'Voluntary' payments

[Pierrette]

My 3-year old daughter attends a privately owned nursery 4 mornings a week. This should be free, since we are entitled to government funding (she only does 12 hours out of the 15-hour allowance). However, we have been presented with an invoice 2 terms running for around £250 - a so called 'voluntary' contribution, though we are made to feel we need to pay it, since the nursery would be unable to run effectively otherwise. Is this normal?! I was not made aware of this when registering her, and we are struggling to afford the amount.

Voluntary means voluntary.

Lots of schools and nurseries fund raise, and some ask for voluntary contributions. But the key thing here is voluntary. There should be no pressure (direct or implicit) to pay.

The snag here is that the funding formula for the "free" hours doesn't cover costs. Nurseries cannot afford to run at a loss. There have been a few threads about this - and it seems some nurseries are withdrawing from the scheme or deciding to close.

It's difficult. The charging of top up fees has been explicitly banned, but nurseries have to make ends meet.

You could refuse to pay, pay a lower contribution that you're happy to offer, or start looking for a different nursery.

Dont pay it. Early learning funding is supposed to be free at the point of delivery.
I could understand it if you dd stayed longer hours or had lunch or some extra services, but she doesnt.
When you say 4 mornings do you mean 0900 - 1200?
My private nursery (I am the owner) does not charge as we are not allowed to.
I do understand though that it is not cost effective to just have children attend for 3 hours every day as if youve got a lot of places taken theres not enough to pay the wages, rent, heating, insurance, etc etc