to think £100 deposit to a nursery is a bit steap for just one afternoon a week funded session?

[WhiteTrash]

We've just moved areas, so DS is starting a new nursery. He went two mornings a week at his old nursery, all year round, didnt pay a penny (from when he was intitled to the funded session when he was 3.5 years old) and didnt pay any deposit. He is starting a new nursery, they only have an afternoon available so not using anywhere near the funded hours yet I still have to pay a bit extra for each session (eh?). They provide no nappies or dinners. They also just informed me they need my £100 deposit. What for?! They said if he stops going, it stops another child going. No it doesnt. They get the funding until my son stops, and they get another child to fill the space when he is gone. Is the above usual in nurseries? Was I just lucky with his old nursery? Excuse the lack of paragraphs, I havent figured out how to do them on my phone.

[WhiteTrash]

excuse the typo!

[merryberry]

Usual argument I've heard is that it is the same amount of paperwork regardless of sessions used.

[scurryfunge]

I would look for another nursery. No amount of admin costs £100.

[TattyDevine]

It sounds pretty reasonable really - you get it back at the end, and it stops you pulling out at short notice, leaving them with a place that might be hard to fill, or just not sending him in and not taking it seriously because he's funded, or whatever.

If you like the nursery, just go with it, you'll get it back at the end, and if not, well, find somewhere else?

The nursery my children went to only one day a week required an £170 deposit PER CHILD. I pulled my son out before Christmas in favour of a local preschool and I got it back - nice month to have a bonus!

They are businesses, essentially, so they run them as they see the need, and tell you up front, its all legal and above board. There are a lot of time wasters and badly disorganised and inconsiderate parents out there, they dont want to lose income over it.

[CarGirl]

Erm they can lose the funding!!!! They have to do detailed returns of who has attended when, if you don't attend regularly then they don't get the funding!

Also in our area the funding is insufficient for the charitable pre-schools to break-even let alone have money to spend on consumables and replace worn out items.

[WhiteTrash]

I didnt know that CarGirl. I assumed they would get the funding until I stopped him officially. I still think £100 is too much, half of that I would be ok with, but not that much.

[CarGirl]

Remember they get the funding in arrears so they have to pay up front for rent, rates, staff costs, consumables etc etc - where is that money going to come from?

They get one lot of money after about 6 weeks and the rest after the term ends if my memeory serves me right.

The whole system is a nightmare to administer from the pre-schools point of view.

If a child only attends sporadically then they probably won't get funding for the child and never had the opportunity to give the place to anyone else.

[TattyDevine]

You may think £100 is too much but how much would a session cost if not funded? Somewhere between £30 and £40 probably - (That's what it costs here for a nusery - preschool is cheaper and comes in at £21 for a 6 hour day)

If you consider that there are 4.2 weeks in a month from a billing point of view, even at £30, a month's fees comes to £132.

Basically, they are getting a month's fees in advance so that if you simply dont send him or dont follow procedures for giving notice if you wish to pull him out, they can recover the cost of the lost fees by not returning your deposit, and not being able to fill the place for a few weeks if you were to faff around and not communicate.

Basically, its like a private landlord asking for a month's rent in advance - in case you dissapear or dont pay.

Its perfectly reasonable really.

[WhiteTrash]

Putting it like that, it makes more sense. Perhaps we were spoilt in the new nursery. Im just not sure where Im going to pluck £100 from! I wish I had known sooner.

[katkit]

one loca lto me wanted £1000 deposit for FT care. it looks as if it's about to go bankrupt!

[TattyDevine]

See, once again Kitkat that would be a month's fees of full time 8-5:30/6pm - 4.2 x £230 a week ish is about £950. Month in advance.

Scary though isn't it.

[curlymama]

It does sound normal.

The funding that nurseries get from the government may as well be a figure plucked out of thin air. For the majority of nurseries it doesn't cover anything like what it actually costs to take a child.

[fluffygal]

My nursery charge a non refundable deposit of £50 as a registration fee. Do you get the £100 back?
£1000 deposit is crazy, for nursery (no idea about preschools) you would be paying a month in advance anyway so where would they expect you to find another £1000?!

[NotRocketSurgery]

If it is refundable, then ok - but REMEMBER to get it back off them /not pay them for the last few weeks when he leaves! IME they won't offer to give it back, I paid for the last few sessions and then had to keep reminding them about paying me back the deposit when they left.