AIBU to not want to pay a full nursery consumable charge?

[Joffmognum]

I use 15 gov-funded nursery hours and the consumables fee works out to £1/hour.

However, my 4yo is not in nappies, they rarely do any arts/crafts etc, and I bring his own food.

They recently put the consumables charge up from £36/month to £65/month for me, and when I asked for it to be reduced as he doesn’t actually consume much, they said no.

This is in a low income/ low cost of living area. I already know someone who moved to a different nursery because of this, but I don’t want to do that as my son without really thinking about it as it took him a while to like this place and has now finally settled.

Is this sort of price normal for a child with their own food/out of nappies? He brings home a painting or decorated biscuit about once a month at most.

Apologies for typo

The extra fees are to make sure the nurseries can function. They aren't for actual nappies and snacks. They can't operate on the hourly rate the government pays them.

I don't think they will change their charge for you. It will be a flat rate.

You can choose if you want to use them or not though

I wouldn't pay it. They need to be honest about what they are actually charging for. It isn't consumables if you supply food etc.

That is quite a hike! I pay £30 pm, my son isn’t in nappies, I provide his lunch but the offer a breakfast and two snacks (he’s greedy so will definitely eat them)

@CodenameVillanelle

The extra fees are to make sure the nurseries can function. They aren't for actual nappies and snacks. They can't operate on the hourly rate the government pays them.

This. The 'consumables' charge are a misleading way of describing it because they're not allowed to do the sensible thing and just outright charge top-up fees. The charge is the difference between what the nursery thinks they actually need to get per hour for your DS to make it economically viable to run and what they get paid by the government, so they're not going to reduce it on request.

Can you investigate what other nurseries in the area are charging to prove your point?

I was under the impression that top up fees weren’t allowed but hiding it in a “consumables” fee makes sense.

Will grit my teeth and pay for it for now, but I wish they were transparent with me about it.

They aren't allowed so they can't be upfront about it. The alternative is that they don't operate. What would you prefer?

They're not allowed to be transparent because then it would shatter the government's pretence that they pay for 'free' hours for all 3/4 year olds...

If you think that the charge is out of line with the norm in the area then I think that's a totally fair complaint and reason to move (though understand your concerns about moving him when settled) but I think charging some top-up fees (and not calling it that) is pretty standard, at least around me. DS's nursery charge a minimum of £323 a month for children using the 15 hour fees! (But that does include some hours at full cost because they set it up so you can't actually just use 15 hours, which I think is also very common for private nurseries)

I would prefer not to have an obligatory fee doubling overnight when promised free childcare.

If there’s nothing they can do to avoid charging this, either the gov needs to increase their funding or let them actually charge a top up fee. If the loophole already exists, there’s no use being dishonest about it

If there’s nothing they can do to avoid charging this, either the gov needs to increase their funding or let them actually charge a top up fee. If the loophole already exists, there’s no use being dishonest about it

I completely agree with you but it really is the fault of government policy, not the nursery.

I would guess that such a big change in what they're charging is because they're struggling a bit because either numbers are down (they are in lots of nurseries) or they lost money during lockdown. The funded terms for DS's nursery have got less favourable and flexible and I'm actually quite worried about it both because it's annoying for us because I wanted to put him in for more hours when he turns 3 and I don't think it'll be affordable now but also because I know it's because they're still not up to full numbers after lockdown and I really don't want them to shut.

Don’t forget the 15 hours is term time only. If your son is attending in school holidays it works out to 11h pw.

The 15 hours funding almost never covers the actual cost of providing the nursery place. Childcare providers will often refer to them as "funded hours" rather than free hours for this reason.

If you are not willing to pay the top up in one form or another, accept that nursery is likely to go bust. If it doesnt, please be aware its because other parents who pay (and probably donate - does your invoice invite donations) are paying for you.

Nurseries are forbidden from "being honest" about it. It is not free childcare. If it was, all the nurseries would go bust.