Is it right to charge fees on a Statutory holiday when the child does not attend?  According to ChildForum's online poll:

• 19% say YES,
• 46% say NO, and
• 35% say ONLY IF THE SERVICE REMAINS OPEN FOR CHILDREN.

In its Funding Handbook Guide for Early Childhood Services the Ministry of Education advises all services to include the following information regarding  Statutory Holidays and term breaks as part of the standard enrolment form for parents to sign.  

This enrolment agreement is [inclusive/exclusive ] of school term breaks.

If your service is open on Statutory Holidays, parents need to confirm enrolment for each individual statutory holiday. Note: Please inform us of any alteration in hours.

[insert name of service] is open on the following public holidays if they fall on a weekday. Please tick the days you wish your child to be specifically enrolled for:   

• New Years Day
• Day after New Years Day
• Local Anniversary Day
• Waitangi Day
• Easter Monday
• Good Friday
• ANZAC Day
• Queen's Birthday
• Labour Day
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day

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Should a parent/family not indicate (or not be asked to indicate) on the enrolment form that the child will be attending on a specific public holiday - the family has a right to question being charged fees for this day/s.  

If the ECE service has a blanket policy of charging a fee for children receiving 20 Hour ECE funding for any day/s that fall on a public holiday - this can be questioned.  And, if the ECE service has a blanket policy of 'allowing' families to get a percentage fees reduction for any public holiday by including it as an absence or general holiday day - this can be questioned too.  

The Ministry of Education advises  that an ECE service should not charge fees on public holidays for which a family is enrolled for 20 hours ECE funding: 

"If a child was enrolled for a public holiday and those hours were attested as 20 Hours ECE - no fees can be charged. The funding rates for 20 Hours ECE already take into account costs incurred by services on public holidays." (Source Ministry of Education Q&A for parents)

In regards to term breaks and being charged for general holidays - if you have not indicated and signed that your child will be attending all weeks of the year then you can not be charged for any times when the service closes for holidays or breaks.  

Parents, do not expect to pay donations to public schools or fees to private schools over term breaks, Easter and Christmas holidays and other public holidays.  The same expectation generally applies to early childhood services.

If the ECE service is closed then parents are not receiving a childcare service.  If a child is enrolled to attend usually on a Monday for example, Statutory days that include a Monday such as Labour Day and Easter Monday should be deducted from the family's weekly/fortnightly/or monthly/or term fee invoice.  

In Employment Law, public holidays are treated differently from Annual Leave Entitlements, i.e. statutory days are in addition to and can not be included in annual leave.  For working on public holidays staff are paid time and a half and get a day in lieu.  There is a lack of clarification as to whether early childhood services can charge a surcharge like cafes and restaurants can do (they probably can) for being open and caring for children on public holidays.

If the service is open on a public holiday, then the service can claim Ministry of Education funding for a child's attendance and charge the parent if it is indicated on the enrolment form that the child will attend (or the child is enrolled to attend on that specific day).  20 Hour ECE funding however is not paid by the Ministry to Services for public holidays and as mentioned above the Ministry says services can not charge a fee to replace what might be seen as a loss of income.  

We suggest that ECE services review their fees policy regarding Statutory holiday charging and treatment of public holidays.  If the parent has not signed an agreement for the child to attend on a specific public holiday, then any charge for it may be disputed.

Any families who feel they are being incorrectly charged should first discuss this with the manager or administrator of their ECE service, before deciding whether or not to approach the Ministry of Education and/or the Commerce Commission for help in clarifying their situation. 

Discussion about the pros and cons of charging and paying for public holidays, and the different systems that different services have in place, can be found on the ChildForum Management Network page on this website - click on the highlighted page link to add your views about public holiday charges.