Annual Fees Increase (2026-2027)

Dear Parents,

We are delighted to continue providing the very best childcare for your children at Smartys Day Nursery. Our primary aim has always been, and remains, to deliver the highest possible standard of care and early years education, ensuring every child has a positive, enriching experience with us.

We are extremely proud of the strength and expertise of our team. We currently employ eight degree-level qualified practitioners, whose qualifications include Early Years Teacher Status, Enhanced Degrees in Early Years, a qualified Forest School Teacher, and a qualified Music Teacher. In addition, over 94% of our 59-strong staff team hold a minimum NVQ Level 3 qualification in childcare. We are also pleased to highlight the extension of our specialist provision, with Rachael bringing over 11 years of high-level SENCo experience to the team.

Staff continuity is something we value greatly. With a 98% staff retention rate over a three-year period, families are welcomed each day by familiar faces. Our management team each have over 15 years’ experience with Smartys, and we believe this stability and consistency is a key factor that truly sets us apart from other childcare providers.

In light of ongoing inflationary pressures, we have carefully reviewed our fee structure for the financial year running from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. This review has been undertaken to ensure we can continue to maintain our exceptionally high standards of care, staffing, and resources.

We understand that any fee increase may impact monthly payment plans. Please be assured that these changes have been carefully considered and benchmarked against other local providers. We remain confident that our fees are competitive and accurately reflect the quality of provision we offer.

The updated fee structure is outlined below:

0–3 Years

• Daily rate: £67.00
• School day rate: £62.00
• 2 days per week: £134.00 (£67.00 per day)
• 3 days per week: £196.00 (£65.50 per day)
• 4 days per week: £254.00 (£63.50 per day)
• 5 days per week: £297.00 (£59.50 per day)

3–5 Years

• Daily rate: £61.00
• School day rate: £56.50
• 2 days per week: £122.00 (£61.00 per day)
• 3 days per week: £180.00 (£60.00 per day)
• 4 days per week: £235.00 (£58.85 per day)
• 5 days per week: £277.50 (£55.50 per day)

15/30 Hours Funding – Meal Supplements (please note these are only for fully funded days, not in addition to the prices above)

• Funded full day: £8.50 (includes breakfast, morning snack, lunch with dessert, afternoon snack, and a light evening tea)
• Funded school day: £7.00 (includes morning snack, lunch with dessert, and afternoon snack)

If you are not currently enrolled in an employment voucher scheme or using Tax-Free Childcare, we strongly encourage you to explore this option, as it can offer valuable savings. Further information and applications can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

Should you wish to discuss any aspect of this update, please do not hesitate to contact me at smartysdaynurseryft@outlook.com. I will also ensure that your revised payment plan is issued at least seven weeks in advance.

Thank you for choosing Smartys Day Nursery and for your continued trust and support.

Yours sincerely,

Bethany Bereit
Finance Director
Smartys Day Nursery

Working parents

If you live and work in England you may be entitled to 30 hours funded childcare support from the term after your child turns 9 months old, until they start school.

You can usually get funded childcare for working parents if you (and your partner, if you have one) are:

• in work or starting a new job
• on sick leave or annual leave
• on shared parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave
• getting statutory neonatal care pay
• on bereaved partner paternity leave

The amount of funded childcare you can get depends on:

• your child’s age and circumstances
• your income (and your partner’s income, if you have one)
• your immigration status

If you are not eligible for the working parent offer you will still receive the 15 hour entitlement for all 3 and 4 year olds from the term after your child turns 3 until they start school, irrespective of your income level, benefit status, or family circumstances.

If you or your child receive some additional forms of support, you may be eligible for 15 hours early learning for 2 year olds under a separate scheme and you should speak to your local council and/or provider in the first instance. If you are eligible, you should still apply for the working parent entitlement, but you will receive 15 hours from each scheme (up to a maximum of 30 hours in total).

Your earnings

Over the next 3 months you and your partner (if you have one) must each expect to earn at least:

• £2,643.68 before tax if you’re aged 21 or over (equivalent to £203.36 per week)
• £2,256.80 before tax if you’re aged 18 to 20 (equivalent to £173.60 per week)
• £1,664 before tax if you’re under 18 or an apprentice (equivalent to £128 per week)

This is equivalent to the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week, on average.

This table may help you identify if you meet the required income threshold:

Your age	Yearly	3 months	Weekly
21 and over	£10,574.72	£2,643.68	£203.36
18 to 20	£9,027.20	£2,256.80	£173.60
Under 18 or an apprentice	£6,656	£1,664	£128

You can earn up to £100,000 adjusted net income per year and be eligible. If you or your partner have an expected adjusted net income (ANI) over £100,000 in the current tax year, you will not be eligible. Foreign income is part of ANI calculation, so worldwide income must be included when assessing ANI.

You can use an average of how much you expect to earn over the current tax year if:

• you work throughout the year but do not get paid regularly
• you’re self-employed and do not expect to earn enough in the next 3 months

If you have a partner who lives with you, they must also earn between these two amounts.

If you’re self-employed and started your business less than 12 months ago, you can earn less and still be eligible for funded childcare for working parents.

If you have more than one job, you can use your total earnings to work out if you meet the threshold. This includes:

• earnings from any employment
• earnings from any self-employment

If you’re both employed and self-employed, you can use just your self-employment income if this would make you eligible. For example, if you expect your average self-employed earnings over the tax year to be more than you’ll get over the next 3 months as an employee.

Certain types of income will not count towards the minimum amount you must earn to be eligible. These include:

• dividends
• interest
• income from investing in property
• pension payments

How it works with maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption or bereaved partner paternity leave, or if you’re getting statutory neonatal care pay 

If you are on some form of parental leave and applying for an older child, who is not the subject of the parental leave, you can apply online at GOV.UK.

If you are applying for the child that is the subject of the parental leave, you can also apply online but the date that you return to work from parental leave will affect when you can take up the childcare. The below dates apply:

Date of returning to work	When you can apply from	When you can access your entitlements from
1 October to 31 January	1 September to 31 December	1 January
1 February to 30 April	1 January to 31 March	1 April
1 May to 30 September	1 April to 31 August	1 September

If one parent is starting or returning to work, while the other parent remains on parental leave until a later date, you will only be eligible to apply once both parents have either returned to work or have a start or return to work date within one month of the start of term (that is, 30 September, 31 January or 30 April).

If you are on paid annual leave and receiving your salary as normal, this counts as having returned to work for the purposes of eligibility for the working parent entitlement.

Starting a new job

Parents who are planning to start new work can also apply online. The following dates apply:

Date of starting work	When you can apply from	When you can access your entitlements from
1 October to 31 January	1 September to 31 December	1 January
1 February to 30 April	1 January to 31 March	1 April
1 May to 30 September	1 April to 31 August	1 September

If you are starting work more than one month after the start of term, you will be able to apply to start using the entitlements from the start of the following term.

Your immigration status

To be eligible for funded childcare for working parents, you (and your partner if you have one and if they live with you) must have a National Insurance number.

The person who applies must also have at least one of the following:

• British or Irish citizenship
• settled or pre-settled status, or you have applied and you’re waiting for a decision
• permission to access public funds – your UK residence card will tell you if you cannot do this

If you’re not currently working

You may still be eligible if your partner is working, and you are on carer’s leave or if you get any of the following:

• Incapacity Benefit
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Limited Capability for Work Benefit
• contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance

SMARTYS LUNCH BOX GUIDELINES

 

Smartys is dedicated in its endeavour to always ensure that our children are offered the best, and most nutritional meals and snacks on a daily basis.

We maintain a food provision based service that supports a diverse range of dietary requirements, whilst also maintaining an extremely high standard of food safety. As part of the Food Hygiene Agency inspections,  (within which we are rated at the highest level), we ensure through a strict policy and regime, that there is never a cross contamination of allergens. 

It is our recommendation that children enjoy our meals as part of a wider, very healthy lifestyle, encapsulated within their daily nursery routine.  This provides them with the maximum health benefits available to them. It is also a truly perfect social experience for each and every child as they navigate their wonderful and very exciting day. We focus our professional experience and understanding on ensuring the very best for your child.

However,  we recognise that unfortunately some families may wish to opt out of our premium service with its delicious menus and all of its added nutritional benefits.

Although it is never going to be something that we EVER recommend, those families that choose this option must adhere to our strict policy and it's rules to ensure the continued safety of everyone in our nurseries.

Smartys recognises that selecting and creating your child's lunch box each day can be a chore and the added element of food safety guidelines makes this task even more difficult and cumbersome.

However,  it is vital that you follow our rules to ensure that our safety measures are maintained at all times.  Please remember,  that although your child may not have a severe allergy,  it is likely that in  nursery there will be others that do.

For those children who do have an allergy and their family has chosen this option, they obviously must also maintain our strict guidelines to ensure that their child remains as safe as possible from any potential allergic reactions too.

Smartys regulations regarding lunch box preparation at home.

Please remember to pay strict attention to the Food Standards Agency 14 allergens which they list as, celery, cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats), crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters), eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs ( such as mussels and  oysters), mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites 

Smartys prohibited 🚫  products and substances . 

Nuts
Peanuts and peanut butter
Sweets
Confectionary 
Chocolate and chocolate biscuits
High fat or sugar content item e.g. donuts
No drinks are allowed other than water

Raisins

Seeds

Cherries

Grapes

Blueberries

Sausages/cocktail sausages

Apples (no matter how small they are cut/sliced)

Crisps – (can have maize/corncrisps such as Quavers) but no flat edge crisps

Seafood crustaceans/sushi

Carbonated beverages (pop)

Lunch needs to be a healthy balance with a fruit or veg snack item

Please also note the following 

All prepurchase foods must be in their original sealed packaging with a clear use by date printed on it by the manufacturer. 

Lunch box food items must be food that your child has eaten previously on a regular basis to reduce the risk of an undisclosed allergy occurring. This is particularly relevant for babies, especially those who are navigating the weaning process.  Please see our baby weaning policy for more information and help regarding this transition. 

Please understand that we cannot accept any food items that require refrigeration or freezing. Unfortunately we do not have the capacity to store these items and we are also mindful of the potential for cross contamination.

Staff can also, not heat up food brought in from home (hot food brought in Thermoses etc… will not to be accepted)

Please especially take into consideration the potential risk regarding choking when you arrange your child's menu options.

Over the last three decades Smartys has developed a wealth of experience regarding food, menus, recipes and food safety.  This has been, and always will be, an integral part of our daily food choices for our children. Please remember that these rules are to ensure the safety of everyone in our nurseries.

 As we stated previously,  it is our considered, professional opinion, that the best, healthiest choice for your child is the continued use of our outstanding lunchtime and snack service. Our wonderful cook Sharon has gained years of professional experience in the industry and is an expert in her field. She makes our menus unique with her passion and creativity. 

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us. Unfortunately failure to follow our rules and regulations will mean that you will have to alter your child's lunch box immediately once its contents are found to be unsuitable.  An emergency meal cannot be guaranteed as we only cook the designated number of meals each day to keep your costs at a minimum. 

Thank you for your continued support in this matter.