To ask for a nursery refund

[Bobby80]

We stay in Edinburgh and all children in Scotland get free full time nursery places from aged 3 until they start school.

We moved to the area in April and our first choice nursery had no funded places left so we opted to put our daughter in 2 days a week and pay privately (£3500 up front for the year). We’ve been told a child is leaving in Oct and there will be a full time funded place. We’ve accepted.

Am I unreasonable to expect a partial refund of what we’ve paid up front given that from Oct on her place will be paid for by the Scot Govt even though it’s already been paid (well 2 days a week ) by us. It seems that as it stands the nursery will be paid twice for the same service. I’m not sure how to bring this up with them without being ‘that parent’ 😬

Yes it would be good of them to refund you but if your contract says otherwise then it is what it is.

Sounds like great news to be getting 250% of the hours you'd paid for! I hope you get some money back, but do-try and remember that you were so blown away by their nursery that you'd rather have paid for just 2 days than had 5 days funded elsewhere. You've not lost any money, you've gained a spot right at the top of their waiting list!

I would not have accepted a funded place without asking this first. Why did you accept a funded place when you already had a paid place? Surely the subject of finance must have raised itself at some point.

Because the paid place was for 2 days and the funded is for 5….

Do you mean you have already paid fees that cover two of your child’s nursery days after October?

I like this way of thinking of it.

Yes. We’ve paid for 2 days until June.

Are the funded hours year round or just term time? If only term time and you’re able to use the nursery year round, could the money paid for the 2 days a week be used to cover holiday weeks

I would definitely approach it now from the point of view of, having secured the full time funded place you no longer need the paid for hours so what is their policy for refunding you (maybe minus 1 month worth of fees as a notice period perhaps)

A few questions before I can decide... why did you pay the whole year upfront? That's really not usual, most nurseries would be a deposit plus a months fees upfront then a monthly bill.

How many hours will your child be doing? The funded place will be for 30hrs, term time only, so if you're taking a full time place that's more like 50hrs (5x 10hr days) and fees would still be owed.

As @Invisimamma says, the SG fund 30 hours a week which is usually just 3 days at a private nursery given they are open 8-6. Plus, it’s term time only so there’s 13 weeks a year where you would get no funding. Sounds like the 2 days a week is topping that up?

It is just the policy to pay a full year up front.

its term time only. So we have paid for 2 days 9-3 from Aug-June (minus holidays). In Oct we swap to a funded place. Mon-Fri 9-3. So effectively the initial 2 days are being paid for twice, once by us and once by Scot Gov.

With that extra info I think you should ask for a refund as the SG funding should be covering all of your hours.

That does sound strange then. If you are only using the 30 hours in terms time only then you should be refunded IMO.

Thats very inclusive (not)
Sounds like a way to secure an affluent cohort without being openly discriminatory (and possibly breaking the terms of the state funding)

Is this a nursery attached to a private school? Are you using any wraparound care, usually this wouldn't be included in the funding. Many of the private school nurseries also have additional caveats on the funded hours making them more difficult to use than it might first appear.

Of course they should refund you for the days that will now be funded by the government. Asking about it will not make you “that parent”, you shouldn’t even have to ask.

I think it's really simple

'Good morning [nursery manager's name],

Please can you confirm when I will be in receipt of the refund of x amount (do the calculation for what you are owed so they understand what your expectations are) for the replacement of non-funded pre-paid hours to fully funded hours for [child's name] from October.

Many thanks
[your name]

I would keep it light and simple.

Sorry I totally missed that