At nurseries do you only pay the hours you use?

11 replies

gemmiegoatlegs · 01/09/2006 21:36

At the moment we have our two kids on a two week rota with our childminder due to my husbands shift patterns. Today my childminder has informed me that we will either need to pay up or ship out as she has the kids thu, fri one week and mon, half day tue and fri the next. As it stands she has to book us in for those four days even though we only use two/three per week. This has become a problem as she is in effect giving us a full time slot for part time pay. I told her in no uncertain terms that as I am a student and get no help with my chilcare fees i just cannot pay her for hours she doesnt do.

I do understand that she is running a business but I was wondering if this is the same at nurseries. Do you have to pay a retainer if you use a monday one week and a thursday the next? Or do you only pay for the days you use?

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fussymummy · 02/09/2006 01:31

A friend of mine has twins in nursery and she told me that you have to pay even if you go on holiday.
Wages and overheads still have to be paid, even if you're not there.

My sister is a child minder and unless she could find someone else to fill the rest of the days on a two week rota (unlikely to find someone working opposite shifts to your partner) you'd have to pay a retainer as you'd be preventing her to not working at times.

If your husband is working, can you not claim working families tax credit?
This pays towards child care fees.

bubble99 · 02/09/2006 01:41

A useful way to think of it is this....

If you rent a flat from a landlord you pay whether you're there or not. The landlord can't rent your flat our to someone else if you choose to go away for a holiday. Most nurseries and Childminders, unlike creches, do not operate a pay-as-you-go system.

whoopsfallenoveragain · 02/09/2006 07:23

Does your College have a nursery attatched to it? usually they can be cheaper or free if you are studying. my ds went to a nursery attatched to a college and the just charged a retainer if he was absent.

JackieNo · 02/09/2006 07:29

Yes - with our nursery you have to pay for your allocated sessions whether your child is there or not. And you have to book sessions up well in advance (a month's notice of changing days/hours) - it would be impossible for them to plan things (and end up with the right staff to child ratios) if they didn't know who was in when.

SueW · 02/09/2006 10:28

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at OP's request.

hulababy · 02/09/2006 10:47

Yes, we paid for the days we had booked for 51 weeks a year, regardless of whether we were there or not.

Hamandcheese · 03/09/2006 14:37

A friend of mine struggled with the same situation - paying a nursery for lots of time her DH was off-shift. He's a fireman. The she discovered that the fire service run a nursery where - as everone is on the same shifts - they can match children from one shift with those from another and only charge for the days the fire-service employee is on shift.

She was pleased to find out, but a bit cross that she'd struggled with full time fees for about 1.5 yrs before her DH mentioned something!

Don't suppose your DH work has a similar arrangement? Or even if informally you could match with someone working opposite shifts to him and needing different days?

bananaloaf · 03/09/2006 14:44

my two go to the cm twice a week. we pay for the days we go, half fees when we are on holiday and nothing when the cm is on holiday.

sunnydelight · 05/09/2006 21:14

I appreciate that money is tight for you, but I think you are being extremely unrealistic here. If a childminder, or nursery, keeps spaces for your children so they can attend on different days each week then obviously they can't fill those spaces when your children don't need them so they lose money that they could have earned. Both childminders and nurseries have to adhere to strict adult/child ratios and are limited as to how many children they can look after at a time; this is especially crucial for a childminder. When you qualify I am sure you will feel that you deserve a decent salary for the job you do, doesn't your childminder?

Bozza · 05/09/2006 21:17

I think you are far more likely to find a childminder that is flexible than a nursery that is.

Marina · 05/09/2006 21:30

I agree with what the others have said - people's livelihoods are at issue here, if you have to book slots then you pay for them, whether you use them or not.
But, are your dh's shifts totally predictable on a fortnightly basis? Not sure from your post.
I know our nursery does accommodate people who work bank shifts on the NHS on this basis as far as possible. I think you might want to check out some local nurseries and see if anyone is in a position to help with a rota-type booking.
Our nursery is big. Your childminder is working solo. I can see her point.
Good luck with getting a solution in place.

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