Nursery requesting 2 months notice

[RustyCutter]

Hello,

My childminder gave notice to the end of December (she’s moving out of the area). In panic, I reserved a space at a local nursery by paying £75 deposit. I am not keen on that nursery.

Today I found a childminder who also runs a small nursery within a space at a church. I loved the settings and felt comfortable so decided to put my LO there.

I emailed the original nursery to say my LO will not be attending. They replied back saying 2 months notice is required therefore my LO’s last day will be the 18th Feb.

My LO has not started yet. No settle in sessions. Nothing. My LO was due to start on 9th January. In the contract it states once the deposit is paid, the spaces are not confirmed until an email is received from the nursery manager. The only email I received was ‘start date of 8th Jan’ which I challenged to say it’s actually the 9th Jan. Then it was just left there.

What are my rights? I was expecting to lose the deposit but not to pay up 2 months notice!

In the email which had the wrong date on, was there a confirmation of sessions or did it just have the (incorrect) start date on it? I'd wager if you're happy to lose the deposit nothing will come of it.

Yes

When did you sign up? Don’t all contracts have a cooling off period of 14 days

When did you sign up? Don’t all contracts have a cooling off period of 14 days

Seems crystal clear to me. I'm assuming you'd had that info before you paid the deposit

I signed up on the 7th December and gave notice 18th December. 11 days? Is there a 14 days cooling off period for this situation?

When did you sign up? Don’t all contracts have a cooling off period of 14 days

Maybe in the UK, or bits thereof? Where I am it’s 5 business days as standard for any contract (with the exception of buying at Auction, including houses, cars etc where there is no cooling off period at all).

It's not the nursery's fault you signed up then changed your mind. It's unlikely they can fill your spot at short notice. They will have worked out staffing and possibly preorded in the food.

You owe them the money you agreed to.

No, although you are considered a consumer and the nursery a trader, the 14 day cooling off period doesn't legally apply in this instance. I will say though that they'd have trouble enforcing their 'contract'. They are bound by regulations which state they can only charge a fair notice period and needs to be justifiable ie how long it takes to fill a space; if its 2 months with the lack of spaces in childcare currently that's worrying. They also can't charge for food and consumables if the child isn't actually attending during the notice period, if the settling in sessions were chargeable and only for part sessions etc that needs to be taken into consideration too. I honestly don't think they'll be able to enforce their contract in any meaningful way, but personally I'd try and negotiate to pay one month and with the above taken into account. One month minus £75, minus price of consumables, minus any settling sessions reduced hours etc. I'd also suggest that as the start date was incorrect on the written correspondence then you could challenge that.

Basically I wouldn't pay 2 months.

This is from the CMA:

Notice periods and cancellation fees may be appropriate in normal circumstances where the business is able to provide a service but the customer decides they want to stop receiving it. However, such terms must be fair. In particular:

• the notice period should be no longer than reasonable for the business to find a replacement child, based on its actual experience. Therefore, where an early years setting has an extensive waiting list, only a very short notice period (a few days) is likely to be justifiable
• where the parent keeps their child in the early years setting during the notice period, no further cancellation fees should be charged,
• where the child is removed from the early years setting, the fees should be reduced to take into account savings the setting can reasonably expect to make (such as savings on food)
• the above must be clearly and prominently set out in the contract, and appropriately brought to the customer’s attention

Where a term is not fair, it is unenforceable, and seeking to rely on such a term is also likely to be considered an aggressive commercial practice and a breach of professional diligence.

It's a standard nursery term, and I'd professionally disagree that it's unenforceable - you agreed to it, recently; they've met the terms. They'd only need to remove consumables if they charge for them separately; if they're included in a single day rate, there is no legal precedent for that needing to be adjusted.

I suspect they will easily chase this; and easily win, if you don't pay.

You could try to negotiate with them and offer them a month's notice paid in full immediately; they may be happy to take that.

Nope, consumables accounted for within the rates should be considered and removed, not just if charged separately. A standard term as recommended by governing bodies is one months notice for both parties because this is deemed largely to be fair.

I suspect they will easily chase this; and easily win, if you don't pay.

Unlikely.

Fair enough, @Christmasbrie. I can’t seem to find any coverage of cases where that has occurred and it’s not something I’ve experienced professionally but it’s also not my area, so happy to defer to you if you know better.