The father complained to The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council as he believed he was paying a top-up fee because the nursery did not provide an itemised invoice.
The council met with the provider to discuss its charges and then told the father he was not paying a top-up fee and that responsibility for charging parents lay with the nursery. Unsatisfied with the local authority’s response, the parent complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).
The LGSCO’s investigation found the council ‘failed’ to work with the childcare provider to ensure its invoices were clear. It also found the nursery was applying a daily charge for consumables of more than £13 to the bill, but had not made parents aware this was an optional payment.
The council has now been told by the LGSCO to apologise to the father and pay him £100 for the ‘time and trouble’ in bringing the complaint. It has also said the council should pay the father 50 per cent of the consumables charged from January 2021 when he raised his concerns to the local authority, to when his child left the setting.
The Ombudsman, which has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public, has also recommended the council work with the nursery to amend its invoices and receipts to ensure they are ‘clear and transparent’.
Paul Najsarek from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said, ‘Statutory guidance is clear: councils should work with providers to ensure invoices and receipts are clear, transparent and itemised. We also made it clear in previous reports that “free must mean free”and that nursery providers cannot bridge the gap between the council’s rate and their private rate by hiding charges in opaque bills and charging structures.
‘As this man’s child has benefited from these consumables, I have asked the council to repay half of the fees paid out from the date he made the council aware of his concerns.
‘The changes the council has agreed to make to the way it works with the provider should ensure other parents are not paying optional fees without their knowledge.’
