Nursery asking for extra fees for 15 hours funded

[Teacup40]

Good morning everyone, I wonder if anyone can help me?
My son is entitled to 15 hours funded care and is due to start in September. We have had a fair few visits and all fine until yesterday on his last visit before starting in September they told me that there is a £100 registration fee for tapestry and uniform etc I asked if this is compulsory as I'm not too bothered about uniform and I noticed other children without uniforms she advised me it was, is this correct? I don't want to come across as entitled I'm so grateful for the 15 hours he gets but I just know I'm struggling already and will not have the £100 fee so if this is right I'll not be able to send him.

Nope, even PRIVATE nurseries have to abide by the rules if they claim funding.

A1.41 Local authorities must take all steps available to ensure that the free entitlements are available free of charge and therefore that providers do not charge parents for the following in connection with the entitlement hours:

• Top-up fees (any difference between a provider’s normal charge to parents and the funding they receive from the local authority to deliver free places)
• the supply of or use of any materials, including, but not limited to, craft materials, crayons, paper, books, instruments, toys, or other equipment or learning resources that are necessary for the effective delivery of childcare
• business running costs, including, but not limited to, rent, staff wages, cleaning materials, insurance, or utility bills such as energy, gas or water
• registration fees as a condition of taking up a child’s free entitlement place
• non-refundable deposits as a condition of taking up a child’s entitlement place
• general charges, including but not limited to, non-itemised enrichment charges, sustainability charges, business continuity charges, additional charges, enhanced ratios, hourly rates, or any other supplementary charges on top of the free hours
• any additional fees that are not specifically identified and itemised as being for chargeable extras as described in A1.33.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2/early-education-and-childcare-effective-from-1-april-2025#part-a-free-places

I work in a nursery and we are always VERY upfront about our charges. Right from the enquiry stage. Not a good sign they've sprung it on you like this.

These charges are common (and due to rubbish funding often they're needed) but under legislation, nurseries must offer places that are free to parents. If your child is doing more than 15 hours, eating nursery food and going on nursery trips, charges are to be expected. But otherwise no, it shouldn't cost you money. And they know this. (Or should).

We have uniform but also parents can buy the similar uniform from Asda etc without a logo. There was a big thing a few years ago about secondary schools forcing parents to pay ££ for the schools logo uniform. But they cannot do this.

Tapestry will be the app they use to update parents. Whilst yes of course this costs a significant amount of money...they are paying for it regardless of whether your child starts or not and I don't think they can exclude your child from being on the app.

Bottom line is the government need to find nurseries properly but parents are struggling too! There has to be a balance.

My advice is tell them you will not be able to afford it and contact the local authority if you get any issues. Or look for another nursery, I guess. They shouldn't be funny though. (It's a common thing) If they are, maybe it's not the right one for your family anyway.

eTa ; work at a private nursery. Private nurseries that offer funded places must follow the guidance.

They CAN charge a reg fee as long as ALL children are charged that same fee.

They cannot only charge funded hours parents, they absolutely can and always have been able to charge a reg fee.

It’s not a condition of funded hours, it’s a condition of the nursery for all people, totally allowed.

@Mrsttcno1 do you work in a nursery?

yes but they're not funded, the nurseries get paid way under what it costs to run them. So if people kick off about extra charges, you'll just find that fewer and fewer nurseries accept funded hours.

You've misread it. The nursery can't make paying an extra charge a condition of taking up a funded place.
Doesn't matter if they also make an extra charge a condition of taking up a private place.

The funded place must be provided without any extra charges.

Isn’t this in relation to local authority run nurseries (of which I think there are very few)? I don’t think it applies to private nurseries?

No it applies to all settings. It mentions LAs because they are the ones administering the funding in their area.

God this thread! How many more poster are going to incorrectly state the nursery can charge a registration fee? Tools.

Probably because it is so common - this article suggests 70% of nurseries in the UK and 89% in London are charging registration fees.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-12946679/amp/UK-nurseries-charge-parents-non-refundable-fees-199-child-waiting-list.html

This suggests all of them are now breaking the law…?

Because nearly all of them do and I can’t believe such widespread application is wrong…ever considered you might be?

No this is all settings, whether private, community, school based, home based etc, that provide funded hours.
All settings including the one in the OP will have signed a provider agreement with the LA to say they will abide by the government rules.

This clarified guidance came in April and some elements settings have until 1st September to ensure they are compliant.

It's a reasonably new update, come in largely because parents were saying it was still too expensive. So instead of providing more funding, they just got stricter with settings! Not ideal at all.

I see why they are doing it, some of the larger firms will wait until lawful action makes them change and smaller settings will be thinking 'well of the big guns are getting away with it....'

None if it means they are allowed to by the letter if the new guidance though. And as we've seen, parents for the majority are fine with paying it.

You'll find cms dont make these kind of changes (some might) so parents will find them cheaper if parents are funding nurseries too expensive.

Tbf it had always been the rules, but LAs tended to look the other way.
After a parent complained to their LA about a nursery charging additional fees and was basically told the nursery could do it, they went to the ombudsman who found it wasn't legal.
So now LAs have been told they must ensure free places are free.