Nursery fees...sickness and holidays?

Pay for 51 weeks a year, and Oh yes, pay for off sick/ holidays - everything unless it is 'officially reduced time' (e.g when i was on maternity leave I reduced DS1's days to 3 a week).
Pay c. £1450 month for two of them (4 & 1)
Shocking, when I see it in print like that.
I'm in the SE.

Mine are at school now, but none of the nurseries I looked at (there were lots!) or subsequently used did anything other than paying all year round. This is Edinburgh.

Message withdrawn

The nursery that DS went to (in the SE too) charged for 49 weeks a year (divided into 12 monthly payments) ... They closed for a week at Christmas and for 2 weeks in the summer (usually last week in July and first week in August) and that is when all the staff had to have their holidays.
If you had a holiday at a different time then you still had to pay ...
And, yes, if your child was absent with illness you still paid.
I think I paid 450 pounds a month for 3 days a week.

I pay every week for 52 weeks irrespective of holidays or sickness. DD (1 year old) attends 3 days a week and if I need to send her for an extra day I pay for that too, even if I don't send her another day. It costs £734 a month. This is in London.

At first I was annoyed to have to pay holidays etc. But now in reality it's actually quite good.

This week (half term) ds was in most days, giving me a chance to get on with things. He was off sick Thursday, but Friday we got up slowly, and as I was sick, he went it, but later than usual. If we'd had to give a firm commitment it would have made it a stressful decision.

I agree it's expensive (London!), but we budgeted for a full year when chosing our childcare, so any money back for sickness would be extra money, rather than losing it (iyswim). It's like the mortgage/rent - you still pay for that when you're on holiday!

at ours you can opt out of summer hols if you give notice. I like mine to have a break from it all so i do.

Eeek! I was annoyed about having to pay every month regardless (and having to pay for 5 days when I wanted 3). This is in Spain.

Now, having seen the cost of UK nurseries I realise I have it good. I guess paying for sick days is fair enough as they have to get the staff in anyway. Holidays at those prices is not right.

I think it's totally fair to pay if your child is ill - after all they still have to pay the staff, meals, heating etc etc - and they can't substitute a child at the last minute.

At our nursery, they are closed for 4 weeks during the year. Obviously don't get charged for those weeks, or any Bank Holidays.

I still pay if I take DD2 out other than the nursery 4 weeks holiday or if she is off sick.

Ds's nursery is open 52 weeks a year, closed bank holidays, and charges for sick days/holidays, but not bank holidays (only nursery in this area that doesn't charge for bank holidays).
Ds is part-time but full-time fees are £855 a month for under 2's and £682 a month for over 2's. It's the cheapest nursery in our area (W.London). Food is supplied but we supply our own nappies.

Our nursery (SW2 in London) is open 48 weeks a year but we pay for the weeks they are closed just the same as the rest of the year. For an under 3 its £ 1080 full time per month. They are open 8am to 5:30pm. The other five nurseries I looked at nearby (when the fees were looking bad) all charged about the same or more. And yes, you pay for days your child is sick.

I can understand your friends annoyance. My own dds nursery has just changed their sicknss absenssce policy. While I can understand the manaagement principles of why etc, I have neither abused this system nor been dissatisfied with their child care, infact have put dd into nursery in school holidays!When dd began signed contract to specify that we wouldn't be paying. Can nurserys implement new policy when and if they see fit without any parental views or opinions.I pay £440 per month for 1 full time place 8-6 (but always pick up early 4pm)

I know it's different but it is similar...

DD goes to a private school. We pay fees in ten, monthly payments. If a child has to be signed off sick for more than five days during term-time you are able to reclaim the cost of the fees through an (optional) insurance policy which costs a tiny proportion of the fees.

When DD was at nursery, it operated 52 weeks a year but was closed on Bank Hols. We were allowed to take two weeks off per year, for which we would not have to pay fees, as long as they were advised min four weeks beforehand IIRC.

Sick days, etc - you still had to pay for and as aloha says - they still have their overheads.

Anyway, I'm surprised someone hasn't cottoned on to insurance for nursery fees....

Mine charges for 52 weeks and refunds for Chrisrmas day/boxing day and NY day if they fall on the days DS is there. I pay extra (£27 per day) for any additional days to the 3 he does every week and that costs about £330 on the 15th of each month. They charge for all sick unless long term and all holidays

My ds's nursery charge for 50 weeks regardless of whether you are there or not (they are closed for the week Xmas to new year, and bank holidays, hence 50 not 52). He is now in the 'over 2' band and it is £33.50 a day or £151 a full week. I've just taken him out on Fridays to save myself the £17 for the extra day I don't need - was having it on the basis that it was quite cheap, but decided I couldn't really afford it and anyway now he's a fun age to do things with (just started gymtots!). SOOO expensive! Its about 9k for a fulltime place for a baby. What if I get pregnant with twins, I keep asking myself... I think it would actually be cheaper to get a nanny in that case...

DD's nursery is open 51 weeks a year (closes over Christmas for 1 week) and we pay for all of that time, but get an extra 1 week's holiday a year (pro rata of how many days you go - DD attends 2 days a wek so she gets 2 days holiday). We do pay for any other time she isn't there due to sickness or extra holidays. For us it works out that we do pay a lot for ewhen she isn't there. I am a teacher and in the holidays it averages that DD generally only goes once a week at the most.

Our nursery is closed for Bank Hols and one week at Christmas. We are not charged for this. The months are averaged out so for 3 days as £26 a day we are charged £325 a month. We are allowed to take 3 weeks (ie 9 days in our case) holiday and give notice and we will be charged half rate for these weeks. In practice, of course, DH and I both have more holidays than this and so he gets taken out more often. Also all sick days etc are paid for. Going by this thread this actually seems like quite a reasonable deal.

No change in price according to age though, although they stop providing breakfast for over 2s.

DS's nursery is closed on bank holidays only. Equal monthly payments are made throughout the year and there is no concession for illness. I assume that's the same for holidays, but I've never thought of checking - hmm, I will do now. We pay an incredible £1,200 pm full-time, in London.

We pay on a weekly basis, but are allowed 2 "free" weeks for holidays as long as they have notice so they can adjust staffing if necessary. Any sick days are charged at 50%, as are other days off with notice. Days off without notice are charged at full rate.We are not charged for days the nursery is shut, so the week of Christmas this year we would only be charged for 3 days.

Rates for dd (21 months)are £120 per week full time

SW Scotland!

Azure, haven't had baby yet but looking at a London nursery full time at about £1050 but they close for 4 weeks a year which you pay for as well as bank holidays. I realise this is excessive isn't it but you don't have any choice, there isn't anything around for much less. Do you feel you get your money's worth for £1200?

we pay monthly whether dd attends or not.... when we are on annual leave/term holidays we still pay

almost £700 a month - that is for her to attend full time.

she is there 7.45 or so until between 4 - 5.

For full time we pay a flat £510 a month all year round (breakfast, lunch and tea included), regardless of holidays, sickness and nursery closing on public holidays and between Christmas and New Year. For a second full-time place we'd get a 10% discount. That's actually starting to sound quite reasonable compared to what most of you are paying.