Nursery changing closing time from 6pm to 5pm

[NatMoz]

Got informed today that from Monday onwards due to staff ratios the nursery will close at 5pm going forward for an unknown amount of time (presumably until they get more staff).

This was following the other week where we got an email regarding a rise in childcare fees.

There's probably nothing anyone can do but the short notice is inconvenient and my husband will have to leave work at 4:50pm for pick up at 5 on the dot. Not sure how others will manage when pick up is closer to 6pm!

Not really much we can do really but wanted to vent! I feel sorry for the nursery workers too as they look exhausted and I don't blame them in any way.

How on earth did they all manage to make it work though? Do they all have the option for compressed flexible hours?

Yes there is a huge lack of spaces but equally what good is keeping a space in a nursery if it doesn't cover your working hours?

I think a lot of extended family ended up doing pick ups from what she said. I know her own sister was able to collect her kid up at the new time.

@underneaththeash what is your solution? They are bound BY LAW to operate within statutory ratios. If they cannot get the qualified staff, then they cannot operate for their full hours.

Agency staff.

You could sue for any extra costs associated with the changes.

That won’t help them recruit staff. It will make them go quickly bankrupt and close.

Two local nurseries have announced closure in the last two weeks-once due to huge unaffordable rent increases and the other due to not being able to afford to fund the pay rises. The government can promise all the ‘free’ (they are not free) hours they want, but that is pointless if there is no nursery space for you.

@underneaththeash do you run a nursery? The agency staff do not exist. There are statutory qualification levels required and the staff just do not exist.

There is a huge shortage of qualified nursery staff. There isn't enough agency staff to cover. And even if there was, you pay a premium for agency workers. Most childcare settings barely make a profit (thanks to Government free hours) so could not afford the extra agency costs.

If the ratios cannot be met, then they cannot stay open, its not a choice they will want to make but will be done out of necessity.

Agency cost around double a regular member of staff, and agencies are short staffed too. Also, a lot of the time they do supply because no nurseries want to employ them full time because they're not very good. (Not me when I did it.)

And how's that going to work without notice? A flexible working request is usually only allowed once a year and its hard to quit and find a new job immediately.

What time to they open? If enough parents ask could they open at 8 instead of 7 instead?

Well apparently not given the op has arranged it, if you rtft

No it isn't that agency workers can't find a 'proper' job in a nursery because they aren't good enough. 🙄
The reason I do agency is because I am waiting on a nanny role and because I have autoimmune illnesses. I am fully qualified and years of experience.
I'm more qualified and experienced than a lot of the permanent staff.

Relying on agency has become the norm for most nurseries. We keep them afloat. On the one nursery I am in, they use at least 3 a day if not more (big chain but not busy bees).

Many of the agency workers I see are not good, but some are. I've also done a lot of supply work and I'm brilliant and lovely.

Permanent staff have been more awful in my opinion. Yelling at kids, chatting among themselves for ages when meant to be focused on the kids, late back from lunches etc. Without boasting, I've been offered full-time jobs in all my nurseries which speaks for itself.

It's not great for parents but they can't open if there aren't qualified staff there. Where I work there are some fantastic staff but because they aren't qualified they can't be left alone.
I work for a big chain and the nurseries often ring each other shifting staff round so they can stay open.
I don't know what they'd do if they weren't part of a chain. I so wanted to go back to childcare but now I have I'm considering leaving again. I'm not even a senior but a load of the responsibility falls on me because I'm often the only L3 in the room.
Until nursery staff get decent wages things like nurseries shutting early or closing altogether is going to become more and more normal

If the nursery doesn’t have the staff (maybe someone has gone long term sick or whatever reason) they can’t offer the care, unfortunately it’s as simple as that. If they had only a handful of children they would still need to have at least two staff with the relevant qualifications. I understand how frustrating it is, but their hands are tied.

Ours did exactly this, it was a total nightmare. I get that if they don't have the ratios there's not much they can do but one of the key things in choosing childcare was choosing something that would work with our working hours, so it really caused problems for us. It was also very stressful being told it was for an uncertain length of time as we couldn't really make alternative arrangements.

I don't think we were the only ones who were fed up - they lost a lot of families after the hours were cut and sadly they shut down a couple of months ago. Now that was stressful!

Contracts are legally binding documents. There is no legal caveat to allow breaches just because you haven’t planned for enough staff.

it’s may be a breach of contract but being open without the right staff would mean the nursery could lose ability to operate, more serious.

they have varied the contract (hours) but with insufficient notice (ie a few days when they should e probably give 28)

I’m not disputing that, but what else can the nursery do? Operating out of ratio is not a good decision. They won’t have taken this decision lightly.