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Confused at nursery invoice and response.

7 replies

Andrewp1888 · 16/04/2024 17:15

Hi there! Wondering if anyone can shed some light on some disagreements we are having with our nursery.

To stage this, our son , who was 2 in February, started nursery in April. Two days a week 8-6.

when enquiring with the nursery before joining, we asked about the 15 funded hour entitlement and what the actual monthly cost would be. We understood that the nursery would allow us to spread the allowance throughout the 52 weeks of the year, equating to less funded hours per week, but the invoice would remain the same throughout the year.

the email that I had from them was as follows. -

“”15 hours spread across the year works out 10.28 hours free per week.

8-5 2 days is 18 hours per week which leaves on estimate 7.5 hours to pay.

£10.92x7.5 is £81.90
£12.50 (daily consumable charge)x2 is £25

On estimate the weekly cost will be £106.90 per week.””

——-

this would equate to £463.23 per month including the daily consumable charge (which includes 3 meals and snacks etc).

when invoiced, our invoice came to £578.
naturally I queried this, quoting the above email and the response was as follows -

“”I do apologise you are confused, This terms funding works out less hours so its not 10 hours a week. The cost I gave you below was an estimated figure. Please confirm you received our letter regarding the consumables and how they will be charged on a monthly basis.””

I replied, asking for further clarification, as to my understanding, the funding , spread throughout the year, should not differ term to term, hence the reduced hours funded due to the school holiday weeks being unfunded.

I have sent two further emails asking for their calculations, and have not had a reply. I am naturally not settling their invoice until I get a valid response. However I’ve sat and looked at the guidance online, as well as double checking my workings out and can’t see where I am incorrect.

perhaps someone else can lend their insight?

thank you!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
moggle · 16/04/2024 17:28

i would hazard a guess that it is because you have to reconfirm your eligibility for the free hours each term, so they can’t assume you’ll continue to be eligible for a whole year. They have to average the hours on a term by term basis. It should work out the same over the whole year, but the term which includes the summer holiday would come out worst.

so if this summer term = 13 weeks of term plus 1 week half term and 6 weeks of the summer holiday, so 13 weeks of term (13*15 hours = 195 hours) spread over 20 weeks. 195/20= 9.75 hours per week.

Additionally, if they’re invoicing monthly then it will be based on the exact number of days they attend in that calendar month rather than the whole year divided by 12. If they’re attending Monday and Tuesday then there’s 5 of those in April. Weds/thurs/fri there are only 4.

can’t be sure ofc but they’re a couple of things to consider. Unfortunate they did the estimate the way they did.

BusyCM · 16/04/2024 17:33

Yes as above.

It's going to be much more difficult to average out hours. If they give you more than your entitlement for this term, and you don't remain entitled, they will lose out on a lot of money.

Andrewp1888 · 16/04/2024 17:43

Ah I see, thank you.
I’ve emailed them twice and waiting to hear, but this makes sense.

I don’t have an issue paying the amount, however I have an issue with them not responding to explain how it is actually calculated.

I’ll wait for their reply.
thanks

OP posts:
Tumbleweed101 · 17/04/2024 10:19

Our two year olds who were eligible from this term are getting 9.5hr funding on stretched (think it shifts to 10hrs for the final 6 weeks). See what it works out to be if you base it on that amount of funding.

From September it will start again although you'll move to 3yo funding from next April.

hedgehoglurker · 17/04/2024 10:23

Is there also a discrepancy as they sent you the estimate for 0800 - 1700, but you are using 0800 - 1800?

InTheRainOnATrain · 17/04/2024 10:30

Also your estimate is based on 8-5 but DS is attending 8-6.

Looneytune253 · 02/05/2024 19:10

The final term of the year means that you have less hours left at the end of the year. The 6 weeks are quite long so the hours have to stretch further if you've only got one terms worth of hours

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