This help centre article has been written for Koru Kids' Home Nursery service
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To secure your child’s place at a home nursery, you’ll be required to sign our standard contract and agree to our T&Cs. Whilst we recommend that you read both documents to get the full details, below is a summary of some of the important terms.
Please note that if you plan to employ a Koru Kids nanny, you can read about the contract here.
Deposit
When you sign your contract, you’ll need to pay a £150 deposit to secure your child’s place at your chosen home nursery.
We’ll take this payment via Direct Debit. We’ll use this Direct Debit authority to take your regular payments each month unless you pay through Tax-Free Childcare.
This deposit will be deducted from your final invoice when your child stops attending your chosen home nursery.
Signing your contract
You’ll receive your contract to sign digitally via HelloSign. Just click on the link in the email you receive.
Once you’ve electronically signed the contract, you’ll receive a PDF copy by email.
Contract participants & the Early Educator’s employment status
Your contract will be with Koru Kids, and your Early Educator will be a named party in the contract.
Your Early Educator has a separate contract with Koru Kids. Their relationship with us is one of a self-employed contractor.
The Early Educator is responsible for paying their own taxes, this is not the responsibility of you, the family.
Payment dates
Any portion of your fees being paid by Direct Debit will be taken towards the beginning of each month following the issue of your invoice.
Terminating your contract & the notice period
If you wish to remove your child from your chosen home nursery during the settling in period, there is a 1 month notice period.
After the settling in period has ended and your child has officially started at your chosen home nursery, there is an 8 week notice period if you wish to remove your child from the setting or change your regular hours/days.
This 8 week notice period can be waived by the Early Educator if they’re easily able to fill your place without any loss of income.
The notice period for the change in days/hours may also be waived if your Early Educator is easily able to accommodate you.
Overtime & unused hours
If you are late collecting your child, your Early Educator may charge you additional overtime. They may waive this at their discretion.
This will be charged at their standard hourly rate and added to your next month’s invoice.
Any unused hours (perhaps because your child is away due to illness, holiday or medical appointments) do not roll over to another day, week or month.
Child sickness & holidays
If your child is ill, at a medical appointment or on holiday, and cannot attend your chosen home nursery, fees are still due in full.
Early Educator's paid holidays
Your Early Educator has 4 weeks of paid holiday each year. The cost of these is spread out across the year, so you do not have to pay when the setting is closed.
The equivalent of 1.66 extra days (pro-rata) will be added to your monthly invoice as a holiday and rest day allowance.
Your Early Educator will make best efforts to give you notice of upcoming holidays to allow you time to make alternative childcare arrangements.
Your Early Educator should give you at least 3 months written notice of a closure of more than 4 days.
Most families arrange their own holiday to coincide with these dates so as to avoid paying for additional childcare.
Your Early Educator should give you at least 1 months written notice of a closure of 3 days or less.
Koru Kids will do our best to provide you with an alternative early educator to cover any closures if needed.
Consents
In the contract, we will ask you to confirm whether you give consent for certain activities such as applying suncream, dispensing paracetamol suspension (Calpol) and your child being photographed.
Emergency cover
In the event that you need to make alternative childcare arrangements because your home nursery is closed, we may be able to arrange another Koru Kids early educator to provide childcare. Please contact us as soon as you know of the closure and we’ll do whatever we can to make it happen.
In the T&Cs, you agree to pay the agreed fees for these additional childcare services.
Consumables Charge
We ask you to agree to pay a Consumables Charge in the event that you make use of the 15/30 Funded Hours program to ensure that our Early Educators receive a fair hourly rate for looking after your children.
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