Snack price at nursery

[Dani91x]

Hi needs some advice in regards to snack prices at nursarys my sisters has been given a masive bill for 5 months worth of snacks after stating that meals are included in the fees when applying my sisters boy recieves 2yr funding and prices on the bill are stated as £60 per month this is for 12 morning sessions which =£5 per snack per session when i asked what those snacks are nursary said a carton of milk a fruit and some breadsticks/crackers £5 is surely to much for this anyone els have this problem

Milk is free to nurseries.

It's just a way to get more money in. It might cost £5 an hour for the nursery to provide a place but the government only funds £4.50 per hour. They either refuse to take funded children or find a way to fiddle the system.

Basically, the """free""" places scheme doesn't work.

Children on 2 year funding shouldn't get extra charges. I would speak to your local authority about it.

Did she get any information or sign any agreement about paying snack charges beforehand?

Surely they can't just leave it and then charge for 5 months in one go anyway- sounds dodgy to me! Don't have any advice on how to sort it but I'd certainly be asking them that question on Monday morning as their answer might give more away.

I moved my kids from a private nursery for this very reason, when they got the funded hours the nursery started charging £9.50 a day for food. I moved them to a council funded pre school that charged 25p a day for snacks!

Mine didn't charge for snacks, it was usually just fruit or a biscuit, but included in the price of the session if paying, or the government funding. We had to send a pack lunch, and occasionally other bits (eg. Pack of cakes for class party) but stopped been billed once DS qualified for 2yo funding.

We did question why they would allow the debt to build up before notifying my sister and also why there was not letter or amy info in the starter pack that she received it olnly says meals include in the fee so this also is confusing we have a meeting with the manager of tbe nursary on Wednesday my sister is a single perent and has not gone back to work since little was born and due to covid going back was an option for her yet so she has claimed benefits and her 20 child benifit a week will now only cover this we asked if he could bring his own snacks and they said no outside food allowed

I’d be refusing on the grounds its not in the contract she signed up to and that is that.

We pay £18 per day on funded hours to cover the shortfall but they’re up front about it and it’s affordable for us. They don’t disguise it as ‘snacks’ though.

This comes up time and time again. The funding doesn’t cover the ‘free’ place, so nurseries have to charge extra or go out of business. They aren’t allowed to charge top up fees (there’s a thread on here from a parent moaning that they’ve been charged £1.12 per hour or something for a ‘free’ place and lots of people on there saying that’s illegal) so many charge a crazy amount for food or craft instead and get round it that way.

That said, charging for 5 months worth of snacks all at once is unfair. It may be your sister needs to pay up if she wants to keep the place, but perhaps if she explains her situation she could pay it off gradually or something.

2 year old funding 8s paid higher than 3 and 4 year olds and shouldn't have any compulsory charges....id tell them ill bring my own snack in a pack of apples is about £1......talk to your LA