Advice please! Absent Nursery Days

7 replies

thefish22 · 20/02/2012 11:35

Hello all, I would be ever so grateful for some help on this question...

My problem is a bit different. My 4 yr old has a funded place for 5 days a week at a lovely nursery, where i top up 2 hrs per day. I though, want him with me and not at nursery for two of these days. I am happy to pay for the days I do not attend, but the nursery is not happy if I dont attend. They only provide 5 day a week places. They say the borough will come down on them. Is there any way around this for either me or them? Are there any other posts on this?

Many many thanks

Thefish22

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LucyLui25 · 20/02/2012 12:22

If the setting has claimed for 15 hours a week, they do have a point, that they are claiming money fraudulently. However, you may be able to get round this by unoffically having the days off you want, it is not compulasory for your child to be at the nursery and it is only another 6 weeks or so until the end of term. the setting already has the funding and you have the option of using the days if you require them. For the April claim i suggest you only claim for the amount of hours you want to use, its up to 15, but you can choose to only take 10. However, you may find that your setting isn't too pleased about doing this as they will have sessions which will be difficult to fill. I don't think the nursery can tell you that you have to use the nursery. try and speak to them and give them to option, they go with the claiming of 15 hours a week (they get the money for a child that isn't there) and you continue using what you want, or you claim for less hours (which i imagine they won't be too pleased about) hope that helps, have a chat with the nursery. Hope that makes an ounce of sense.

Original poster

thefish22 · 21/02/2012 00:32

That is really so helpful, thank you for that reply. I am surprised i have not come across this in any other posts. I will just check that I can be the one claiming for the 9 hours that I use. It may be that it is the setting who claims. In any case, I could even offer them to claim 9 hours, and pay them in say a 'donation' for the money they lose. It is really not a lot we are talking about, and the nursery is a nice community one that I would like to support. It is all a bit mad, but thank you!

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Original poster

thefish22 · 27/02/2012 17:44

well, the nursery say they will not claim for 9 hrs. Hmm. I spoke to council, they said to ask nursery to clarify why they will not offer me 3 days a week. So I will now have to go back to the nursery and tell them basically that they are in the wrong! Oh dear, it is my son who will miss out! Still dont know what to do!

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Seona1973 · 01/03/2012 11:54

can you not claim for 2 x 3 hour sessions for 2 of the days and have a half day on the third day and then they can claim the 15 hours but over 3 days

Original poster

thefish22 · 10/03/2012 21:13

Hi seona, the nursery have basically said no! They are really inflexible. I think i will just have to leave the nursery for the summer term. But i reckon they will try to get me to pay as i have not given enough notice. This is so unfair.

OP posts:

EdithWeston · 10/03/2012 21:27

Unfortunately, I think the nursery can decide what sort of place it offers, and if they offer you only a 5 day place, it is up to you to accept or decline it as you see fit.

It may be that the council will overrule them on this, but that's not guaranteed.

You might be best off seeking a new nursery, and negotiating with the current one to waive the notice period from the time they refill the place.

The vagaries of the grant scheme mean that nurseries are operating on very tight margins, hence their need to be inflexible, for unless they can find a 'matching pair' which to complement your attendance pattern to be a full time attendee equivalent, they would otherwise be operating below capacity some of the time, and that could tip them into loss-making.

pinkdelight · 12/03/2012 09:59

That's really unfair. I managed to get my DS's nursery to give his five sessions as 2.5 days and then i pay for the extra 0.5 so he only goes mon-weds instead of all week. I was so glad that they were open to the idea and could be flexiible. Agree that it's worth you shopping around for a more flexible nursery. Doesn't seem fair to force you into using childcare that you don't want or need. Good luck.

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