Nursery Fee

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My DD has been going to nursery for over a year now. She started in December 2024.

I pay a fixed amount every month.

Last week I got an outstanding bill of over £800.
When I asked why I had an outstanding balance, because I had paid my fixed amount every month, they informed me the nursery fees went up 10 months ago.

I said I was not aware of this. I was then told that they posted a letter on their nursery app newsfeed. They did not send me a formal letter or an email. I did not see the general letter on the news feed because I don't regularly flick through it. Usually it's just a lot of informal information on the app.

I thought It was only right to receive a formal letter to my home address or email with an increase in fees. It took them 10 months to notify me that I had an outstanding balance. Now I have been hit with not only the increased fees, but also the outstanding £800 +.

I understand nursery fees go up and I'm more than happy to pay the increased fees, but I feel it is unfair to give me an £800 + bill when they didn't adequately inform me the fees were going up.

Would you expect to find out about an energy bill increase on their new feed or would you expect a formal letter?

Do you think this is fair? Just curious of people's thoughts.

Does your contact mention fee increases?

Do you receive a monthly invoice on the app?

Don't you get monthly invoices?

Whats in your contract?

I would be confused too in your shoes. Wouldn't be rushing to pay the £800 that's for sure.

For a fee increase, I would expect it in the newsletter, a poster in the reception area, plus an email to each family too.

Do they not send you an invoice each month to pay though? How would you know how much to pay for that period - most aren't a set monthly fee are they?

I see your point.

The nursery have failed to infor you of the increase in writing.

Contact Citizens advice bureau asap.

@PullingOutHair123 @Brewtiful @KoiTetra They send invoices to the families who pay the actual invoice every month so their payments fluctuates depending on how many weeks are in a month and when the nursery is closed. I pay a set amount each month regardless if the nursery is closed. It's basically the annual fee divided by 12 to have equal payments. The invoices don't apply to to me. I don't get an invoice for my set amount because they said their system doesn't allow that. The invoices are sent to parents via email not app.

My argument is surely they should have been Intouch sooner to let me know my account was behind. I don't have access to it. I just see it when they send me a yearly statement.

No, it's not clear in the contract about fees. It just says information regarding your child and nursery will be posted on the app. It doesn't specify fees. I genuinely wouldn't think to flick through a news feed to look for fee updates.

I’ve never received a letter or email. It’s always been a post on the general nursery app. Maybe they should be handing out letters in person at pick up.

I also missed it one year. I get invoiced too every month but never checked it as was always the same amount. So I suppose maybe it was my fault.
They did nudge me though after 6-8wks. Just to say there was an outstanding balance. They should not have waited 10months. That’s pretty ridiculous. I’d be asking it you can pay it up if possible. It’s a lot of money to find just like that. Especially when u have a kid in nursery, it is one of the most expensive times of life.

Change your standing order to 1/12th of the new fee, and pay the additional for any amount that you've paid at the lower rate since they told you.

Write to them saying "You did not inform me of any fee increase until (date of communication) so the increase cannot apply to payments due before that date. I am happy to pay the new fee from now on now that you have informed me but you cannot enforce a retrospective price change that you did not tell me about. Putting information on a social media feed that no one has any obligation to look at does not count as informing people"

If your child loves the nursery I’d just suck it up and pay it. Ask for a monthly invoice system for in future so you’ll notice fee increases straight away.

I think if your contract says information will be on the app then informing you via the app is reasonable. My other thought would be are you the only one who collects? If not it's quite possible that they have indeed mentioned it at some point.

They shouldn’t have let you accumulate 10 months of underpayment. I would have expected ti be informed within 2 or 3 months at a push.

Yeah you do owe them money I'm afraid. You've not been paying the correct amount each month. Can you login in yourself and see how much credit/debit you have on the account?

Possibly they should have been more upfront about the fee increase and what that means for monthly payments. It should not have taken them ten months to clock on, but you still owe the fees. See if you can work out a payment plan.

@TartanMammy No, I can't log on to anything. They just send statements every so often. The last one I got was on July and I asked why my balance was showing as outstanding. They told the accounts weren't up to date and apologies. I feel they should have picked up on it then too.

Yeah, it's just a lot of money to pay on top of the monthly fees.

We send our invoices each month, we send out letters and emails informing of price or funding changes and we would be contacting you if there was an outstanding amount at least by the second month of insufficient payment amount. It does seem odd they are only chasing you now.

@Bryonyberries Thank you. Yeah, I just feel it's so unfair it's been left to build up so much. Due to them failing to monitor their accounts I've taken the brunt of it with a large bill. Would you say informing your customers on an app which lots of information is uploaded daily is an adequate way to let the customer know.

If you don't want to fight it, it would be perfectly reasonable to ask them to accept you catching up across the next 10 months. Would an extra £80 per month for 10 months be easier?

They should invoice you regardless of whether you pay a fixed fee or not, and definitely send you an email.to inform you of price changes.

Not sure it changes anything to the fact that you owe them the fee though...

@Bearbookagainandagain If an electricity company sent you a large outstanding bill 10 months after increasing their fees and told you they informed you via their newsfeed. I don't think they would get away with that. Martin Lewis would be all over it😂 Why is it ok for a nursery to do it?

I bet they've had an audit or are preparing for an audit and that's where it's been picked up. Especially as there might be more than one family who this impacts.

Do you get the funded hours? If so they need to provide you with an itemised invoice. I wouldn’t be paying an £800 bill if they hadn’t told me of an increase, posting on their newsfeed isn’t notifying you.

They shouldn't have let it build up so much, sounds like very poor admin on their part.

I'd offer to pay it over the next 10 months.

That’s really bad. I’d expect an email and then a follow up/reminder. We used to have a good relationship with staff and they’d also check in person for any major changes.

of course they shouldn’t it to their social media/app. Not everyone looks at that.

I think you can agree to pay the new amount but refuse the £800

@rainbowsandraspberrygin Thanks for your reply. If it wasn't for the fact my daughter goes to the nursery I would definitely take it further, and dispute it. I worry incase it effects her space at nursery. I know it shouldn't, but it could. If they were spiteful.

Absolutely I am happy to pay the increased fees, but why should I end up with the financial burden because they have failed to formally let me know about the increase in fees , and failed to monitor their accounts. It's caused me so much stress worrying about how I am going to pay over £800.
Finding the money to pay for child care is hard enough. V