Paying for 4 days in nursery but only using 3 days

[MarketingMonkey]

Has anyone paid for a nursery place for more days than they needed and been flexible about which days DC attends?

I may need to do this for a few months when I first return to work, when DS is twelve months old, in order to be flexible about which days I work.

The only obvious issue I can see is the cost for me but, assuming we can make that work, can anyone see any issues with this for the nursery or for DS which I might have missed? Would it be too disruptive for DS?

Some nurseries will do your child's attendance on a rota (to account for shift working). I don't like paying when I'm on holiday and him not going (so I send him for a few hours peace) so wouldn't do it regularly. Talk to the nursery...if you're up front they may help out.

I would like this arrangement as I could have some time to catch up on all the stuff you can't do with a baby in tow!

Definitely ask them first.
Mine was reasonably flexible on days if I gave plenty of notice.

most nurseries will be fine with this
just becasue you pay for the place dosn't mean you have to send them
as long as you let them know that your DC won't be in, they will be fine about it, I am sure

The won't mind you paying for days you don't use but they might not be able to accommodate Mon, Wed, Thursday on a casual basis if you usually have Mon, Wed, Friday, depending on their staff-children ratios.

At 12 months old DS will be fine with different days.
Nursery will almost certainly be happy with the extra money - especially if you tell them the week before which day you won't be needing, and they can re-sell it out to someone else who needs it.
It will be more expensive for you. How oversubscribed are nursery? When I've needed extra sessions for one of the kids, they have nearly always been able to fit them in. Would this make more sense? So, work ask you to switch to working (say) friday next week. You ring nursery, and see if they have space before saying OK or not to work?
Round here you'd be talking of a nursery bill of £570 for 4 day weeks, £430 for 3 days weeks. How often are you going to need to switch days?

it might be better to pay for fulltime place, as you often get a discount
then you have a guaranteed place if you need to change days at short notice, and you have complete flexibility
if your work becomes more predictable then you can give notice, normally a month, to drop to just the days you know you will need

Thanks for all the advice

Unfortunately the nursery is very popular but will definitely ask the question as to whether they would be flexible.

I'm hoping the different days will just be temporary while I work on a particular project but if it works well I might try and keep the arrangement!

Thanks again

The only time I can see it becoming an issue is once your ds is 3 and you are claiming the funded 15 hours. If you claim the days over 4 days, your ds will be expected to attend all your funded sessions on a regular basis or the hours could be withdrawn.

I did actually used to do this.

DC1 was booked into nursery 4 days a week and I worked flexibly 3 of the 4 days. It varied week to week.

Having the extra day without her around was very useful - it meant I could keep on top of work email/voicemail without The Guilt but also kept on top of housework etc so that weekends were free for fun stuff.

It only works though if your salary is enough to cover 4 days comfortably.