How do I dispute this invoice with the nursery?

[Deleted User]

My son has been going nursery since May which should have been covered by 30 hour funding, however they did not issue the form in time due to changing management (I do not see how that is my problem though.) Right from the very start, I issued them the code in which they give to the council to claim the funding, then they told me to fill out a form which, turns out it was the wrong form and the council had to call the nursery and discuss their eligibility procedure and how to claim the funding. I was not the only parent who complained about this by the way. I sent them a screenshot again of the eligibility code and asked them to please send the form to the council and cc me into it as well. This was in May. We're now almost in August and the new manager has just sent them the form last week along with my childs eligiblity code and asked the council to backdate it, in which the council said they will not backdate it. I called the council as well and they said they can only backdate up to 1 month. Therefore I have ended up getting the brunt of it and now have to pay a bill of just under £1000. They said I can pay it in instalments but why should I do that for? If they had done their jobs properly, I would not be in this situation and because of them, I have now lost 8 weeks worth of funding. I just do not know what to do now. I spoke to a solicitor who said that their legal fees would be disproportionate. I have put in a complaint but the new manager has just started so is there any point complaining now? People will probably say just pay it, but it is the principle of it more than anything, not getting out of paying the invoice.

TheAble

I don't know much about such matters but according to https://www.gov.uk/apply-30-hours-free-tax-free-childcare it does seem as though you did do what you were supposed to do. Ensure you sign in every 3 months to reconfirm you details and maintain eligibility.

There's a phone number on here you could try:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/childcare-service-helpline

sourcrates

A nursery tried it on with us when my eldest was going there, a few years ago now.

They billed us for time when she wasn’t even there, she had so many free hours, and that’s the time she went for, one of the sessions they tried to charge for was when we were on holiday in France, go figure that one out lol.

You should do as I did, and dispute the matter in writing, the fact that the nursery and the council could not get their act together is not a concern of yours, and nor should you be financially punished because of that breakdown in communication. 

Suggest to the nursery that they take the matter up with the council and not you, as it is not your responsibility to plug gaps in funding caused by other individuals not being able to do their job correctly.

January2015

For summer term free hours funding you needed to get your code to the nursery prior to 31st March. If your child started after the beginning of the Summer Term you should have negotiated and got in writing that you could claim the hours. Nurseries have to submit claims for funding at the end of the previous term - so for Summer term funding they submit their claim in March, for Autumn Term funding they submit their claim either late July or August, For Spring term funding they submit their claim in December.  There is flexibility to adjust claims at the beginning of the term but depending on how late in May you submitted the code - you may have been too late to claim for the summer term. That's beyond the nursery's control and ideally they should have made that clear to you.

Your local authority should have a parent complaint form on their website regarding the free entitlement funding. Download, complete and submit that, and ensure you provide copies which are timed/dated where possible of all correspondence with the nursery and clearly evidence when you submitted the code.

Local authorities can back date more than one month, but that is only in exceptional circumstances and depends on the policy of the local authority.

If other parents are also severely out of pocket over this, then consider asking them all to submit complaints to the local authority. It may be that a large number of complaints is considered exceptional if the local authority find the nursery acted poorly and untimely in dealing with claims and that may prompt backdating of the funding.

It's important you ensure the terms and conditions of the nursery as well as the free funding are met.  The nursery may have clearly published submission dates for codes to be submitted for each term and if you have not met such a date then you may well be liable for the funding.

Hope this helps.

Edit:  All that said, it does sound as if your nursery has not handled this situation well at all.  I was a professional advisor for early education including specialising in supporting nurseries to comply with and access free early education funding and other grants in my working life.

[Deleted User]

I had the code but had to change it as we moved to another county and they said it was validated and still OK. Its half sorted out, but not quite. A lot of headache and stress going on at the min but I just hope it gets sorted out eventually.