Unfair nursery Terms and Conditions

[Leoness]

My son got a January intake place at his big brothers school nursery the week before half term. I phoned his present nursery immediately to give notice and followed up with a official letter. However the manager said that I should have given notice in September for withdrawal at Christmas. This seems very long notice period. I wrote a kind letter, explaining the best I could give her is 10 weeks notice.

She replied with the copy of the t&c which I signed at the beginning of the year. And she's billing me until April. With the free entitlement this amounts to just over £200 for her sessions are a little longer.

Can anyone help me decide whether this is unfair. Is there any other nurseries that require a Full terms notice? Can I do anything legal to avoid these costs?

Today I asked if I could add-on sessions this side of Christmas to make up the £200 but she just repeated her terms and conditions and went on about fairness (!) and wasn't really interested in making a deal.

Thank you

No, it is neither illegal nor uncommon to specify a full term's notice.

It is fair to apply all the terms of the contract.

Thank you Meditrina, Do you think I should pay the money?
What about if I pay half for the half term notice I did give her?
I'm genuinely hate to plead poverty, but i don't work.
I appreciate your thoughts.

thoughts anyone?

Is she able to fill the place with another child? If not, I think it is fair to charge.

My DS is in a nursery with a term's notice.

Interesting to hear there are other nurseries with a terms notice. I could not find another one when I researched.

I was always warned about this lady being rigid and I know it is my mistake. She doesn't have good reputation as a person. The nursery is fine but has bad feeling in the community because of her very hard business principles. It's a shame if she was kinder she'd be loved and busier with much better PR/ word of mouth recommendations. It is her loss in the long run this is a small town.

If you signed the t&c where this was spelled out, you don't really have a leg to stand on I'm afraid.

Nurseries are finding it hard to make ends meet, and can't just let one person off. If they let you off the full notice fee, they would have to let anyone else off too. You signed the Ts and Cs. I think you should pay the terms notice.

I think they are all a term's notice. Certainly our community-run pre-school was 2 terms notice (they worked on six terms) and I was fully aware that I was responsible for the fees if I gave less notice than this from reading my contract. We moved overseas so it wasn't such an issue as I could claim until the end of the full term in which we left as my DS was there for head count day and the council therefore funded him until the end of term. Obvs if you want to use your funding elsewhere this wouldn't be an option.

what do you mean "do you think i should pay?" You have signed a contract saying that you will abide by it and if you do not she can take you to the small claims court and win!

Thank you for your comments. I will pay her money. She will be happy, I will fail to recommend her.

I'm currently paying a full terms notice for a school as dd decided to go elsewhere. If I didn't they would take me to court

It's fairly standard terms for private nurseries.

Be careful about funding too, you can't have full funding at two settings at the same time, ask the school nursery about how this works as it looks like both the pre-school and the nursery look like they will be overlapping in their claim.

Can you defer the other nursery leave till April?

Place not leave

Clearly I'm being thick here but, surely telling her in September for Christmas constitutes a term? Why would she still bill you until April...isn't that an extra term?

She didn't tell her in September, she told her the week before half term.

Is your ds taking his full hours at the new nursery? Could he maybe start on 3 sessions and assign the other two to the old nursery and then forget to turn up? Might save some money.

What sort of notice do they require to reduce hours? With our nursery we can give a month's notice to change hours up or down. If you can do this can you reduce the hours to whatever the minimum is?

I don't think a character assassination of the manager of your sons nursery will help you. I think she is being fair. You were made aware of the terms and conditions when you signed the contract. She is running a business after all.

What are the terms for changing hours? Could you reduce to one session for your notice period?

I agree with OldBoots. The old nursery will not be able to apply the 15 hours funding for your child once they have left. Therefore you will have to pay the full fees at the old nursery whilst using the 15 hours at the new nursery. The old nursery has no choice in this matter. If they claim the 15 hours when your child is not there, then it is fraud and they are acting illegally. Please speak to your local authority early years department to confirm what you should be doing.

UriGeller is right there is no point in digging at her. She is running a business. I am doing a poor job of being an organised Mum. My fail - her gain. I'm sorry I shouldn't stamp my feet, or throw teddies out of pram.
I don't want to split the hours between the two nurseries - my choice, I think it will be too confusing for my ds. I only have him on the two sessions so the bill isn't as high as could be.
Money's very tight so it hurts to waste it. Thats all.

I don't see why you wouldn't recommend her. What's she done wrong?

Can't you defer the new place until after Easter?

Please be very careful about the funded hours thing. The first nursery cannot allocate funded hours to your ds if he is not there. You will have to pay full fees to the first nursery, not a reduced amount.