Fees Buried In 7 Page Document - Surprise £550 per month charge

[johnsmith88]

Hi there,

We applied for and got the nursery funding for our 3-year-old son, which is 30 nursery hours a week during term time for one year. We put our child in our local nursery for the 30 hours a week (term time only), starting September. We were not given any pricing information at all. We thought we were all set - the funding pays for 30 hours a week, and we put him in for 30 hours a week.

Part way through the first month, I looked at the invoice and realised we had been billed for £550.

We were surprised as we were funded for the 30 hours we put him in for. We were not told about pricing or given a pricing list so we had no reason to believe that we were due any fees.

When I queried this with the nursery, they pointed to a single line in a 7 page document that said we could only use funding for up to 6 hours a day. This wasn't pointed out to us at the time and my
wife signed the document when picking up our child in a busy environment. My wife was told that it was "to get your 30 hours of funding" so she signed it.

We had another one page document to fill in regarding the hours used and times and again this had no pricing information at all and did not mention any fees and we selected the thirty hours.

I have later learned that under the Consumer Rights Act (2015) pricing must be prominent and transparent. Their document seems to not meet any of the criteria.

Thank you for your help.

John

[PallasAthena]

I can't comment on the law but it sounds like sharp practice by any measure.

But what do you want to happen now? Your child has only been there a few weeks. Is she/he happy there? If you could show that they are not entitled to charge you the £550 and you refused to pay it what would happen? Could the nursery terminate your place?

Before tackling the nursery about this it would be wise to first find out your options for alternative nurseries. Are they convenient? Do they have places? Are you sure they wouldn't charge extra as well?

[Pezza54]

6 hours a day is 30 hours a week.
It sounds like the nursery is trying to charge you top-up fees which they are not allowed to do unless they have explained this to you and you have agreed to the additional fees.
In a landmark case earlier this year a parent challenged his nursery after they charged him top-up fees without showing him any clear charging structure.
He ended up taking his case to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman who found the top-up fees were unlawful.
The parent was refunded over £1k
The nursery is allowed to charge extra for consumables, nappies, meals etc

[johnsmith88]

Thank you so much - this is very valuable information.