The Increbible Increasing Nursery Fee

bunty109

Janepig wrote:

I can't believe some people would collect their children outside of the opening hours though. Does that really happen? I was stuck in Court afew weeks ago and couldn't get hold of DH so I ended up picking DS up at five to 6 and I was in a right flap. I rang ahead also to say I would be "late". Anyway, he was ready and waiting when I got there (very flustered as I was) but there was no problem and I was told I shouldn't have panicked and it was okay to be a bit late if it couldn't be helped and that she'd rather me get there in one piece than drive like a lunatic (as I did!!). But surely if they close at 6pm then you must get there before then!!

Jxx

Believe me, you haven't sen the half of it! My DD's school had to send a letter home asking parents to collect their children on time. Some were using the school secretary as an unpaid babbysitter and not picking them up for an hour after the school closed!

inkie

I have heard of places charging a deposit which is refundable when your child leaves, but they seem to be taking the mick a bit here. Why not speak to other parents and see what they think. As for the late payment, surely the best way of avoiding this is to pay by DD/SO. As for fees we paid £333 for fulltime nursery (but this was at NHS subsidised)

cloz

The Nursery I am about to change to charges £50 registration fee (although if you signed up on their open day as we did it was free) and i will be paying £40 for a full day session and they charge £5 per 10 mins if you are late, which is pretty much the norm around here. However i don't think i would be happy to pay the registration fee once we had been there for a while.

Spendless

Both charging for being late and charging for late payment have been the norm at the nurseries I've used. Holiday playschemes also charge for being late, but late payment charges don't apply cos you have to pay before they will confirm the place. The before and after sc asks to pay before x date, but at min they don't charge for late payments. I guess this would be introduced if a lot of parents did start paying late, after all they have have to pay their staff by x date.

Not come across registration fees before though. When my daughter changed nurseries, a place was held for her for £40 and when she started it was knocked off the first weeks fees but if I'd changed my mind and not sent her, I would have lost the money.

immoral_angeluk

The reregistration fee is just damn cheeky if you ask me but being a nursery nurse and having had my own child in nursery I can tell you that late fees are common practice.

Justie

I'm afraid that the cost of running nurseries is going up and up and most nurseries aren't raking it in - even the big chains. The £50 re-registration fee seems out of order but the rest is normal and I'm afraid that the more parents who pay late (some deliberately) and pick up late (again some deliberately) will make it more the norm that nurseries will charge a high penalty as a deterrent - you may well find that the nursery waves the fee if it's an occasional occurance though. I'm amazed that some nurseries don't charge for missed sessions I thought that had been the norm for a long time already.

MJMum

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scoobydo_2

I'm a childminder and have recently taken on a child who was moved from a private day nursery as the costs we rising very steeply . His mum has told me that since moving him to me not only is she financially better off but her son is much better , happier learning more and in a better routine as I allow his sleeps when he needs it for example instead of a nursey who put all kids to have a sleep in the same room and for the same period of time .
When he goes home he's not tired and mum gets the best of him too .

I do charge if childs of ill or parents have holidays but just half fees and if I am off ill or on holiday I don't charge .

Mabboo

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I'm going to get in touch with the Early Years Partnership about the re-reg fee. That's the real bugbear as there's no way that we can conjure that up.

I accept that the late fee is standard practice, and the late pick up fee, but springing it out of nowhere seems a little unfair. It would have been nice to have a "we are intending to introduce..." letter first.

They have always charged for missed days. It's pretty much the norm.

After discussing the changes with the OH we've decided to try the childminder route again, it's been a while since we phoned around. To be honest, since the take over (no, not Ltd, andycarmi) the nursery has gone downhill. Ofsted loved it when DS started there but the last report they gave was pretty damning.

Speaking to my Brother, who's Daughter attends the same nursery 3 days a week, we're not the only people who are upset by the new T&C's and it maybe the straw that breaks the camels back.

roversbabe

Is the £50 registration fee refundable? We had to pay £50 when we registered roversbaby at the nursery but we will get this back when he leaves.

rb x