Keep paying for your nursery space?
Discussion
I much enjoyed the shenanigans of my sons nursery. Interesting to read this. No doubt the nurseries will either be laying off staff or furloughing them. Who checks that nurseries aren't still charging parents?
BBC News - Coronavirus: 'I was asked for £430 a month for my shut nursery'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52184444
BBC News - Coronavirus: 'I was asked for £430 a month for my shut nursery'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52184444
I was in a moral quandary about this. We didn't have to pay anything for April or onwards but we agreed to pay a fairly large amount of the bill because they pretty much said they'd have cash flow problems if the parents didn't.
Ill make a small contribution for the forthcoming months too but I'll also be watching very closely how much the directors draw down as profits in the future. They have also had a nasty habit of increasing the fees by 7/8pc a year and I think if they do that next year they will have a mutiny on their hands.
My primary concern was they didn't make any of the staff redundant and they've said they won't be doing so.
Ill make a small contribution for the forthcoming months too but I'll also be watching very closely how much the directors draw down as profits in the future. They have also had a nasty habit of increasing the fees by 7/8pc a year and I think if they do that next year they will have a mutiny on their hands.
My primary concern was they didn't make any of the staff redundant and they've said they won't be doing so.
Mildly related is my Sisters childminding business. Although she had keyworkers children she shut her business as it wasn't worth the risk to her own health.
Other childminders did likewise and some are charging 80%, others 50%, but most aren't charging as they are shut and therefore can't provide a service. The 50-80% is a retainer to keep the space open.
My Sister is a single mum and is unable to claim UC or any other benefit. Yesterday she started charging most of her clients 50% simply so she can live without touching her savings, she's worked it so she gets paid 50% and when she's back working she'll only charge 50% for the same period. It's simply an advance on her fees and every parent was happy to agree.
Other childminders did likewise and some are charging 80%, others 50%, but most aren't charging as they are shut and therefore can't provide a service. The 50-80% is a retainer to keep the space open.
My Sister is a single mum and is unable to claim UC or any other benefit. Yesterday she started charging most of her clients 50% simply so she can live without touching her savings, she's worked it so she gets paid 50% and when she's back working she'll only charge 50% for the same period. It's simply an advance on her fees and every parent was happy to agree.
Our nursery fees are £1000 month. Both my wife and i are deemed to be essential, so as it stands the boy’s are being looked after as normal. If we fall ill and have to isolate then there is no way i’d pay the nursery the full amount, particularly as neither of us would qualify for the 80%.
The nursery have said that they would hold all existing child places open until August, so we would likely give our notice and tough it out for 4 months.
I’d be happy to help keep the nursery ticking over with a reduced payment - i wouldn’t want to see any one of the girls lose their jobs.
The nursery have said that they would hold all existing child places open until August, so we would likely give our notice and tough it out for 4 months.
I’d be happy to help keep the nursery ticking over with a reduced payment - i wouldn’t want to see any one of the girls lose their jobs.
Ours have given us a 65% discount. However they have taken that off what we pay, not what the charge is, so for my older son they are still taking the full amount of government free childcare and then 35% of what we pay.
I don’t mind paying something, but what annoys me is firstly the credit note for March and April cane with a caveat saying if we accept it we agree to keep our children their for the next 12 weeks at minimum and secondly as far as I can tell from the contract they have no right to charge us anything. The contract only covers closure for when the site is not able to open due to utilities being lost or forced to close. At the moment they have only been advised to.
I don’t want to push it due to firstly places at nursery’s being hard near me to find and secondly I do have some sympathy and they could, in theory, call my bluff and say “ok. Send your child in”.
I don’t mind paying something, but what annoys me is firstly the credit note for March and April cane with a caveat saying if we accept it we agree to keep our children their for the next 12 weeks at minimum and secondly as far as I can tell from the contract they have no right to charge us anything. The contract only covers closure for when the site is not able to open due to utilities being lost or forced to close. At the moment they have only been advised to.
I don’t want to push it due to firstly places at nursery’s being hard near me to find and secondly I do have some sympathy and they could, in theory, call my bluff and say “ok. Send your child in”.
Our nursery initially asked us to keep paying as otherwise they would struggle to pay their staff. Once the government announced the furlough scheme they got back in contact to confirm we wouldn't have to pay as all but a skeleton staff would be covered by the scheme.
We pay monthly in advance but not expecting a refund.
Ours might be slightly different as I think it's been set up as a not for profit organisation.
Private nurseries are like any other business I guess. While they can furlough the majority of staff, they may still need a skeleton staff for admin, building/grounds maintenance etc.
Depending on how deep the economic impact of this is the demand for nursery spaces may fall off if people struggle to find work in short and medium term.
We pay monthly in advance but not expecting a refund.
Ours might be slightly different as I think it's been set up as a not for profit organisation.
Private nurseries are like any other business I guess. While they can furlough the majority of staff, they may still need a skeleton staff for admin, building/grounds maintenance etc.
Depending on how deep the economic impact of this is the demand for nursery spaces may fall off if people struggle to find work in short and medium term.
Was pleasantly surprised that ours won’t be invoicing for the duration. They’re a big chain and have combined a few local nurseries on to one site for providing key worker childcare (to reduce costs like cooking and cleaning) and shut the others. Staff furloughed.
If they were still wanting to be paid I’d have given notice immediately.
If they were still wanting to be paid I’d have given notice immediately.
I think ours has a clause that we pay if the nursery is closed for reasons outside their control, but it's presumably designed for odd days here and there and not a three month enforced closure. They've told us their staff are covered by the 80% scheme and they'll continue to receive council funding for 3yo+ children, and so far no contact about April fees or onwards. I think we would be happy to pay a heavily discounted figure to help keep them afloat, it's not a normal customer/business relationship, it's hugely important to us.
survivalist said:
Our nursery initially asked us to keep paying as otherwise they would struggle to pay their staff. Once the government announced the furlough scheme they got back in contact to confirm we wouldn't have to pay as all but a skeleton staff would be covered by the scheme.
We pay monthly in advance but not expecting a refund.
Ours might be slightly different as I think it's been set up as a not for profit organisation.
Private nurseries are like any other business I guess. While they can furlough the majority of staff, they may still need a skeleton staff for admin, building/grounds maintenance etc.
Depending on how deep the economic impact of this is the demand for nursery spaces may fall off if people struggle to find work in short and medium term.
Most of them are big houses with not much grounds so I can't see what they'd need doing apart from locking and alarm turning on so what staff would they need for admin/maintenance?We pay monthly in advance but not expecting a refund.
Ours might be slightly different as I think it's been set up as a not for profit organisation.
Private nurseries are like any other business I guess. While they can furlough the majority of staff, they may still need a skeleton staff for admin, building/grounds maintenance etc.
Depending on how deep the economic impact of this is the demand for nursery spaces may fall off if people struggle to find work in short and medium term.
If they are furloughing staff what do they need the fees for apart from blackmail?
If your son/daughter isn't there they aren't supplying a service and like some say after all this there'll be a lot of people out of work i.e. at least one out of two in a house so spaces will be available.
I remember our old nursery constantly raised it's prices and the calculation for the government free percentage & tax work allowance was oddly heavily weighted towards the nursery and how they calculated hours. When shown the correct calculation we were told 'leave then'.
Not-The-Messiah said:
Only a idiot would keep throwing money away they don't need to at a time like this. Not being able to find a nursery space in the future could be the least of peoples problems.
It's best to remind yourself that there's a lot of wealthy to very wealthy PHers. If they feel a moral obligation to continue paying fees then great, I doubt they're about to starve and from others POV better to have that money filtering through the system, because not much of it is at the moment.
Is it really that hard to get a place in nursery that a threat of being taken off the books is a serious one? Especially with the unheralded downturn we're going to endure.
Sir Bagalot said:
Mildly related is my Sisters childminding business. Although she had keyworkers children she shut her business as it wasn't worth the risk to her own health.
Other childminders did likewise and some are charging 80%, others 50%, but most aren't charging as they are shut and therefore can't provide a service. The 50-80% is a retainer to keep the space open.
My Sister is a single mum and is unable to claim UC or any other benefit. Yesterday she started charging most of her clients 50% simply so she can live without touching her savings, she's worked it so she gets paid 50% and when she's back working she'll only charge 50% for the same period. It's simply an advance on her fees and every parent was happy to agree.
That seems like the most sensible solution I've seen. Other childminders did likewise and some are charging 80%, others 50%, but most aren't charging as they are shut and therefore can't provide a service. The 50-80% is a retainer to keep the space open.
My Sister is a single mum and is unable to claim UC or any other benefit. Yesterday she started charging most of her clients 50% simply so she can live without touching her savings, she's worked it so she gets paid 50% and when she's back working she'll only charge 50% for the same period. It's simply an advance on her fees and every parent was happy to agree.
ChocolateFrog said:
Not-The-Messiah said:
Only a idiot would keep throwing money away they don't need to at a time like this. Not being able to find a nursery space in the future could be the least of peoples problems.
It's best to remind yourself that there's a lot of wealthy to very wealthy PHers. If they feel a moral obligation to continue paying fees then great, I doubt they're about to starve and from others POV better to have that money filtering through the system, because not much of it is at the moment.
Is it really that hard to get a place in nursery that a threat of being taken off the books is a serious one? Especially with the unheralded downturn we're going to endure.
Ultimately at the end of this I don't think it will be the rich making themselves richer. Everyone is going to need to put the hands in their pockets with this one.
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff