nursery deposit can anyone give advice please.

nursery deposit can anyone give advice please.

by: timmylums - 02-06-08 21:18

Can anyone please help, a friend of mine has been faced with a dilema over her childrens current childcare setting.  She has used this childcare for over a year and paid a deposit of £50 per child when she put their name down. Although her fees are upto date she has now been told that the deposit system has changed and she now needs to increase the deposit to the equivalent of two weeks fees. She was assured that no fees will be needed for the child's final two weeks in nursery but this may not be for another two years.  She explained about already having a signed contract and was told that this was no longer valid as the system had changed. I have not heard of anything like this before, can anyone tell me if the setting is right to demand this extra money allowing only a month for it to be paid.

by: joshuajones

I don't think tha tthe nursery can insist on this.

A contract is a contract, signed and agreed, and cannot be changed to suit the nursery without notice. If the nursery has given notification of a change of contract and a period of time for that change to be implemented, then they may have a case, but from what you have said this has not happened.

You say she paid a deposit of £50.00 per child, was that equivalent to the weekly fee at that time ?

It may be that the deposit is deducted from the weekly fee when they leave, leaving a residual amount for the weekly fee.

Best bet is to take the contract down to Citizens advice.

But it sounds as if the nursery are trying to pull a fast one.

by: EarlyYearsConsultant

I agree with Joshua Jones,

It does sound like the nursery is trying to pull a fast one, Perhaps the nursery is in financial difficulty or something?

If the parent has signed a contract whihc includes a deposit it will be extremely hard for the nursery over a year later to insist on another deposit, thats ridiculous!

If I was the parent I would simply say, I am not paying another deposit and if they insist then get looking for a more honest and trustworthy nursery to send the child too, its likely that if they are so cheeky with this kind of practice then there are likely to be other practises that may be a bit lets say a bit "dodgy"

 I hope your friend resolves the issues

Best Wishes

by: timmylums

Hi Joshua Jones and EarlyYearsConsultant, thank you both for your comments, It is nice to know that my thoughts are echoed here as I thought it was a bit out of order but I will certainly be showing my friend your comments as you both make valuable sense.

Thanks Again.!!!