The incredible increasing nursery fee.....

[burstingbug]

Can anybody offer me some advice around my Son's nursery and their belief that parents are bottomless moneypits (which is surely my sons perogative)?

My son has been going to nursery 1 day a week since he was around 6 months old. Back then it was owned and run by a couple who set it up as a retirement business.

The old couple realised that the popularity of the nursery meant the workload was a little too much for them and they sold it. It was bought by someone who runs a nursery in another part of the country and was looking to expand.

So far, so good.

However, since the nursery was taken over (less than 12 months ago) the nursery fees have risen twice, the first time without warning, the second was advertised by a note stuck to the nursery door.

On Friday, bless them, they sent a letter home with DS that had a re-registration form attached. We've not had to re-register with them since they took over, so it was something of a surprise! And some of the terms of re-registration?

1. A non refundable £50 registration fee.
2. We will now be charged a 10% late fee if the nursery dues aren't paid by the designated day (23rd for cheque and 27th for cash)

and finally

1. A £15 per quarter hour charge for late collection of your child.

Is it just me or do these sudden charges seem slightly out of order?

We would change nurseries but there really isn't a lot available in our area and all the registered child minders are fully booked.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

well we had £5 per 5 mins late (but that meant after 6pm, when they should be shut, rather than after the time we said we would be coming).

We had a refundable deposit taken at registration, and no late payment fee.

Suspect they are taking the piss, but not a lot you can do about it.

number 3 is normal - DSs nursey was literally £1 per minute late. It's meant to be a deterrant.

A late fee seems fair enough too really although DSs nursery didn't do this. Not sure baout the £50 non refundable registration fee. A deposit is normal but you're already there! What do you get for that £50? What are they doing that costs that much??

The £50 re-reg. fee is a bit off, that doesn't make sense at all. The other two points are pretty standard though.
It sounds like they know they can push their luck with two fee increases and this silly £50 thing if there isn't much else in the area and who wants to disrupt and unsettle their child anyway?
I would write a letter expressing your concern and question the £50 fee. Parents are going to have to let them know they're not happy with the situation or you never know what may come next!

I would say that the two increases without formal notice in less than 12 mths is out of order let alone the rest of it!!!! We have an annual rise that we are notified of in writing 30 days before it kicks in. We don't have any late payments fees although we do have to pay a week ahead of the month which was annoying at the beginning. I would say that the £50 reg fee seems ridiculous given you are already registered but it does sound they're playing on the lack of services. I would write a letter or request a meeting with the manager to discuss your concerns or perhaps try and speak to some of the other parents to see perhaps if you could speak to the manager as a group. Perhaps if they see that you aren't all just going to sit and take it, the next rise might get put off a bit longer!

Thats what me and DH thought. The old owners were fab and used to come and collect DS1 and drop him off again for 50p a trip too.
Many people withdrew their children when the new owners took over as it went down hill rapidly and the owners put it down to teething problems, well I don't see how they could still have had teething problems several months down the line!
Things have improved, it's almost a year now, but we're still warey.
DS1 is only staying there til November when he'll be 2.9 and can move to a totally different place into a really nice pre-school.
But as my op says, we are quite limited on childcare options. We can't afford nursery fees for DS2 who gets looked after by my Mum, who also has DS1 for the other 2 days that I work.
It would be too much for her to have both of them for the 3 days and I also feel that it is good social interaction for DS1 at nursery where he gets a break from his baby brother.

We always paid at the end of the month too, now a few months ago they changed it to wanting the money at the start of the month, there is no way we can afford 2 sets of fees in one go. We did have a word with the manager about this a few months back when they first asked for the change and were told that it was fine still to pay at the end of the month. Now they're telling us that we can't.
We did send a letter in October saying that we wanted to withdraw DS from their care as we wern't happy, they talked us round by saying that the present manager had only just taken over a few weeks previously and was making changes to the facilities. They wanted time to prove themselves.

When the new owner took over, did you get a new contract? They seem to be changing the contract on a regular basis and you do not seem happy with that, quite rightly. I am not fully sure what the legal situation is when someone takes over a business, but I suspect they have to honour a previous contract until they issue a new one. Once the new one has been issued, then either you as a client sign the new contract or take your business elsewhere. The re-registration form I suspect may be a new contract. Perhaps Trading Standards can advise you.

I would expect a nursery in this position to not charge a registration fee for children who are already attending, but to introduce this for new children joining the group. Late payment fee and late collection charge are quite typical in my view. Requiring payment in advance is also more typical these days - it makes it hard for parents to return to work.

The regulator (Ofsted if in England) will not deal with this sort of thing, as it is a contract dispute, not really an issue over quality of care provided. They will however deal with any issues over quality of care, so if the National Standards are not being met and complaining to the manager is getting nowhere, then Ofsted could be informed.

It's a pain but when nurseries change ownership, things do change and not everyone will like those changes.

NN, Ofsted issued them a notice of improvement in Aug or Sept last ye iirc!

Contact the Early Years dept at your local council re the re-reg fee as AFAIK you cannot charge a reg fee anymore.(I'm on a Playgroup Committee and we've just been told this). Or try your local CIS?

DH is going to contact early years, and I've got to get in touch with cis again as I think we're going to look at the chidminders in this area again. I looked into cm vacancies last year when we weren't happy,