it is wrong but sadly it is the law.

if you can avoid monday's and fridays to send your kid to day care i would.

Hey Sam22,

I have Child Care back ground, and the Daily Fees are set up, and based on 52 weeks per year (Mon-Friday), therefore if PH had no charge then the daily fees would be up about at least $5 or more per day.  One of the reasons as to why Centres do NOT swap days, is because 5 day children are not able to do this, and is not fair for them. CCB is still paid for these days. 

I too am a parent with a child and have to pay for PH, but i understand the way the fees work, as well at the Staff are still paid for that day.

I hope this helps :)

we are about to leave for a family holiday for a family function in new zealand and i did the righty - told my daycare that we are away, which dates etc.  i have only just retrned to work - not through choice - and am paying over half my wage in daycare fees.
i also foound out today that i am going to be charged for the 2 weeks i am away - that is going to leave me close to 800.00 as soon as i get back from holidays - meaning my first 2 pays are gone.
it is not worth working or trying to get ahead.
it is definately wrong - think mr howard and mr costello REALLY need to look at things.

I have a family dayhome.  That is, I care for children in my home, in a family environment.  I have a 6 child limit, inlcuding my own, and there are limits as to the ages of the children; max 2 children under the age of 2, maximum 3 children under the age of three and a maximum of 6 children in total.

Before a family is admitted for care, they are provided with a handbook that outlines all issues that do and may arise when your child is in care.  They must read, sign and return this handbook.  I do this to help alleviate any problems that may occur in the future.  I too charge for holidays (public or statutory).  I do not charge when a child is sick, or when the famiy has scheduled absent days off.  So if they schedule a family holiday, and it falls over a stat or public holiday, then they don't pay for it.

I have a monthly fee that is payable at the beginning of the month.  If there are days missed during the month, then a credit is issued on the following month's invoice.  This monthly fee is extrememly reasonable, and I would be happy to pay this rate if I had my children in a family dayhome.

On average I earn about $2.50 per hour per child.  So about $25.00 per day.  Out of that $25 I have to pay for the extra utilities, the food, the regular wear and tear, the craft supplies, and any additonal costs that arise from that child being in my home.

That being said, many day care centers have a flat monthly fee, no credits for sick days, holidays or anything.  They also have a higher adult to child ratio and can bring in more children.  In my area there are subsidies available to lower income families to dramatically offset the costs of childcare.

I don't necessarily agree with how day care centers operate.  I think it is unfortunate that they are in the money business and not the child business!

Quite likely you would have received an enrolment pack when you booked your child in and it would have been detailed in there about public holidays and charges for these days along with the rules about swapping, I think it's unfair to be charged for these days, but if parents had read the enrollment information you would have been aware of this charge and could have queried this or maybe even looked for another childcare facility.  the staff still have to be paid for these days and quite likely there are other expenses like power, water etc... so in a way being charged for these days can be justified.

unfortunate but true and i guess when you think about it fair as most of us get paid for public holidays if we are permanent, they cant however stop you swapping your days unless they have no vacancies on other days, my advice is unless you work on mondays and fridays avoid these days as most public holidays occur then and i know with my old centre if you booked holidays in advance you only paid half fees so i would be a bit tricky and book holidays around these days!

At least you're not paying penalty rates. Because I work in hospitality I don't get paid penalties when I work Sundays & public holidays, yet my Family Day Care worker charges double for these days.  She is allowed to - and let me know up front - but with 3 kids it still means it costs me $10 an hour to go to work on these days (and it's not optional whether I go!). This is when she actually does work. She had to start doing this as some parents were still dropping their kids with her and going out for the day - even though it was a public holiday or RDO.

Paying for a day booked at a center, but not used, really isn't that bad, I think. Especially if you're being paid for the public holiday anyway.

Yes it was wrong but thats  how most centres work. Its unfair but what can you do . if you needed the day care service  you have no other chose but to pay it .

                                 Which i did  as needed it to leave them there thought the day .i had no where else to leave them

I think it's a load of crap too. Being charged for a day when your not even getting the service is bull****. Rules need to be changed.

Sorry for being so blunt but that is how I feel.

I'm absolutely appalled at all of these responses!!! My daycare does not charge for public holidays. (thank heaven for small mercies). Sickness, yes! But not p/hols.  I'm wondering why you and the other readers are being charged? Is your child care facility owner operated or privately owned? If this is the case then it's clearly a profit making scheme. My daycare is a community based centre, where it's not really designed to make profit, but whatever profit is made goes directly back into the centre. I'm am gobsmacked to hear that you are all being ripped off! So you may want to check whether your child attends a council-run centre, a privately owned centre or a community based centre. If it were my child, I'd be relocating I think!

My previous CC was like this so I thought it was the norm. As annoying as it is, I figue that I get paid for public holidays even if I dont work so obviously CC workers need to be as well. Its either pay for the day or have them incorporated into the fees somehow, thus resulting in higher fees for everyone. If you look at it the other way I would be annoyed if I was subsidising other children for public holidays with increased fees if my kids didnt regularly attend those days.  I think you will find that that is why it is easier to get kids in care mondays and fridays as, like you, people dont like paying for a service they are not receiving.

My new centre actually doesnt charge for public holidays when they are not open and are happy for you to swap a day. Mind you it is a new centre so has lots of space available at the moment.

the daycare my grandson was in before he commenced school charged fees for their entire 3 week Christmas break if you wanted your child re-enrolled for the next year... it hardly seems fair, but sadly it happens, especially if the daycare is one in a heavy demand

This is very common and most daycare centres have the information about fees in the parenting guides. In fact the centre my son starts at clearly states that we will be charged on Public Holidays. You see they have to pay their staff, so most think we have to pay as well.

My centre also states we pay for sickness as well. Don't forget they are a business and they will run it like one.

Hi
One of the biggest reasons when my kids were in day care I tried not to put them in on a Monday
The holidays are a joke and we still had to pay for them
Good luck
Luv Deb