Anyone else wondering how the fuck they're supposed to pay nursery fees

[SleepysaurusRex]

So our DCs private nursery is closed from tomorrow and we've been informed that we will have to continue paying full fees. Now obviously I accept that they want to keep paying their staff and we of course don't want to see them close down, but just how are parents expected to carry on working AND care for children. Alternative is that we are down to one salary from which we have to cover nursery fees on top of everything else. Is the government going to step up and provide help for private nurseries? I haven't heard anyone else shouting about this!

You don't. Simple.

Well, not that simple really if we want to keep our place. It would help if we had an idea how long the shutdown is going to be for. A month I could cope with, but 12 weeks or so??

If you can’t afford then give notice to leave. You’ll run the risk of not having a place to return to but I don’t see what else you can do.

It won’t be a month. This wave of infections will peak in June or July.

I can't believe they've told pubs and restaurants they can claim on their insurance for closures but let private nurseries just keep on charging overstretched young families.

Just don't pay them. They are relying on a term in their conditions that isn't for what it was intended. They are
businesses contracting with individuals and these sort of terms are unfair in my
Opinion. Paying for a snow day - absolutely fine. Paying for an indefinite period in the light of a worldwide crisis. Not fine. Many businesses are going to go under. It's
for the
Government to make a policy decision to
Support them (or not) not up to individuals to be guilted into it.

And if these nurseries go bust new ones will
Soon spring up in their place when this is over. Don't worry about it.

Our nursery has emailed to say they're not charging beyond the march/april run. To be honest I would have been happy to pay something to help out the business (not a national chain) and staff so am surprised and grateful that they've done this.

Hopefully the government will clarify about the grants for settings and they might be in place of fees?

Can you pay on credit card and then claim
It back through the consumer credit rules as they haven't fulfilled their service?

I think if you are not being paid you will have to take your chances and not pay them. They can't expect people with no income to pay for an expensive service they aren't receiving. Of course its sad if nursery workers don't get paid or lose their jobs but we are nearly all in that position right now.

Unfortunately, we've had to pay by the 14th of this month and did so on the 5th so the £1200 I paid, I now consider as a fait accomplit.

I've tried reasoning with the nursery and asking for the lunch money back at the very least but they won't budge. We've had to pull our daughter out as she kept falling ill and I lost my temp job. We're struggling so hard right now.

Unless the government offers all nurseries financial support, I don't see anything but a huge financial hit to parents in this already very challenging time.

Doubt the fee's will be going to their staff- they've probably all been told don't come to work don't get paid. Personally knowing how much nursery fees are I'd keep my money and take the chance of finding a new nursery at a later date. I'm sure there'll be plenty of qualified early years staff looking for jobs in nannying etc when the time comes if you can't find a place that you can pay with the money saved.

We had to give our minder notice, just can't afford it and she was charging half fees. We're going to have to work out what to do for childcare in June when I go back to work.

I understand it’s a business and staff need to be paid, but ours has already put fees up two years running; we now have an admin charge which isn’t pro-rata, plus consumables charge and a charge for an external sports provider who runs two sessions a week. I can just about see them charging for the basic care fees but if we’re still going to be billed for all those extras I think we’ll give notice and take her out. Fortunately she starts school (or maybe not!) in September so if this is set to continue for 3-4 months there’s no point carrying on paying for her place anyway.

I just don't understand why there hasn't been more uproar about this. All of the parenting fb groups I'm on people just seem to be shrugging and saying they'll pay it as they need nursery to stay open for once this has all settled down

Our private nursery is currently still open to all children. Mine are at home though. My eldest is fully funded so we just pay for food but I'm not going to pay for that if he's not there to eat it! My youngest son we pay for and they are expecting us to keep paying. They say it's for staff wages but obviously it's more complicated than that because there will be running costs and other overheads included.

DP wants us to stop paying, I'm on maternity leave just now so money is tight but we cannot lose the nursery places as we need all the kids in the same place (my daughter is due to start there in August and my eldest son will have his out of school care there) so I don't know what to do.

My nursery have deferred all fees until they open again. Whenever that may be. Won’t get the rest of this month though but will suck it up

NHS planning for a minimum of three months. Six months is more likely.
I

Friends here have been told their kids aren't going back til September (NI, schools break up for summer at the end of June). Can't see nurseries starting again much before that given we're only due to see the peak in April-May. Good luck to them trying to find clients happy to pay fees for six months for zero care.

Having known a few people who worked in nurseries and were treated very poorly, I can't see any of these fees reaching the workers in the vast majority of cases. They're screwing themselves over as well- if they take a place off someone for refusing to pay, who are they going to offer it to? Who will be happy to pay full fees for months on end so that their child will get a spot "when this all blows over"? It would be more sensible to ask for 30-50% which would be much for manageable for most people to fund month on month. Pure greed. They may have overheads but so do most businesses who will simply have to cope with the current circumstances.

Just heard from our nursery that children of key workers and vulnerable children who are still attending will be charged normal fees, less specific activity charges as these are suspended. If children are not attending they will still issue invoices but will ask for a minimum of 25% instead of full fees, in return for which the place will be kept open

I think that’s pretty fair, to be honest; I know the staff will still need to be paid.

I just don't understand why there hasn't been more uproar about this.
There have been several threads about it on here. General consensus is you need to pay, or they may be able to agree a discount, and staff generally do not get paid, they only get SSP.