Fees from 1 April 2025

Standard Day Rate - £84 (8am-6pm), Half Day Rate - £47 (8am-1pm or 1pm-6pm)

Early drop-off: 7.30am-8.00am - £5 Late pick-up: 6.00pm-6.30pm - £5 (48 hrs notice is required)

Hourly rate for ad hoc sessions - £10 (subject to availability)

Fees include all meals, drinks and snacks.

Fees on funded sessions above include an additional charge for food and consumables for 3 year olds accessing government funding. We refer to these charges as an Enrichment Fee and they include the cost of meals, snacks, nappies, creams, and activities and services not covered by the funding that the nursery receives from the Local Authority. These charges are will be detailed separately on invoices. Funded entitlements are stretched over the 51 weeks that the nursery is open. The enrichment fee of £11 is charged per funded session also stretched over the 51 weeks that the nursery is open.

From 1 September 2025 when 9m old – 2 year old children can receive ’30 hours’ funding the Enrichment Fee will be applied to all families for food, consumables and additional activities and services at the same rate as it is charged for 3 year olds.  

Please refer to our Funding Guide for more information on how we offer funding.

Please refer to Our Offer guide to learn more about the consumables, activities and services provided through the Enrichment fee.

Terms & Conditions in relation to Fees 

Invoicing

To provide certainty for our families, your fees will be a fixed monthly amount. Your fee will be calculated on the basis of the weekly charge for the sessions booked, multiplied by 51 weeks and then divided by 12 months to create a fixed monthly charge.

Payment terms

Fees are charged monthly, in advance, and must be paid by the first of the month to which the fees relate.

Fees can be paid by Tax Free Childcare, Vouchers, BACS or Direct Debit. Any fees not paid by 1st of the month will be collected automatically by Direct Debit.

Additional sessions

Additional sessions can be booked on an ad hoc basis where we have availability to accommodate these. Please speak to the nursery manager to arrange these. Additional sessions must be paid for in advance.

Reg. fee/ deposit

A contract for the Services will be formed between you and us once you have given us a signed, fully completed, registration form and a non-refundable registration fee of £50. To secure your place, the first month of fees must be paid in advance upon enrolment of your child.

Registration fees do not apply for funded-only places.

Minimum booking requirement

The minimum sessions required to register for a place are 3 sessions across 3 days for new registrations.

Notice period

We require 6 weeks’ notice, in writing, if you wish to amend, reduce, or cancel your booking. This is to ensure that we can effectively manage our staffing ratios and provide excellent quality of care.

Fee changes can be made with 6 weeks’ notice.

Child absence

Charges are due even if the Child is absent.

Late collection

Charges for late collection of the Child: £10 per 15 minutes that you are late in collecting the Child.

Bank Holidays

We will charge for 6 bank holidays per year. Christmas bank holidays will NOT be charged for.

Late payment

Without restricting any other legal right that we may have, if you fail to pay us on time, we may : make an interest charge of up to 2.5% per cent per month or part month on late payment, suspend all Services until payment has been made in full, which will include the suspension of the Child, or even terminate the contract permanently. Should you default on payments three times, childcare will be terminated permanently.

Funding Entitlement

If you wish to take up your funded nursery education, you are required to complete and sign a Parent/Provider Agreement for Funded Entitlement on an annual basis, detailing how and when you will take up the funded sessions. No charges will be made in respect of the funded hours as detailed in the Parent/Provider Agreement for Funded Entitlement.

Enrichment fee

Charges may be applied to funded hours to cover the cost of food, consumables, and extra activities not covered by the Funding Entitlement. You are entitled to opt out of these charges and the associated food, consumables and extra activities and services. If you would like to learn more about this contact the nursery. Families must provide one terms notice if they choose to opt out of these extra charges to support the nursery with business planning.

Discounts

We offer a 10% discount on a full time place. We offer a 5% discount for NHS and military workers (proof of employment is required). We offer a 10% discount for one sibling (applied to the eldest sibling). You will be offered only one discount per child, and one discount type per family. The highest value discount will be applied. Please discuss your situation with us and we will ensure you can access the best option for your family.

For children accessing government funded hours, discounts will be applied to the charge for the cost of hours attended that are not funded by the Local Authority. Discounts are not applied to the enrichment fee which is  included in the fee summary above. If you qualify for a discount, we will discuss this with you and set out the discounted fees for your specific situation.

Staff training days

We will hold 2 staff training days each year to ensure that we invest in our people and our staff are fully trained in current best practice. The nursery will be closed for these training days but fees will still be chargeable. At least 2 months’ notice will be provided for these dates.

Childcare Funding at The Children’s Room 

As an Ofsted registered early years provider we are legally bound to meet the requirements of the Ofsted regulations and the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework published by the Department for Education.

If you are new to childcare funding, it can be a struggle to get to grips with the different terminology and how it all works. We have put together this guide to help explain how we offer the childcare funding at The Children’s Room. As always, if you have any questions regarding your specific circumstances, please speak to us and we will go through how the funding rules apply in your case. This document forms part of our fee policy, the terms of which must be accepted prior to you accepting a funded place.

All funded sessions are in line with the flexible arrangement as specified by the Government. When you register your child for their funded place we will discuss your needs and, as far as possible with availability and staffing arrangements, we will accommodate your wishes.

Universal 15 hours of funded childcare

Key Information

·       The government provides funding for all 3 and 4 year olds to access 15 hours of childcare for 38 weeks of the year. This equates to 570 funded hours per academic year.

·       All 3- and 4-year-olds are eligible for this funding, regardless of parent employment status or earnings. A child becomes eligible for funding in the term that starts following their third birthday. There are particular cut off dates for qualifying, we can discuss this with you when your child approaches their third birthday.

·       Some children are also eligible for this Universal Entitlement from the term after they turn 9 months. There are particular cut off dates for qualifying, we can discuss this with you when you child approaches the age when they may become eligible (the universal entitlement for 9 months to 2 year olds will become an Extended Entitlement in Sep 2025 and you can learn more about that further down this document).

·       At The Children’s Room we spread the 570 hours equally over the 51 weeks that we are open. For most families accessing the universal hours, this works out at approximately 11.17 funded hours per week.

·       We offer flexible choices in terms of how you access the full Universal Funded Entitlement hours.  We recommend our standard minimum of 3 sessions per week to allow children become settled and familiar with nursery and the rich variety of learning opportunities on offer.  Our standard session times are 8am-1pm and 1pm-6pm. Your child’s schedule could either be one full day plus one half-day, or a combination of 3 morning or afternoon sessions, subject to availability. Details on options for funded only sessions are further down this document. If you chose our recommended minimum of three 5 hour sessions then 11.17 hours of this would be funded with no cost to the family (when spreading the full entitlement across the academic year). In this instance parents will need to pay for the additional 3.83 hours per week at the hourly rate in place at the time. Any additional sessions, over and above the 3 x 5 hours, will be charged at our standard session rates.

·       We operate an equally spread invoicing method, therefore if your child qualifies for 570 funded hours from the autumn term, the deduction from your invoice would be 570 hours/12 months = 47.5 hours free of charge per month. The funding allocation from the Local Authority is made per academic year, with an unequal number of hours allocated to each term. Therefore, if your child qualifies for funding for the Spring or Summer term, your monthly deduction of hours may be different. We can discuss this with you at the relevant time. We will ensure that you receive the full deduction that you are entitled to under the Local Authority rules.

·       Government funding is intended to deliver free, high quality, flexible childcare for a set number of hours. It is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours, or additional activities and services. We therefore ask families to pay a contribution towards the cost of meals, consumables such as nappies and activities that are provided alongside the funded entitlement. We call this our Enrichment fee, and it covers all meals, snacks, extra activities on your chosen sessions (for example , yoga, French lessons, etc). The rate for the enrichment fees are included in the fee sheet that is provided to you and updated from time to time*. Families have the option to opt out of the Enrichment fee and the associated consumables and additional activities. There is further detail on this further down this document.  If you anticipate any difficulty paying these charges, please discuss this with us as we do have a hardship scheme to support struggling families.

*Discounts that we offer for sibling places and NHS or Military employees do not apply to Enrichment fees.

What do I have to do to access my Universal Funded Entitlement?

·       If your child is older than 3, you will need to complete a Parent-Provider Agreement (PPA) which sets out the funded hours that you want The Children’s Room to claim on your behalf, and which days they will be used on. You will need to provide proof of your child’s date of birth (passport or birth certificate). We will then claim the funding entitlement from the Local Authority and deduct the funded hours from your invoice.

·       If your child qualifies for Universal Funded Entitlement and is younger than 3 years old, in order to access the Universal Funding Entitlement, you must apply for it through the HMRC website. If you are eligible, you will receive an 11 digit code from HMRC, which you need to provide to us so that we can make the claim on your behalf. It is your responsibility to re-validate your code every 3 months, HMRC will prompt you to do this. If you do fall out of eligibility please be aware you will be charged full nursery fees.

Extended Funded Entitlement – 30 hours funding

Key information

·       Many families with children over the age of 3 may be entitled to additional childcare funding. If you meet the eligibility criteria, the maximum funding is 30 hours per week for 38 weeks, (15 hours of Universal funding plus 15 hours of Extended). This equates to a maximum of 1,140 hours per year.

·       From September 2025, this Extended Funding Entitlement will also become available to families with children over the age of 9 months who meet the eligibility criteria. If you meet the eligibility criteria, the maximum funding is 30 hours per week for 38 weeks, (15 hours of Universal funding plus 15 hours of Extended). This equates to a maximum of 1,140 hours per year.

·       At The Children’s Room we spread the 1,140 hours equally over the 51 weeks that we are open. For most families accessing the extended hours, this works out at approximately 22.35 funded hours per week.

·       We offer flexible choices in terms of how you access the full Extended Funded Entitlement hours.  We recommend that your child attends for 3 full days of 10 hours each to receive maximum benefit from their time at nursery. Our full day is 8am-6pm. Details on options for funded only sessions are further down this document. If your child attends the recommended 3 full days that would be 30 hours per week, of which approximately 22.35 would be funded with no cost to the family (when spreading the full entitlement across the academic year). In this instance parents will need to pay for the additional 7.65 hours per week at the hourly rate in place at the time. Any additional sessions attended, over and above the 3 days, will be charged at our standard session rates.

·       In order to claim any of your Extended Entitlement your child needs to be in nursery for 15 hours per week. If they attend for between 15 and 20 hours per week, they will access their full Universal Entitlement funding and part of their Extended Entitlement funding. In this situation, we will use the maximum number of funded hours available. This would be 15 hours for a child attending for 3 x 5 hour sessions or 20 hours for a child attending 4 x 5 hour sessions.

·       We operate an equally spread invoicing method, therefore if your child qualifies for 1,140 funded hours from the autumn term, the deduction from your invoice would be 1,140 hours/12 months = 95 hours free of charge per month. The funding allocation from the Local Authority is made per academic year, with an unequal number of hours allocated to each term. Therefore, if your child qualifies for funding for the Spring or Summer term, your monthly deduction of hours may be different. We can discuss this with you at the relevant time. We will ensure that you receive the full deduction that you are entitled to under the Local Authority rules.

·       Government funding is intended to deliver free, high quality, flexible childcare for a set number of hours. It is not intended to cover the costs of meals, consumables additional hours, or additional activities. We therefore ask families to pay a contribution towards the cost of meals, such as nappies, wipes and sun cream and activities that are provided alongside the funded entitlement. We call this our Enrichment fee, and it covers all meals, snacks, extra activities on your chosen sessions (for example, yoga, French lessons, etc). The rates for enrichment fees are included in the fee sheet that is provided to you and updated from time to time*. Families have the option to opt out of the Enrichment fee and the associated consumables and additional activities. There is further detail on this further down this document.  If you anticipate any difficulty paying these charges, please discuss this with us as we do have a hardship scheme to support struggling families.

*Discounts that we offer for sibling places and NHS or Military employees do not apply to Enrichment fees.

What do I have to do to access my Extended Funded Entitlement?

·       To access the additional Extended Funded Entitlement, you must apply for it through the HMRC website. If you are eligible, you will receive an 11 digit code from HMRC, which you need to provide to us so that we can make the claim on your behalf. It is your responsibility to re-validate your code every 3 months, HMRC will prompt you to do this. If you do fall out of eligibility, please be aware you will be charged full nursery fees.

·       You will need to complete a Parent-Provider Agreement (PPA) which sets out the hours that you want The Children’s Room to claim on your behalf, and which days they will be used on. We can guide you through this. You will need to provide proof of your child’s date of birth (passport or birth certificate), your National Insurance number, and the code that HMRC give you. We will then claim the funding entitlement from the Local Authority and deduct the funded hours from your invoice.

More information on the claim process can be found here:

How to apply for 30 hours free childcare | Childcare choices

2 year old Funding for Children who receive additional government support

We have a limited number of places for 2 year olds who receive the 2 year old funding for disadvantaged children. If you have received a code from Buckinghamshire Council to confirm your funding entitlement, please discuss the availability of 2 year old funded places with us.  If you believe you would be eligible for this funding please contact https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/cost-of-living/household-support-fund/

Funded-Only places.

·       We offer fully-funded places for all of the four different types of funding offered, where your child will only attend for hours that are funded and there will be no charge to you for the hours of care provided. We would still encourage families to pay the enrichment fees for funded-only places but families have the choice to opt out of this and the associated meals, consumables and additional activities and services.

·       Funded-only places are available for two types of session pattern either 8.00 am-6.00pm two days per week or 8.00am-1pm four mornings per week. If you plan for your child to attend for the minimum hours per week that would be 20 hours of attendance with no cost to the family (when spreading the full entitlement across the academic year[1]).

·       We operate an inclusion and equality policy and ensure that all children have access to nursery places and services irrespective of their gender, race, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation of parents. We are flexible as far as is reasonably practicable regarding attendance patterns therefore accommodating the needs of individual children and families.

Enrichment Fee

·       Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of free, high quality, flexible childcare. Government funding is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services. The Enrichment fee is optional and designed to cover the cost of meals, other consumables and additional services.

·       The Enrichment fee is charged per funded hour and the current rate for this can be found on the fee sheet.

·       The Children’s Room invests a huge amount in providing an enhanced experience for children and families but to cover the cost of this we are required to charge the Enrichment fee. We have a separate document which clearly explains the difference between the standard offer and the enhanced offer at the nursery but where families can afford to, we highly recommend benefitting from the fullest experience of the nursery for you child through opting in to the Enrichment Fee.

·       Families can request the cost of provision without the Enrichment Fee and choose for their child to attend within our standard offer. In this case families will be asked to provide all food and snacks in line with our dietaries and allergens policies and we will share a separate procedure with you in regard to this. Families will be asked to provide all consumables including nappies, cream, wipes, sun cream and clean bedding each week. Children will be taught and cared for in line with the EYFS guidance but will not participate in the additional activities and services such as yoga, French, the intergenerational project, gardening, heuristic play and Makaton. Families will have a daily update at the door and a termly development report but will not be participants within the EY Log photo updates, family events and parents evenings.

·       If families choose to opt out of payment from the Enrichment Fee they must provide one term’s notice to support business planning within the nursery.

·       Families have the choice to opt in or out of the Enrichment fee but there is not an option to pick and choose a selection of goods and services from within the full Enrichment fee. From January 2026 the nursery will provide a clear split of goods and services charged for within the Enrichment fee.

Conditions in relation to all types of funding

·       All children eligible for Early Education Funding must attend their regular sessions in order for us to claim their funding. Attendance is not optional.

·       Normal holiday and sickness absences are acceptable; a form must be completed by the parent on the child’s return to the nursery confirming the reason for absence. This is required for auditing purposes.

·       A maximum of three providers can claim funding for each child. Therefore, it is extremely important that details of any subsequent provider(s) are declared when completing the claim forms.

·       Our standard Terms & Conditions in relation to Fees also apply to funded places, please refer to the current fee sheet and attached T&Cs.