One month notice to Nursery even before baby formally started??

[Tara2011]

Hi!
My little girl went to her first settling in session at the nursery on Monday but I realised that day that I will have to travel out of country indefinitely for a personal emergency. I went to the second settling in session yesterday and spoke to the nursery manager before dropping my baby to know my options. He said that he will look into the matter and tell me options in a couple of hours when I go to pick my baby. On my return he said that I will either have to pay for three months to keep the place (which sounded fair) or the option two was to withdraw but I will have to pay one month of nursery charges. I was surprised that I would have to pay that even though my baby hasn?t really formally started at the nursery but they insisted that she had started on their system so I will have to pay. Has anyone got any experience of something similar or know who I can speak with to get an impartial advise? They were also very rude which has annoyed me and I do not want to pay them especially after such behaviour. Any thoughts/ advise will be gratefully received.
Many thanks for your help in advance.

I'm not overly familiar with nursery contracts, but a childminder would expect 4 weeks fees in lieu of notice as per the standard contract and then you's have to hope there was a place on your return, or half fees as a retainer for the three months, which would mean there would be a place on your return.

But again it depends on the childminder, if she could fill the place, she may prefer to do that if she needed the income, but childminders are likely to offer as bit more flexibility, well, I would!

Check your contract, I am pretty certain you would have to pay a month's notice. It sounds fair to me. they may have turned away someone else.

I hope all goes well for you

I would suspect that the contract formally started when you accepted the place. Since that time you have started the settling in process, so to me that also indicates that you have accepted the terms of the contract.

You are wanting to terminate the contract during the initial settling in period, so I would have thought that terms for ending it would be more favourable but they don't have to be any better than those offered if ending it after your child has been there 6 months or more.

To keep the place open you would need to pay, to terminate the place you would need to pay for the first month. Sounds reasonable, it's not the nurseries fault that you are no longer requiring the place.

I think that if you did not want to pay the month's notice, then you would need to put in a challenge against the contract terms, probably that the cancellation fee is excessive. Office of Fair Trading: Unfair contract terms guidance. If you wanted to go down that route then a starting point would be to contact Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 08454 04 05 06 and discuss it with them. They may be able to offer advice about if the term might be considered unfair, and what the legal process would be and perhaps costs involved.

Keep in mind that it can cost money and involved time, effort, and stress if you decide not to pay the money the nursery is requesting.

If you are happy to pay 3 months fees to keep the place why are you annoyed at paying one months notice? Presumably you can get another place when you get back.

I would imagine you need to pay as the place has being reserved for your daughter. Unless you could perhaps ask if they have a waiting list and another child to start. It does sound fair to me and they need to continue to pay staff etc. I would imagine this is standard practice.

I guess you are right that I would need to pay and thats fair. I think I am just annoyed with their behaviour! Oh well... thanks anyway for your responses.

what does your contract say?

As a childminder, either party can cancel the contract immediately within the first 4 weeks.

If your daughter had really not settled there, would they still insist on a month's notice?

Agree with the above, on a childminding contract either party can cancel within 4 weeks with no notice. Would hqve thought a nursery would be the same.

Regarding the two previous posts, I would say that TYPICALLY a CM contract would allow either party to cancel during the first four weeks without payment of further fees, but this is not a hard and fast rule, and where it is allowed it is intended as a child welfare measure (i.e to allow for the occasional instance where a child does not settle and is miserable). This case is not about the child's welfare, it is about a parent changing their mind and wanting to break their agreement, albeit for what may be pressing personal reasons. I think it is possibly more likely that a CM would share the financial "hit" in the circumstances, but that a nursery will be more hard-headed and have stricter procedures to follow, and perhaps more concerns about setting unacceptable precedents. But either way, I would say that it is fair to the childcare provider that you should pay, and generous if they do not press it.

I am a CM and you would not have to give me notice in the first month, but you would have given me a month deposit which you would not get back in these circumstances, so it amounts to the same thing really.

Take her out and don't pay if you don't want to! What are they going to do?
Send the baliffs round to repossess the baby? :o