Is this normal?

[pikster]

Hi all,

So, we have an 18 month old, we have him in a nursery in Sheffield just one day a week as my wife works Sat - Mon.

We've been good with them to be fair, I pick him up at 3 so they don't even have him for a full day, we always pay on time and we even pull him out when he is sick, not something I can say for the other parents there...

It's April now so that means its new holiday allowance time at my work, so I have booked some Mondays off in an effort to save some money on Childcare costs by keeping him home. We have given them, probably close to three months notice at this point that this was happening.

Have they still charged us for those days? Yes they have!? They say this is "just the way it goes" and they reckon its in the contract, but I cannot find it in all honesty.

So my question is, is this normal? Is this even legal, have there been any notable cases of this kind of thing being taken further? As this term seems wholly unfair to the consumer and should be something based on a notice period of when you tell them they wont be there so they can adjust their staffing accordingly....

Surprised about pp saying nurseries won't take children for one day contracts. This is completely normal where I live! About half the DC in the nursery class at both nurseries my DC have attended for less than 5 days per week. The nurseries round here also offer term time only contracts for non funded children, which was handy as we booked the school hols off work for older DC and really cut the costs down.

Agree that you are expected to pay for holidays, sickness and bank hols. This is normal everywhere I visited. One setting offered half fees if they could fill the space with someone wanting an extra day.

Its normal
You are paying for the place not just for when you need it
This may give you an idea of where your fees go

m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zm-mYA6XpQ
Its a real eye opener

Thanx insancerre haved saved this for future ref

Our nursery is fab and with 30 days notice will give a 40% discount. That's really fair compared to all others.

Redelephants
There are lots of campaigns and petitions about the crisis in early years at the moment
It's not a good time for nurseries at the moment and I wouldn't be surprised if many don't survive

Insancerre I've sent that link to my parents already to explain why we're considering not offering the 30 hours.

I get that insancerre, I work in a private pre school, with the majority of our 3 year olds going to school nursery in September, not totally sure if I'll have a job after the summer hols.

Same here redelephants
My occupancy for September is currently at 20%
I've got a meeting with the director soon and I'm expected to come up with a strategy
I'm losing 34 children to school

Very normal

Normal. However the dc's old nursery allowed a one week holiday every year with three months notice. I got something like 25% off.