to pay fees if the nursery is forced to close, but I have no other means of paying the staff.

The insurance companies are not paying out, which I still think is criminal. I have paid thousands in insurance costs over the years and never once claimed. I don’t care about the affect on the insurance industry - that’s the gamble they take when they accept people’s money for years on end. That’s the point of insurance, isn’t it?

What will happen to the government funded hours. I only get 20 hours as its stretched but isn't the policy it wont be paid to the nursery if the child is off. So will the government still cover this or will this be another bill we may all be facing

I’ve written to my mp about the nursery issue and hope others will too. It is much more complicated than school closure. There will need to be a massive cultural change to make sure grandparents aren’t picking up the childcare but that would take many people (let’s be honest, probably many women) out of the workplace.

This is why Boris doesn’t want to close schools but he’s getting crucified on here for not closing them

“I'm not sure one individual should be looking after kids from multiple homes. After all, the reason schools and childcare facilities would close is to stop the spread of the virus."

Let's be honest. If you faced a choice between losing your job & your home, not being able to buy food for your kids OR an 80 year old neighbour with lung disease dying a few months earlier than they would have normally died, what would you do?

I'm being devil's advocate here so please don't send hate but this is the choice that families will face. Yes we can maybe just about cope with two weeks of no work, but 16 weeks will sink the economy and hundreds of thousands will lose their jobs.

Don't close the schools.

I don’t think any of us can presume to know boris Johnson’s true motivations on this or any other issue (other than perhaps that he will do what is best for boris Johnson).

But separately to that the majority of the people I know who are calling for all schools and nurseries etc to be closed immediately, and whilst we still don’t know for sure what support will be in place for those reliant on children being on childcare or at school, are those for whom it would not be a great inconvenience to have their children at home.

I’m going to send the staff into the parents’ houses. I’m going to have to - I can’t expect people to pay for no service, but on the other hand, I have to find a way of paying the staff.