Paying for Bank Holiday?

[HappyMelP]

Just wondered how many of your nurseries make you pay for bank holidays even when they are not open?

I work in a nursery and management have decided to charge parents the same price for bank holidays. Only one parent has complained so far and I just wondered what the rest of you think?

[eldorado]

I had to pay whethr or not my ds was there or not. Suppose it is a business they are running and as I get paid bank hols I didnt see why they shouldn't.

[Milliways]

Same here. I had to pay monthly DD and it was never adjusted for Bank Hols - but neither was my pay. I did used to love taking the odd day off & leaving them in nursery though

[LunarSea]

We pay fixed amount per month, even when that includes bank holidaysm, or the week between Christmas and New Year when the nursery is shut. But our monthly fee is a fair bit less than the daily, or even weekly, rate, so it's effectively just evening out the bills over the year for us compared to charging for the time excluding bank holidays.

[bluebear]

We pay for bank holidays but the policy was only brought in last year and most of the parents were in uproar about it (co-incided with a 20% increase in fees and we were given less than 1 months notice about it ie. couldn't even give notice to remove children without getting hit by the new prices).
All the other local nurseries charge for bank hols, and I expected it to be honest....I was a lot more upset about the lack of notice for the fee increase.

[JulieF]

I wouldn't be happy about paying for a service that was not available, especially as dd goes to nursery p/t one of her days is Mondays which has the most bank holidays.

I don't work on Mondays so don't get paid bank holidays.

Staff pay for bank holidays should be budgeted into their whole costs, when you provide a service you should not charge for when that service is not available. It would be like me charging our students for the Christmas and Easter holidays when there are no classes.

[bigdonna]

childminders get paid for bank holidays!

[Toothache]

The Nursery dd and ds will be starting next week just charges a set monthly charge which already has the bank holidays taken out. My childminder only used to charge half for a bank holiday if dd wasn't going, but she took her on BH's anyway.

[TracyK]

My nursery charges for the full year - then divides it down into monthly amounts. Bank hols are paid for but they have a week in Aug & a week in Dec that they close and we don't pay for.

[fsmail]

All the nurseries I have used have always charged for bank holidays and also for the Christmas break but then I expect to be paid for them and I would not begrudge the staff having paid leave for the same reason but then I am an employee probably a bit more irritating if you are self-employed.

[Blu]

Of course nuseries, like every single other business, still have to pay their own costs over bank hols, and I see no reason why these costs shouldn't be passed on in the fees.

BUT if you have a child who does less than a full week, and one of your nursery days is a Monday, you do get less days for your money over the year than someone who does not have Mondays as part of their week. SO in some ways, I think it would be fair for the nursery to build their bank hol fees pro rata across the rate for every available day, so that all parents bore the cost pro rata to their nursery usage.

[jessicaandbumpsmummy]

Jess only ever went to nursery on a monday and never paid for a bank holiday.

half fees if she was not in for any other reason.

[Hayls]

I expected to pay for BHs but my nursery doesn't charge for them.. Wouldn't mind if they did tbh- I get paid and so do their staff.

[sunnydelight]

DD's last nursery didn't charge for bank holidays, but the one she starts in September does. I was lucky enough to be able to choose which days she goes as I only need 2 days a week, so I made sure to avoid Mondays, and Wednesdays as they shut early!

[purpleturtle]

We paid for bank holidays. I am a muppet, and ds only went for Monday morning. doh!

[SleepySuzy]

Although nursery is very expensive, as has been said before, it IS a business. I have to pay when it is bank holiday, or my holiday or if Eve is poorly - they still have to pay their staff etc, so it is only fair. (Not that I like it!)

[henshake]

Blu I've just been checking my fees. My DD & DS go to nursery W-F & I pay the same as all other parents, so we our nursery do make charge for BH's to all parents. Didn't realise there was a difference between nurseries, thought they were all standard.

I don't mind though.

[eidsvold]

We paid a monthly fee and so it covered bank holidays, days where we had her for whatever reason, days she had off for hospital appts and so on. IT was the best way to pay for us as it covered her from opening to closing so if dh or I had a meeting and could not get her until later - she was still covered iyswim. It was also a fab fab nursery and their staff still needed paying as I did - so we did not mind. Even when she had time off with me during each school holidays we still paid for it - sometimes she did half days and we paid. Quite happy to do so.

[tortoiseshell]

Ds and Dd's nursery is open all bank holidays except Christmas and Boxing Day, (and New Years Day I think??) and they don't charge for those. They charge full rates whether you're there or not which after an initial shock realised is fair, as it's not fair on the nursery staff to not be paid as much just because the child is on holiday.

[stardoman]

I think its incredibly cheeky of the nursery to charge for bank holidays if it is not open. I'm a registered childminder and would not charge for a day that I am not prepared to work. Two of my families are nurses who work bank holidays. I think it would be galling for them to have to pay for childcare on bank holidays that they could not use, and then have to pay and arrange for childcare elsewhere too.

Mandy.

[katierocket]

Nope, ours always deducted bank holidays off our bill.

[nzshar]

I personally think it is only fair that a nursery charges for Bank Holidays. After all the staff get paid on those days and a nursery is a business so therefore have to cover costs of any given day.

Are they supposed to just try and take in the costs of BH's??? this would only lead to higher daily rates IMO and that would not go down all that well either

[bonkerz]

I am a childminder and DO charge for bank holidays, i also am prepared to work on bank holidays but charge £10 extra on top of normal days fees if i do work!
Most employers get PAID for bank holidays so why not nurseries and childminders?
I was also manager of a nursery and we did charge for bank holidays even though we were shut and all our staff got paid for bank holidays too!

[ssd]

bonkerz I admire your business accumen!! I'm a childminder too and far too soft.. I don't charge for BH's as I really don't want to have to work them, so I go without the cash. But of course all of my parents get paid for BH's even though they are off............I think a nursery charging is fine, they are a business too.

[JELLYJELLY]

I am a childminder and i charge for bh, i tell the parents upfront and say well i have a business to run and get to have the paid day off or words to that effect and all of my parents have been fine about it.

[tissy]

We don't pay at all if the nursery isn't open. Dd goes full-time, but we pay by the day- not rounded off for a week or month.

We do, however only get two weeks "free" holiday a year, and if we keep dd off nursery for any longer than that we have to pay 50%.

The nursery id shut for two whole weeks over Christmas/ new year (when I wll be working), so will not be charged for that time off, but I won't have the option of taking leave.