Nursery Fees

[UserShmuser]

It's more of a what would you do or really just a rant because I don't think there is actually anything I can do!

DS (2) has started in a new nursery following us moving house. He took quite a while to settle in to his last one so we were quite relieved that he's settled in well at the new one. There are still tears of a morning but we have seen that he stops pretty much as soon as we leave. We picked this nursery because of its opening hours being advertised as 7:30 to 6, which works well for DH and I as we both start work at 8 about 15 minutes down the road.

Before DS properly started we had an email about annual fee increase changing to £47.50 for a full day. This was not an issue as we were told they increase annually and that is the average price in this area for a full day. However on DS's second day we took him in for 7:35 to be asked if he was booked in for the morning. When we said that he did full days we were told that between 7:30 and 8 is not included in the price and we need to book him in as extra for mornings he will be coming. Nobody could tell me how much extra it was but I was just told that it would be added to my invoice and not to worry about it. I asked for him to be booked in all next month for earlier sessions too as we will have to get him in for 7:30 most mornings. I know I should have spoken to the manager at the time but I've had a million and one things to sort with the new house/old house/car/new job and I just thought it was something that could wait until I got my invoice.

I've just had my invoice and it works out that it's going to cost £54 a day instead of the £47.50 as advertised for a full day. So that's an extra £6.50 for half an hour each day, working out as almost an extra £20 a week. Also I should add that this half an hour is spent in the baby room with a handful of other children so we are paying for him to sit with other children and play with toys that he is too big for.

On their website it says they are open from 7:30-6 but there is absolutely no mention of "breakfast club" as they called it. The fee increase letter says that all meals are included in the price and state the cost is for a full day, states the opening hours as 7:30-6 but then says early sessions may be available with no mention of the times classed as early. I'm sure I read through the contract properly and there was no mention of extra charges for early mornings but the contract is nowhere to be found.

I don't want to take DS out of the nursery as he has settled and it's a really convenient location for us. Is there anything I can actually do about it or am I just going to have to pay?

[Liskee]

Thats bizarre. Check and double check the contract and then go back and challenge the cost. Unfortunately I expect in the long run you'll end up paying for it, but at least you might get them to change their practice and be upfront about the costs.

[needtogiveitablow]

We've had this issue with DS nursery and now we're looking at nurserys for DD all of them operate the same way, charges vary but all of them advertise opening as being 7.30 bit it seems to be the unwritten rule that a standard day begins at 8am and anything prior is chargeable.

[fuzzyfozzy]

Don’t worry about the website, you need to check your contract. On it will be hrs and charges.
Nurseries are struggling with the new 30 hours funding and are trying to bring in extra income, this may be a new change for them.

[howdoyoudecide]

We drop at 0730 and the full day cost includes that time. I would be really annoyed if I were you as that is quite a bit extra. My son will start pre school soon and the school day starts at 0830 and if you drop at 0800 you are charged £2.50 for be 30 mins. Which is reasonable but also clear on the website

[insancerre]

We open at 8 and a full day is 8 till 6
However, we do advertise that we open at 7.30 as we have an early start available but it does need to be booked in advance
It does only cost £2.50 though
The reason we charge extra is to cover the cost of staffing the extra half hour

I do think it's important to communicate fees properly , especially new parents

[welshweasel]

Depends on what the contract that you signed says. Our current nursery is open 7.30am - 6pm and charges by the day/week no matter how much of that time you use. New nursery (when we move) is open 7am - 6.30pm but the core day is 8-6pm and costs £40. It's an extra £5.90 for anything before 7am or after 6pm. But they are very upfront about the charges.

[MsPassepartout]

Agree you need to find and check your contract.

The nursery we used for our DC had similar policies - they were open from 7:30 am - 6 pm, but the standard day rate only covered 8am - 6 pm, and there was an extra charge for 7:30am - 8am.

But this was specified in our contract and the extra cost for 7:30-8am was detailed along with details of all the other costs, so no nasty surprises on the monthly invoices.

[RuskBaby]

Check your contact, one we visited had an extra cost for 7.30 - 8 and 6 - 7.30.

[Siarie]

My dd’s nursery has the same setup, core hours are 10 hours a day and if you want to drop them off at 7.30 you have to pay extra. They make it clear though that the set daily hours are X to Y. I think you could definitely query why it’s not made clear, but it’s standard procedure for nurseries here.

[Firsttimemama2017]

Our nursery is similar, you either sign up for 7.30-5.30 or 8-6. If you need the extra half hour then you have to pay an additional fee- not sure how much mind.

[Ellieboolou27]

Anything before 8m is classed as outside "core hours" my childminder used to charge me an extra £5 per day as I did a 7.30am drop off, you should still have a word though as it needs to be made clear before they invoice you.

[InTheRoseGarden]

I've never come across that before when looking at local nurseries here (South East). I would be really annoyed if it hadn't been made clear in advance.

[Clickncollect]

One of the nurseries I viewed recently does exactly this (and the exact same prices - are you in Essex?!) but they made it very clear when I viewed the nursery.
I would not be happy to find it out further down the line, like your situation!

[DontMakeMeShushYou]

I'd query it with the nursery but be prepared to pay it if he's settled. Maybe I'm behind the times as it's 9 years since my youngest left nursery, but £47 was what I was paying for 8-6 back then so even £54 sounds pretty reasonable for 7.30-6.

[WinteryWalk]

It’s rubbish but unfortunately pretty standard too.

[TestingTestingWonTooFree]

It's annoying but I think they set the prices and you take it or leave it. Check your contract though. We pay £2.50 extra for that time.

[UserShmuser]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to find the contract it's in one of the many boxes still to be unpacked!

I am happy to pay but I'm not happy about nobody mentioning it to us. I had three show arounds, one just me, one me and DH and then we took DS back and the manager showed him all the rooms apart from baby. She even said "He won't go in there" I think that would have been a good place to say "Except if he comes in early for our chargeable early session". I even said to the deputy manager at the end of his first day that he'd be in for half seven the next day and she didn't mention anything.

[BellyBean]

At minimum I'd expect a month of earlies to be refunded, as they could presumably have given a months notice to a change of fees.

I'd insist on website being made clearer too though.

[Invisimamma]

Our nursery is the same it's open 7:30am - 6pm but the standard day session start at 8am, if you want a 7:30am start you need to book it in. It's £6 for 7:30-8am for us, £7 if you want breakfast, and like your nursery that is also all children put together in the the baby room.

Although our nursery is advertised as 7:30-6pm, it is stated in the handbook that the 7:30 start is an extra charge.

We're also charged extra of activities like football, singing class etc so watch out for that too! If you don't pay your child doesn't take part and is sent to another room

[Cutesbabasmummy]

Our nursery isnt. You can drop off from 7.30am and collect at 6.30pm with no extra charges.

[Cutesbabasmummy]

Oh and the kids have breakfast in thete own rooms

[donkir]

This is pretty standard. The Nursery I woke in and my son goes too have set fees for half days, full days 8-6 and school days 9-3.
We advertise as being open 7 till 7 but 7-8/6-7 are extra charges as we only tend to get 1 child in at that time but we legally need 2 members of staff who need paying at £9ph. We also lose £1.50 per hr per funded child.

[donkir]

We also put the older children in the younger room (as this is safer toys wise) until 9am when all staff are in. Some staff have set hours while others share the early starts and late finishes. They also join up at 5 until 6 as some staff like myself finish at 5.

[BusyBeez99]

DS nursery was open 8-6 but maximum hours per child was 9.5. That's what I paid for not the full 10
Hours advertised as open

[Brittbugs80]

Every nursery I've worked in has done full days 730 till 630 and when you pay for a day, you can pick and drop whenever (in-between those times of course!)

My last nursery did full days 730 till 600, mornings 730 till 12 or you could pay for lunch and stay till 1 and afternoons 1 till 6 or you could pay for lunch and start at 12.

I'd check your contract. Also, because of funded children, some nurseries are trying to recoup some costs by charging for extras to cover the shortfall. Many parents think their funded hours are free as they don't pay for them, they are in fact just very very poorly subsidised.

They need to make it clear their charges though. The only restrictions I've known about breakfasts at nursery is that if you come in after 830, there's no breakfast as snack is usually 930/10.