There is a proposal tabled to the DEFRA board to close our on-site nursery!! What can i do??

[thehairybabysmum]

As it says, I am highly fortunate in having an on site subsidised nursery at my place of work. Even better it's a bloody great nursery and both my DS's love it.

Anyway it has just come out this week that there are 2 options tabled in a proposal to the management board. 1. is to remove the subsidy and 2. is to shut it altogether!!

I realise there's nowt i can realisticaly do but aese or what!

Bumping for you.

I've heard that a lot of government departments are closing their workplace nurseries (or no longer buying places in local nurseries) and opting instead for vouchers. These are more flexible and tax efficient, apparently.

Was a business case made for the nursery when it opened? What's changed?

Has there been any consultation with the trade unions? There may be something you can do, in ensuring that whatever agreements there are about consultation are being followed.

protest, protest, protest! Speak to the union. Petition your local MP. Involve the press. Set up a "Save our Nursery" campaign. Make a fuss and don't let it go quietly.

Thanks for these, my instinct is to protest, have emailed my MP and am consideing contacting te local press...think i will do then.

There are 2 options up for consideration, the other is to remove our current subsidy. Obviously not good financially for us users but better than losing a great nursery obviously.

By all means protest, but I think you also need to engage with the arguments on the terms in which they're being put to the board.

Government departments opened nurseries (and provided subsidies) because they were a cost-effective means of solving recruitment and retention problems. So I think you need to question why the department is no longer prepared to put in the subsidy. Have the Cabinet Office's rules on civil service nurseries changed? Can the department just not afford the subsidy? Does the department not have any difficulty recruiting and retaining staff? Has demand for places in the nursery dropped off? (Some government departments are now arguing that staff would prefer vouchers to use in any nursery they choose). Etc etc.

Your best chance of success, I suspect, is if you can demonstrate that all the reasons for opening and subsidising the nursery still apply.

Good thoughts thanks Bocca.

TBH if they get rid of the subsidy i will be relieved, obviously it will cost lots more but my real woory is that they close it.

For me personally i am in an odd situation as there is actually a nursery round the corner from home that i could use and it would actualy be more convinient as i wouldnt have to cycle to work with 2 kids in a trailer. However i feel really strongly that the nursery itself is excellent and shouldnt close, it is 13 years old and many staff have been there for a long time, hence the good dynamic. It is just wrong wrong wrong to get rid of something so good!!

Not sure where to start really with protesting agianst. My union seems shite, not even an email on the subject!! However there is another union on site who are more proactive so i may change unions. Also am going to try and see MP at surgery??

I have also emailed the permanent secretary for the department (DEFRA)...not sure this is appropriate but thought waht the heck!

Any other suggestions for how to act??

I can't really think of anything else.

My tactic, as I said, would be to look at the reasons the nursery was opened and try to demonstrate that they still held good. But, as I said before, that might not be so easy if demand for places has dropped off, if the department does not have recruitment and retention problems or if there is some evidence that staff would rather have the vouchers to spend as they like. I think you need to establish why these proposals are being considered now.

Does your department offer childcare vouchers? The government department I know most about closed its workplace nurseries in favour of issuing vouchers. To be frank, I can see it both ways. An on-site nursery with subsidised places will be popular with parents who want to bring their children to work with them, but offers nothing to parents who can't or don't. So I can see that vouchers give a wider choice to more people but, in your situation, that doesn't help parents who already use a nursery.

Have you spoken to anyone in the Cabinet Office? It may be worth checking what the most recent guidance says, as the political and economic climate is now so different from the mid-90s.

Confused as to why defra?

Found http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/iam/diversity/toolkits/childcare/Workplace_nurseries.asp this on the Cabinet Office website.

this, even.

This may also be worth reading.

Your main arguement is that it is totally against all their family friendly policies.

If they proposed to remove subsidies and if then it becomes non-viable financially that is okay otherwise they are just being anti-family.

DEFRA is her employer

Thanks for these. Found some advice on my union website as to haw to campaign aginst something so will read that and formulate a plan of somesorts i guess.