Kicked out?!

[Sarah12hge]

Hi all, desperately looking for advice.
my son attends a nationwide nursery provider. They’ve recently introduced additional fees for extras. I challenged them with the amount as I felt it was extortionate and did not match the care he was given. Basically we had to pay £200 for a month when he does 2.5 days, term time only. This was a jump from £50 we were paying for meals. He’s in preschool so receives the 30 hours.

The local manager has advised that I need to look for another nursery as he is no longer welcome basically? In my last email I said I felt the charges were unclear and steep for what he receives and I was considering contacting the local council for advice. Can they do this? Can they kick him out because I challenged the fees? Thanks all, very stressed!

You'd need to look at your contract, but I presume most nursery contracts will allow them to give you notice, yes. Have they given you the amount allowed in the contract?

I'm not sure that £200 a month will turn out to be unusual, if I'm honest, we pay £460 a month for 2 days a week with 11 hours funding a week, which seems like it'll work out about the same.

That's not the point, of course - and I'd presume that from the nurseries perspective, they feel that the relationship has sufficiently broken down, you've questioned their business practices and the standard of care delivered and are clearly not happy, and it's a nursery world in most places, they've got massive waiting lists. Most are full until Sept '26 here.

What do you mean by that?

They're not 30 free hours. They're 30 subsidised hours described as free by the government but so underfunded they have to charge extras so stay open. We pay £1100 a month for full time with 15 free hours (and a 10% discount for being full time!).

Almost all nurseries charge extras. Some it's a flat rate, some it's £3/4 an hour to use the free hours. If they didn't they'd not be able to pay their staff. You've made it clear you're going to challenge them by getting the council involved. All waiting lists where I am are months long for a place. They can fill your child's slot very easily and quickly with someone willing to pay. So that's what they're doing.

Try a school preschool?

But even that would cost at least £10 a day to extend from 8-5.30 plus lunch.

A nursery is a business

They can give notice for no reason at all

If you've challenged the fees then yes they can give notice.

I surprised you think they can't give notice. I'm a cm and if anyone 'challenged' my fees i'd also be less keen to work with them. It sounds aggressive and ruins a working relationship. If you don't want to pay it then look elsewhere. I have costed my business to make sure I earn enough to cover my expenses (which are high in childcare) plus a good wage for myself. I work hard, I deserve that and luckily most parents agree.

Did they actually say they were giving you notice that your contract will be terminated, or did they say that if you don't like the increase in fees then you can look elsewhere for another nursery? The first is a definite decision, the second is a response to querying the fees.

They're a business, and as long as they stick to the terms of their contract with you, then they can give you notice and terminate the contract.

Sorry, the lack of punctuation confused me.

To make it clear, their head office provided me with the information on what the increase covered. It was not possible that the fee was justified. I advised over the phone that I would seek advice from my local council as I found the information very confusing and unclear. This is when they advised that he would need to find childcare elsewhere. I have not been abusive etc, I’ve simply asked them to explain how their fees work and how this works in line with government legislation. It seems it doesn’t. I’ve spoken at length to the local council today and they agree that they’re breaking the most recent legislation. The price increase was not in my contract and I was not given notice about it either, so I feel like I had a right to question this. I agree that their are funding issues with nurseries, but it doesn’t give them the right to hold parents to ransom.

If you’re not going to pay the fees, you need to pay the nursery what you owe (including any notice) and find a different nursery. You might find none any cheaper though.

Remember, it’s not ‘free’ hours but partially funded ones.

What is the legislation they are breaking?

Can they kick him out because I challenged the fees?

Have you paid the fees or are you refusing to pay them??

Well done for challenging the nursery and for clarifying there poor response with the council.
I thought there had to be clarity/breakdown on fees nurseries charge.
Sadly, you may have to look elsewhere for nursery for your child. The current nursery clearly doesn't want anyone challenging the way they run their business.
I hope the council follow up on your conversation, as this business is obviously breaking rules.

They can terminate a contract if the relationship has broken down which it sounds like it has
a private nursery can charge whatever it wants
your local council has no authority over it

Several nurseries near to me have stopped accepting the funded hours altogether-they cause no end of trouble and force nurseries to operate at a loss. The parents like the care there and need the space to are paying-the nurseries are full, so don’t need to offer it.

It’s better than them closing altogether.

Pre schools are from age 3 and you don't pay?

Not correct, there are plenty of preschools that take kids from the age of two.