Nursery want ££ s in back payment due to their miscalculations. Help!

[StationeryNerd]

Hello, This is my sister's account so please excuse.
Can anyone help me know where I stand?: our nursery provider has asked for a chunky sum of money. They have said it's because they've been undercharging us. We moved from 3 days to 4 earlier in the year, which I told them in writing. They've now said they've wrongly still been charging us for 3 days so they want the extra back. What do I do, is there any precedent for challenging it?

We didn't notice the error ourselves because it landed at the time the government 15 / 30 hours funding came in, as well as our tax-free childcare allowance so we just assumed it was correct given those 2 variables too.

I just don't have £2,300 spare!

You still should pay even if it was their mistake. You should have checked your invoices were correct, and they have provided a service for a days less pay a week!

Ask if you can set up a payment plan.

Insist on a breakdown of the figures, including how the govt. funding impacts it.
Tell them that if the figures are incorrect then you will adjust your monthly payment as you are unable to pay a lump sum.

I'm a childminder and I undercharged someone once for a few months (total only about £400) and I didn't ask for it back. Not sure where you actually stand, but I'm sure they can't demand it back in one go. Can you offer some much a month?

@StationeryNerd
Have you done the calculations for yourself taking into account funded childcare hours and childcare allowance to check, or are you once more assuming the nursery is correct?

And tbh, why on earth didn't you work out what the extra would be before adding a day to the plan? - surely you budgeted ahead to see if you could afford it.

But surely you know what you expect to be paying?

I’m not the OP but it’s really not that simple once you factor in term time for the free hours, charges for lunches, tax free amounts etc

What does your contract say on the matter?

Once you've checked the calculations then yes a repayment plan even if it's £50 per month.

Will the monthly get reduced further with future funding as that will help your budget to pay it off.

Surely you checked your invoices to see how the 3>4 day change plus the funded hours worked out? Did you not notice the days hadn’t changed?

At the end of the day, they can easily demonstrate it was a genuine error and you were clearly erroneously undercharged. You used the service and you can’t just refuse to pay. The best you can hope for here is a payment plan so you’re not having to pay the full whack at once. Don’t mess about, people have lost nursery places over stuff like this.

I realise it's not a straightforward calculation but you must have known at least roughly how much you'd expect to pay when you budgeted for the extra day. I think you need to pay this back but do check their calculations first

Assuming the calculations are correct, you obviously need to pay it. But they should agree a payment plan with you.

Probably the most important question to ask yourself is - do you want/need your child to continue to attend this nursery?

Firstly would want to see the revised invoices and the originals and compare the amounts. Secondly did you apply for the funded hours ans provide the nursery with the code? If not you will not have received the funded hours as the nursery will not have been paid.

I would then check the calculations and if correct would agree a repayment plan.

You'll need to pay it - ask them for a full breakdown then you'll need to negotiate a payment plan over time.

Not interested in a pile-on. It's really not called for. No, like I already said - we didn't clock it ourselves because it's really not as simple as you might think. It's not a case of seeing, say, a clear £80 less per week and not noticing. There are multiple variables: 15 hours per week are funded by the Local Authority, and that's not equally spread through the year, it only applies to some weeks. On top of that, there's also tax-free childcare that changes the sum. On top of that, the nursery also changed their fees. So yes, when we were given the 'new' invoice by them it all looked normal.

I've asked them for all the revised invoices so I can compare. I've also since found that 3 other parents within the same room are in receipt of different invoices, despite our kids being in the same room and no. of days. The nursery has told me this afternoon that they've made other errors and 'an update will be provided' so it's clearly a fuddle.

Seems like you've already got your answer- first step is the breakdown of fees charged including their calculations for the funded hours. I just wanted to say though, I can one hundred percent believe it was a genuine error- I remember those nursery invoices being unholy complicated. Hope it all gets sorted. X

Did you really have absolutely no idea what you'd be expecting to pay before increasing the day care you were taking by 33%? If you don't now have the money to cover the mischarging I really don't understand how you were in a position to afford to be so laid back about budgeting before making the change.

Ask for a breakdown and if you can pay in instalments

You will need to pay it I would say. But it's annoying. The system is ridiculously complicated and the nurseries are not receiving adequate funding from the government to cover the 'free' hours.

I really don't understand why you're being so disrespectful to the OP - It's completely different to pay a lump sum of thousands in one go - than an additional uplift each week which would be nowhere near that figure? It's seems to me the OP has done nothing wrong. They're simply asking if they have to pay it back all
In one go- hoping from some support from someone else who had been in the same position / they're probably wishing they hadn't bothered.

Yes @IrisTea I agree. Some people are just here on Mumsnet for a fight and it really makes me cringe a little bit. The OP was very clear in her original post that it’s an extremely complicated system and so they didn’t notice, I can sympathise with that. The government funding has caused a lot of confusion for a lot of childcare providers and we know a few people that have had the opposite thing happen – the provider has realised they’ve got their sums wrong and have tried to offer a kickback. It’s certainly not as simple as seeing that you’ve been paying 33% less. Not sure why people didn’t read that bit.

To the OP, I would be asking for a payment plan over perhaps six months @StationeryNerd

Ask them to provide the calculations so that you can check and agree them. They should also send a letter to all affected parents and apologise for their error.

Then work out how much extra you can afford to pay without leaving yourself short and agree a payment plan with them.

Yes, you owe them the money, but they can't leave you short due to their mistake.

Okay but it is? I’ve done it for my 6month old. And calculated both 15 hours from January and 30 hours from next September when it changes.

If you used the hours of childcare you should pay for them. I’m not sure how you didn’t notice the bill was too low?