Charging us for food despite bringing in lunch

[Ggggggggggggggggyh]

Help! Has anyone experienced this before? When our nursery decided to start charging 8.00/day for my toddler's lunch and snacks, we immediately told them that we will begin providing him with his own lunch (we have always provided him with his own snacks). He goes to nursery 3 days a week so that's £24.00 per week to feed him if we let the nursery charge us for food. The first lunch we packed was not eaten because no one had passed on the message that we were providing him with his own lunch now. The second lunch he finished entirely but then the third one he only ate half. The nursery decided to give some of their food to him which he ate. We continued giving him his own lunch and we made sure he gets lots of delicious and nutritious meals. However, the invoice came and we discovered we were charged a total of £40.00 for food because my son had not eaten some of the lunches we made for him on some days he went to nursery. We were not informed about this and I was shocked to see that they made the decision to charge us without letting us know. We are trying to cut down the cost of childcare and the meals are definitely a big contributor to the expense hence we decided to provide it but I can't understand why they would tell us to pay for feeding our child their own food when we already provided him with his own. It's ridiculous.

This is why I use a childminder - whose hourly rate is the same as the funded hours she gets paid from the LA. - now if she can make it pay as a business then so should others. I pay no top up and have full benefit of the 15/30 funded hours

@DragonFly98 OPs post at 21.20 last night states it is £8 per hour. Not £8 for the lunch break and £8 for the food. She has said she is invoiced £108 per week for 13.5 hours excluding fee which works out at £8 per hour top up.

@mummyh2016 No, it is 8.00/hour AND 8.00/day for lunch and snacks. My son is in from 8:00am until 5:30pm. The nursery funds the first 5 hours free (from the 15 hours funded childcare) and then charges 8.00/hour for the next 4.5 hours he is in. AND if he eats at the nursery, that's an additional 8.00 to feed him. So, I would be paying 4.5 x 8= 36.00 and then 8.00 for lunch. So I pay 44.00 in total each day.

@mummyh2016 that's how they invoice me anyway. not sure if that's standard with other nurseries. And he is in 3 days a week so the total cost each week is 132.00 if we decided to ask the nursery to give him his lunches.

This sounds totally reasonable. If you're spending a fiver a day doing the packed lunches anyway, I'd just pay and not bother with the lunches for the sake of saving a tenner a week!

That's exactly as I understood it following your post last night (with the exception of the 'free 5 hours' as you hadn't mentioned those before). The poster I was replying to said it was £8 for the lunch hour only and £8 for food so was £16 a day top up which wasn't what you had said.
I pay £86.79 fyi for 2 days a week which is the top up and unfunded hours (I stretch our funded hours over the year). Includes food. Ours charges £70 a day now for unfunded children.
Is the lunch free definitely optional or is it mandatory?

Are you sure the £8 isn’t just for them to stay for lunch? As in the cost of staff, cleaning, looking after over that lunch hour regardless of whether they eat food provided or bring own?

I know when I looked for my brother recently many charged £12 to stay 12-1 slot. So the free hours could only be used 8-12, then 1-5pm. Any time before 8am or after 5pm was charged, and to stay over lunch slot charged.

They’re not supposed to create “artificial” breaks like that in the day either, though I understand why some try to.

@Caspianberg yes, they definitely charge me for the 12-1pm slot at 8.00 regardless of whether or not he has lunch. If he does have that lunch there, an additional 8.00 is to be paid.

So, it’s 15 hours a week which you don’t pay anything for (fully funded) and then the remaining 13.5 non-funded hours are changed at £8 per hour?

Then they are charging £8 per day for food? Is that right?

I'm not shooting anyone @MsAsparagus , but as @Shinyandnew1 has explained here, and several other posters afterwards, the Gvmnt funding has been something politicians have thrown out promises about, to win a few votes, for a few years, without actually doing any research about how a Nursery runs, and what is involved.

I don't see how anyone can think so many children can be subsidised by fewer and fewer paying children, for every hour.
This Nursery is having to charge £8ph for the hours you pay for, to make up for the fact they make a loss on the hours the Government are supposed to fund, but, in fact only part fund.

FWIIW OP, I think £8 if it is for one meal, would be huge. If it is for all the meals and snacks across the day, then less so, but either way, if there is an option for you to send in food and not pay it, and that is what you have chosen, then they should not be retrospectively billing you for something you have opted out of.

Hi OP,
just wanted to suggest, in case your toddler wants to eat what the other children are having, could you maybe ask for the Nursery's menu so you can prepare him a similar meal as well? That way, they may not be tempted to request nursery’s food.
Also, make it clear with management that you do not wish to pay for lunches, hence packed lunch being sent in.

Ok I didn't realise you were only using five funded hours a day. So three days a week your full day is discounted to £44. I assumed it was 10 hours being used in a day just one day discount. That is not excessive then.

The posters gets three days a week paying only £44 though. That's the same as one day only paying £16 as a top up and full fees the other days. It's just a different way of working it out.