Nursery cancellation charges

BB007

Our nursery have just started a retainer fee for child's places set at 20% of fees. Our son goes to school in September so would have finished in July. With this in mind we have decided to not send him back to nursery as it looks unlikely my other son wont be going back to school full time for a few months so we will be around for childcare for both. Our nursery have sent an invoice for a full months fees as a notice period. I am self employed so currently not being paid. Can I pay Mays retainer fee and give the notice for next month? Or do have have to pay the full amount as notice period? I feel difficult as I understand the nursery's difficulty but had circumstances been different I would have given notice and he would have been getting the childcare for the month until he left not paying full fees and no childcare.   

Mrsn

A bit of a grey area I think. 

Obviously you are choosing to cancel the contract which would trigger the notice period fees however as they are closed and can’t provide the service I don’t see how they can justify charging a full months amount of fees.

There is currently talk via the CMA about fees that places are charging for services they can’t provide, I don’t believe there is any official guidance on it yet though. 

Am I understanding correctly there will be no other children going to the nursery at all after this? 

BB007

Yes that's correct he's the last to go there. Also part of the fee is food, which wont be a cost to them until they open again

47Revisited

Although not the same, If you were to give a months notice on almost all services..Gym's, broadband ect, you would still be able to access the services provided for a month. It would seem a little unfair to have to pay for a full month when those services are not available. 

Mrsn

Nurseries have it tough right now I won’t lie, they are operating at a loss and when they originally put all staff on furlough it was believed that they would be able to claim the 80% as per the rest of the companies using the scheme. That hasn’t happened and I think some will go under as a result.

Anyway back to the main point, the reason I asked about whether there were anymore children going is because usually I would say if payment isn’t made they can terminate places etc which won’t apply in your case. 

I don’t think it’s right they should ask for the full amount for the notice period, you alternatively could just not pay anything this terminating the contract immediately its entirely your choice. I don’t think they are in a particularly strong position to argue about loss of earnings etc when they are currently closed albeit through no fault of their own.

Your only other option would be to haggle and say you are only paying x amount. The 20% at this point would seem fair since that is what all other parents are being asked for currently.

Grumpy_chap

Unless the nursery can provide the service, I would not pay them.  Not even 20%

Socajam

Although your child will not be returning to the nursery, and if the nursery have been good to you and your son, I would say pay May's retainer fee and give notice.
Sometime in life we have to look at the bigger picture and this is one instance where it is needed.

BB007

We have contacted them offering the 20% that other parents are paying for a retainer and they say we still have to pay the full fees as per our contract months notice, they will be contacting their legal team. As my husband is a key worker they reopened last week to key workers and therefore they can provide childcare for my son. 

sharpe106

As you said it is different, they can provide the service to you as you are key workers. You are choosing not to use it. The other families paying the 20%  retainer can not use the service, so that is fair enough. So nothing has changed contract wise for you.

Mrsn

That will be the difference then as they can offer the service but you are choosing not to use it, which case I’m sure they are correct in asking for the amount stated in the contract. Sorry that’s not what you might have hoped for