Nursery sundries fee

[lizzlebizzle33]

Hi, so my son goes to nursery for 4 sessions a week (20 hours) and we pay £32 a month for his meals.

Last week I received a confusing letter which stated that the fees would be going up and a chart so you could see how many hours your child goes for and what the price increase will be.

It appeared it was going to go from £32 to £76 which I thought can't be right as that's more than double.

I have just dropped DS off and had a word with the nursery manager and it is right!! From £32 to £76 Just like that.

AIBU to be fuming? For myself and all other parents. I will really struggle to afford this but what other choice do I have but to pay it?

There’s a false statement, repeated several times on this thread, that the OP has been misled into believing her entire nursery package should be free. This just is not true.

Im no fan of the government or its funded childcare schemes. I was amongst those warning about the damage that would follow if the scheme was extended to 30 funded hours at the time when so many people were eager to vote for it, and we were shouted down and abused for our troubles.

But I have to say the current government information is pretty clear about what’s free and what’s not. From the government's central information hub, childcarechoices.gov.uk:-

"The 15/30 hours free childcare/early education early education offer is not intended to include meals, other consumables (such as nappies and sun cream) additional hours or additional activities (such as trips.) Providers May charge a fee for these additions. If you choose to pay for these it is an arrangement between you and the childcare provider. However you must not be required to pay any fee as a condition of taking up a 15/30 hours place, and must be offered alternative options"

This is reflected in the provider agreements (ie funding rules) and parent information literature issued by all local authorities through the childcare providers.

The fact that the OP headed this thread 'nursery sundries fee' indicates she is fully aware she is being charged for optional additional services. It really doesn’t help anyone understand the situation when others keep repeating false information, whether that’s because they simply don’t know the facts or are deliberately out to mislead.

@lizzlebizzle33

Just to clarify, the effect of the information contained in my PP is that you are not forced to pay the new meals bill if you are on funded hours. You must have an option to refuse any charged-for additional services: in most childcare settings this is a simple matter of sending your child with their own meals/snacks, although a few require parents to take them home for lunch instead.

They cannot refuse you your free hours of childcare/education if you refuse to take charged-for additional services such as food. Contact your local authority early years funding team if you meet with any difficulty on this point.

It’s possible you may have opted to take the charged-for meals on an ongoing basis as part of a signed contract. If this is the case then the new meal fees represent a significant variation from the contract terms. As such, you are entitled to sufficient notice of the change, which will be a period of time equivalent to that required to terminate said contract. In most nurseries that’s four weeks, three months, or a school term/half term.

Either way, this should mitigate against the suddenness of the new charges. Hope this helps.