Mums with experiences of UK nurseries

I would have to re read the contract but my nursery I believe offers a slightly reduced cost if you give the correct amount of notice for a holiday but I also know a lot of nurseries still charge full cost.

If you're not paying for the days at all, I can't see why they'd have to hold them for you. You'll have to check your contract and if you're using the government funded hours, you'll have to check if you're still eligible to use this for a month long period while your child isn't actually attending.

Nurseries I've worked at have a set number of days holiday you can take and you don't pay those sessions as long as enough notice is given, but it's only usually a few days.
Essentially if you wanted to reduce days that would be a change to your contract and those spaces then become available for another child on the waiting list to fill. Once they offer that place then that child fills those days and you would have to wait and see if there was enough space for your child to increase their attendance days back up when you returned from holiday.

The likelihood of them being able to fill 3 days for just a month or two is slim to none. People start nursery with the idea of it being a long term thing. If I was taking a month out I’d expect to pay in full x

I have the same problem too. The nursery he attends is very popular in our area (London) and always has a very long waiting list. I reduced my child’s days to 2 days week before. I had to wait for 2 months for the extra days when other babies moved to the toddler room. Their policy also expects us to pay even when we’re not using it. It’s ridiculous 😒.

It would depend if they have a waitlist, if there is a child waiting for those particular sessions they may give them to them once you reduce your sessions which means your sessions won’t be available when your return.
Have you asked if maybe you can reduce to half days for the whole week? This will reduce your bill but it’s less likely someone will want afternoon sessions.

It’s definitely worth reading your contract and the terms and conditions you signed as well as the rules for funding in your local authority. You should be able to call them to see if you reducing will impact your funding claim. Please be mindful of this though as some authorities will remove funding if a child doesn’t attend for a certain time period x