Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether nurseries that have closed due to covid-19 and continue to charge parents full fees are eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The Competition and Markets Authority issued an open letter on 28 July 2020, followed by detailed advice to the sector, following complaints from parents about allegedly unfair charging practices during early days of the COVID-19 outbreak. These are available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/904194/Open_letter_to_Nursery_and_Early_Years__settings.pdf and https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fnursery-and-early-years-sector-covid-19-restrictions-and-consumer-law%2Fnursery-and-early-years-sector-covid-19-restrictions-and-consumer-law-advice&data=04%7C01%7CCraig.McClue%40cma.gov.uk%7C13f076f944ec466e247908d89b80c830%7C1948f2d40bc24c5e8c34caac9d736834%7C1%7C0%7C637430324728268280%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=9en2gwX9WZOMNHfFhbXioDVoJg1XujuKtWgAahheiVM%3D&reserved=0.

The letter supported the government’s position that providers must be balanced and fair in their dealings with parents, and that they must avoid unfair charging practices. While contracts are a private arrangement between consumers and providers, the provisions of the letter are still broadly applicable. If parents or their children test positive for COVID-19, or are contacted by NHS Test and Trace, the principle that parents should not be charged for a service that cannot be provided without breaching government legal requirements would apply. We ask that providers continue to be fair and balanced in dealings with parents and must continue to avoid unfair charging practices.

An early years provider can access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to cover up to the proportion of its salary bill which could be considered to have been paid for from that provider’s private income. This would typically be income received from ‘parent-paid’ hours that have not yet returned because of COVID-19, and excludes all income from the government’s free entitlements. Providers should use the month of February 2020 to represent their usual income, in calculating the proportion of its salary bill eligible to be covered by the scheme, taking into account parent-paid income that has returned. Providers should adjust these proportions in subsequent furloughing applications if their income from the governments free entitlements changes.