Hi Mums,
In despair at the moment at the hiking up of nursery fees!
Our nursery has not only increased the day rate by £11,but also shortened their “full day” hours and excluded breakfast.
It means that for the same hours/ meals as before,it is a 33% increase 😱😱
Really unhappy and I know a number of people have contacted the nursery but they don’t care (I won’t even get into what their profits were last year…)
I don’t really want to move kiddo elsewhere,as they are really happy - but I’m sure that “unreasonable” increases are not permitted by law,from what I’ve read.
How do I determine what constitutes “unreasonable”,and who else could I speak to outside of the nursery to raise my concerns?
Thanks x
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Unfair nursery fee increase?
Bexyla · 11/12/2023 21:44
Pinkpinkpink15 · 11/12/2023 21:58
Is it a small nursery or one of a chain? Why are you so convinced they had huge profits last year?
Bexyla · 11/12/2023 23:33
Thanks for your messages.It was easy to find the information on Companies House regarding their profit last year.They are a medium-sized company - locally based with a few branches around.
In terms of the contract,I don’t seem to have a copy which is annoying so I can’t say too much about what their terms are - but they do state a minimum time for changes to contract which they haven’t stuck to themselves.
It was my husband who found something about UK Competition Act which prohibits companies from engaging in “unfair” pricing.
I appreciate costs are rising and I don’t object to a small annual increase - but this seems quite extreme and has taken it from being one of the more reasonably priced nurseries in the area to the most expensive.Yes - we could look elsewhere but we’d rather look into this more before disrupting our child’s care.I didn’t think there would be any harm in just asking other people’s understanding of this,but I’ll admit I’m quite disappointed by a small number of passive-aggressive “if you don’t like it - tough” comments.It’s attitudes like this that enable price hikes to continue.I have no issue with companies making profit (that’s what they exist for!) but 30% in one go just doesn’t seem right.Does cost of living not affect us too?!
Bexyla · 12/12/2023 06:58
That sounds so difficult- I really feel for you :(
We always wanted 3 children as well but it now looks like this won’t be feasible purely down to childcare costs.It’s really wrong that this is a deciding factor in planning a family…
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