Creche charging for child's place during closure.

neris

baldbear wrote: »

With all those advisors wouldn't you think their communication would be better.

I just saw a friends email from Links crèche. It said as advised crèches are safe so everyone can send there kids to crèche there. It's a shambles.

It was the same during the March lockdown and coming up to reopening in June. Everything from them was last minute and after hours. Alot of providers are looking that essential workers list and saying the same as Links. The Dept wont call things themselves but puts it back on the provider so they dont have to take any heat and can blame providers when something happens

Sinemo

baldbear wrote: »

With all those advisors wouldn't you think their communication would be better.

I just saw a friends email from Links crèche. It said as advised crèches are safe so everyone can send there kids to crèche there. It's a shambles.

Links have clarified their position there as I think a number of parents were querying this... They have now included the link to essential workers and asked parents to adhere to the guidance.

1874

Have had minimal communication, but saying not open essentially,
Have already paid for January but saw something on the independant online that Govt to see how they can obligate childcare facilities to refund payments to family's, I assume this wont come through easily, or immediately
and while I understand businesses are likely to be under pressure, there still seems to be options regarding PUP which are established now (which weren't when this whole thing kicked off last year), I realise they say things have worsened but Im not in agreement that taking the course of action of closing schools helps this time around, the vaccine is here and I think that it is reasonable for those who are at risk to self isolate until they can be vaccinated, in the interim children could be sent to school, It doesnt appear during this whole thing that anyone not normally considered to not be at risk has even been affected, its like they have disregarded the experience of the whole of last year.






https://www.independent.ie/news/plan-to-force-creches-to-refund-parents-if-children-cant-attend-as-leaving-certs-to-study-remotely-following-government-u-turn-39945668.html

faceman

Edit: found this via Twitter. Fees are mentioned.

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/8fdc1-faqs-for-parents-of-children-in-early-learning-and-care-and-school-age-childcare-services-07-january/

Giraffe have issued an email and it’s as clear as mud. They’re saying parents working from home are an essential worker.

No mention of fee refunds. They’re doing a Ryanair on it

sphinxicus

Olivia Pope wrote: »

We don't qualify for the criteria that our creche has for attending as of next week. We won't be charged. Very relieved that we won't be charged this month for a service that we won't be getting.

Same here, our creche contacted us yesterday asking for a people to state their case for a place for their child. "frontline" essential workers only. They are staying closed but based on demand for places for the children of these workers they are going to see what they can do to accomadate them.

They also said, for those who do not fall into this category and have already paid via standing order, that we should cancel the standing order for Feb.

I have to say fair play to them. They are not trying to take fees like they did in March/April 2020 AND they are trying to support frontline workers despite their staff saying they are afraid to work.

TM2015

Our after school is refunding anyone not sending their kids in. We are both essential workers but have chosen not to send him in.

Dravokivich

Just had an email from my sons creche where they are looking to get feedback on who's essential, while also advising they won't be charging for non-attendance.

appledrop

Our creche has been really good.

Sent us list of 'essentials workers, sure Id say whole country is on it but anyway we have decided not to send him in for whole month of January.

The numbers are bonkers. They rang everyone to check in + said if any change + we needed to send him in to link in with them.

We will get refund for January.

Its not going to be easy wfh again and juggling childcare but at least he is four now.

Cant do it again for months though. Hopefully everyone stays in and numbers drop by February.

pc7

We had to email by cob yesterday to let them know if sending kids or not. So confirmed we’ll be keeping ours home, no reply or update regarding fees. Hopefully hear something next week.
Dreading next few weeks, it was so difficult last time, but just doesn’t feel safe to see them now, hopefully we can for February.

jrosen

If your crèche is open and your an essential worker and you choose to keep your child home. Will you not have to pay your usual fees?

Minier81

jrosen wrote: »

If your crèche is open and your an essential worker and you choose to keep your child home. Will you not have to pay your usual fees?

I believe not. In ours certainly not.

Millem

jrosen wrote: »

If your crèche is open and your an essential worker and you choose to keep your child home. Will you not have to pay your usual fees?

Yes according to this.

Blud

Creches are in a no win position here.

Half the parents will want to send kids in no matter what, and can easily make a case that at least one is an essential worker.

The other half won't want to send kids in due to concerns over the numbers, so will be arguing they are not essential and can easily make that case too. They will then look for fees back.

One of my colleagues has kids in our creche. I'm telling them I am not essential, he is telling them he is. What does the creche do?

Sunrise_Sunset

Unless your creche are asking for proof that you are or aren't an essential worker, such as a letter from your employer, then I don't think they will be able to do much about it either way. How would they enforce it? I'd say whatever you tell them, they will take your word for it and go with that.

shesty

Some creches may also accept kids for financial reasons as much as anything else, which is also understandable.

fits

witchgirl26 wrote: »

I understand it's a health & safety issue. That's why I will be led by the creche on their decision however I am pointing out that it does mean that some people will not be able to work during this time which will have an impact on both them & the businesses they work for.



So last March when it closed down my son was a lot younger, took 2 naps a day & wasn't moving around too much so it was a little easier to manage. Add in that my partner got reduced to 50% hours meant we could just about do it. This time around he's an active 19 month old who wants attention and entertainment constantly, he's not at an age where he can play by himself very long & we're both on full time hours. I'm not saying we completely disregard health & safety - we've been doing our best during all of this to limit contacts etc. What I am saying is that it is going to be extremely tough on people who rely on childcare to be able to work. And if their creche is willing to take the child, then both the creche & the parents have to accept the health & safety risk.

Haven’t read the rest of the posts but I think you can be a bit more imaginative in your response. Two parents. You can take shifts, start earlier, work later. And your employer should give some leeway also. This pandemic situation requires an effort and response from everyone.

youcancallmeal

fits wrote: »

Haven’t read the rest of the posts but I think you can be a bit more imaginative in your response. Two parents. You can take shifts, start earlier, work later. And your employer should give some leeway also. This pandemic situation requires an effort and response from everyone.

I see this kind of opinion a lot on this thread and the other one in the covid forum, like you are selfish, lazy, irresponsible etc for sending your kids to creche. Everyone's circumstances are different and if the guidelines say you can send your kids to creche then it's absolutely up to you what to do. I certainly wouldn't judge anyone for sending their kids to creche. Just keep following all the guidelines and look after your family as you see fit within those guidelines.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Everyone's situation is different. We have a 3 year old and a 16 month old. I have worked from home since March but my wife is frontline HSE so has to be on site in a hospital. She's lucky enough in that although a healthcare professional she typically only works daytime Monday to Friday.

I would really struggle to get much work done at all if they were both at home with me. I'm limited in starting early, finishing late as I need to be in a lot of meetings. It wouldn't be realistic really.

If creches closed we could manage through taking turns on annual leave but we're hoping to keep them in creche and use annual leave to cover situations where a pod needs to close (has happened once since Covid, child was a contact. They tested negative).

If they were a few years older it would be grand.

fits

youcancallmeal wrote: »

I see this kind of opinion a lot on this thread and the other one in the covid forum, like you are selfish, lazy, irresponsible etc for sending your kids to creche. Everyone's circumstances are different and if the guidelines say you can send your kids to creche then it's absolutely up to you what to do. I certainly wouldn't judge anyone for sending their kids to creche. Just keep following all the guidelines and look after your family as you see fit within those guidelines.

Well I didn’t mean to imply that and obviously everyone’s situation is different but there are certainly a lot of cases where people could ease up on expectations of themselves to be 100% productive and where both partners could share the load more fairly.

witchgirl26

fits wrote: »

Haven’t read the rest of the posts but I think you can be a bit more imaginative in your response. Two parents. You can take shifts, start earlier, work later. And your employer should give some leeway also. This pandemic situation requires an effort and response from everyone.

As I said in a follow on post, we did do the shift-style working during the first lockdown but it's a lot harder with a very active 19 month old. Both of our employers are willing to give a bit of leeway but realistically they are paying us to do a job. While my work can be done at varying times of the day & I arrange my own meetings, my partner doesn't always have the same luxury where his job is concerned & is often in & out of meetings all day. To say that it requires an "effort" from everyone is implying that we aren't which I don't appreciate. We have done everything that has been asked of us since all this started.

youcancallmeal wrote: »

I see this kind of opinion a lot on this thread and the other one in the covid forum, like you are selfish, lazy, irresponsible etc for sending your kids to creche. Everyone's circumstances are different and if the guidelines say you can send your kids to creche then it's absolutely up to you what to do. I certainly wouldn't judge anyone for sending their kids to creche. Just keep following all the guidelines and look after your family as you see fit within those guidelines.

Thank you so much for this. Our little boy went to creche this morning. We filled out the form for them honestly & were allocated a place. I wouldn't have tried to blag to get one at all - I know that there are frontline workers who use our creche & I appreciated that the creche put them first & only went to the essential worker list after. The creche numbers are down & they're only operating at about 20% capacity.

fits wrote: »

Well I didn’t mean to imply that and obviously everyone’s situation is different but there are certainly a lot of cases where people could ease up on expectations of themselves to be 100% productive and where both partners could share the load more fairly.

I wasn't putting an expectation on myself to be 100% productive but at the same time, I have deadlines in work that are generous but still need to be met. My partner is a little more tied to tight deadlines. We definitely shared the load really fairly for the past week but it was incredibly tough & while we would have continued to do it if we hadn't been allocated a place, it would have put a strain on the family as a whole, including our child.

fits

You're not the only family under strain.

Frankly Im a bit sickened that some people who don't absolutely need to are sending their child to creche while others are making more of an effort.

witchgirl26

fits wrote: »

You're not the only family under strain.

Frankly Im a bit sickened that some people who don't absolutely need to are sending their child to creche while others are making more of an effort.

I know we're not. And I never said we were.

I'm sorry do you know my full circumstances? No you don't so back off on the judgement there, thanks. We have been deemed to have an essential worker (based on the criteria on gov.ie) in the house, we have been offered a place after all the frontline/medical had been allocated one. We took it up. We didn't force someone else out, we didn't take a place from someone else. From talking to the creche, our classification was one of the lower ones but others were not taking up a place for varying reasons. We didn't cheat the system, we didn't lie or not make an effort. We applied for a place and got it. Sorry if that annoys you :rolleyes:

tfeldi

faceman wrote: »

Edit: found this via Twitter. Fees are mentioned.

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/8fdc1-faqs-for-parents-of-children-in-early-learning-and-care-and-school-age-childcare-services-07-january/

Giraffe have issued an email and it’s as clear as mud. They’re saying parents working from home are an essential worker.

No mention of fee refunds. They’re doing a Ryanair on it

I'm aware of the government guidance but none of the Giraffe communication indicated refunds. Have you or anyone else heard anything specific from Giraffe?

Neyite

Mod:
Can people lay off having a go at other posters please?

You don't get to decide what another family can and cannot do during this pandemic. Everybody's situation is entirely unique and they are the ones best placed to determine if they can avoid sending their child to crèche or not.

Dobbit

tfeldi wrote: »

I'm aware of the government guidance but none of the Giraffe communication indicated refunds. Have you or anyone else heard anything specific from Giraffe?

I spoke to head office today, they said they are working through the information from the minister and they should have a communication in the next day or so...

tfeldi

Dobbit wrote: »

I spoke to head office today, they said they are working through the information from the minister and they should have a communication in the next day or so...

Thanks

pc7

Dobbit wrote: »

I spoke to head office today, they said they are working through the information from the minister and they should have a communication in the next day or so...

We're a big chain too and haven't heard back in terms of fees either. We are juggling at the minute, but I would be sick paying for a service we are not using whilst struggling with the two smallies at home. At least if fees returned it takes a bit of the sting out.
I could be out of luck as our creche would have taken them but I didn't feel I should send them. Hopefully things look better in February.

awec

shesty wrote: »

Some creches may also accept kids for financial reasons as much as anything else, which is also understandable.

Pretty much.

Our creche had to close entirely because they could not afford to open just for the children of essential workers.

pc7

Just received letter from creche stating they will credit 3/4 of January fee's if we get a letter from our employers stating we are not essential workers. Its a tricky one cause I am hoping to send them back in February if the numbers have reduced but am worried they'll then say we weren't essential in January!

Jasper79

pc7 wrote: »

Just received letter from creche stating they will credit 3/4 of January fee's if we get a letter from our employers stating we are not essential workers. Its a tricky one cause I am hoping to send them back in February if the numbers have reduced but am worried they'll then say we weren't essential in January!

Received the same letter. Unsure what to do. Based on the Original working from home means you're not an essential worker we kept our 2 home. But now looks we are good to send them in.