Nursery questions - need help ASAP please

sac920

As you know nurseries were instructed to close during part of March, April, May and were asked to re-open in June. We have a 20 month old daughter who was previously attending the nursery 3 full days per week. My partner and I work full time so we previously relied on the grandparents to help with childcare support on Monday & Friday (the remaining days). So far our daughter has been at home with us during the pandemic and we have been trying our best to look after her whilst working full-time at home. Like most people we have reservations about the safety of our child (and us for that matter), however the other big issue to consider is that we're financially worse off post pandemic as my partner works in sales and is getting 0% commission which reduces her income by 50%.

So far the nursery has not charged us for April, May & June. They charged us for a full month in March & even though the nursery was closed for half of March we didn't feel the need to claim money back or question it. However, yesterday we received an email from the nursery stating that we have 4 options as from July & need to decide within a week;
1) to return to the nursery, using the same days as what we agreed prior to the pandemic & therefore paying the usual amount. Same rate as before pandemic.
2) to return to the nursery with a reduced number of days. If we chose to reduce permanently to say 2 days instead of 3 we would not get penalised, however, if we wanted to switch temporarily during COVID19 then they stated they would charge us for 20% retainer fee on the additional sessions we had previously booked but are not being attended.
3) to continue to keep our daughter out of nursery we've been advised that we would be charged a retainer which is 20% of the fees of all booked sessions i.e. so in this case we would be charged 20% of the 3 days.
4) if we wish to pull our daughter out of the nursery full time we are required to give them 8 weeks notice of termination. We have been advised that if we were to terminate today we would be charged 0% of fees for notice weeks in June, 100% of fees for notice weeks in July and August but up to a maximum of £400, which can be taken from the deposit they hold. 
Ultimately, we are very upset about this. We love the nursery however we feel they shouldn't be penalising us for a) keeping our child out of nursery or b) reducing the number of hours during the pandemic. We understand that they're a business but we are also financially affected by this pandemic and it's not as if we're asking our companies for more money to help our situation. Where did they get 20% from? Is this even allowed or are they basically 'trying it on' to see who bites? As much as we would love to send her back to nursery we're going really struggle to pay the rates, I suspect we would need to reduce the number of days OR we take her out of the nursery completely & then we're getting penalised again. Neither of us believe that the nursery should be allowed to keep our deposit...again, we've done nothing wrong! Please can someone advise and help us to understand our rights. Thanks in advance

JamoLew

They are giving you 4 options which is 2 or 3 more than a lot of places are giving.
None may be perfect, just pick the one that works best for you and your situation

[Deleted User]

They're showing incredible flexibility with those options. You should be very pleased.

You've got a great nursery there - definitely worth hanging on to!

SpiderLegs

Yes I agree with the above. For them to offer to retain your daughters place at 20% rather than giving that place to someone else who pays 100% seems incredibly generous.

good to see there are companies out there who care about their customers.

sac920

Thanks for the responses but I'm surprised at your reaction. Don't get me wrong we love the nursery and I've heard worse from others, where they were being wrongfully charged for when the nurseries were shut, however, we're still being penalised with every single option! If our child was slightly older and at state school we wouldn't have to pay a penny so we're the unlucky parents who have to stomach whatever they decide to charge us...how is this fair? We have a massively reduced paycut so why is it fair the nurseries to pay so much for a retainer, it's not as if they do anything, it's essentially an administration fee. 

[Deleted User]

If you don't like the options, you have the right to enforce the contract, which means either paying the full contractual amount whether you send your child or not, or give notice and pay the full fees for that period.

The most generous options they're offering are those which are not in your contract, so you can tell them to stick those if you want and stick purely to your contract.  

They're penalising themselves for your benefit.

sharpe106

To me the options sound more than fair but what does your contract say? As unless you have a very generous contract it sounds to me as they have gone above what they need to.

SpiderLegs

What does your contract say about termination notice / fees?
If it is any worse than option 4 then they are doing you a favour.

If option 4 is worse than your contract you simply terminate according to that instead.

Then, since you don’t want to pay them for ‘not doing anything’, when you want your child to go back you start another contract, with another deposit and another set of termination notice.

You are of course hoping that a. They let you and b. They still have that place available.

jayzor

Think it’s pretty clear you have come on here wanting to hear something you aren’t going to. They have been more than fair, pick the best option for you.

Stenwold

Seems like you've been given a choice of four perfectly reasonable and sensible options.

What were you expecting them to do?

sac920

I came on here hoping for professional advice or who I could consult to obtain professional advice. Not quite sure why everyone seems to be in favour of the nursery here, as opposed to the parent but I understand everyone has their own opinion & that's fine. I wasn't looking for pity, it's just a case of wanting to know what our options were. I suspect if we were talking about another area of line of business, instead of a nursery there may be a little more understanding. 
I will read up on the termination fees, thanks for that suggestion. We really do like the nursery so we see that as a worst case scenario but ultimately times are hard at the moment & we have no other option but to cancel & then seek to rejoin but as you say, we may struggle & they COULD blacklist us for doing so...god knows!