Terms & Conditions

These terms and conditions govern the basis on which we agree to provide childcare services to you.

By using our website or childcare services, you agree to the terms of both these Terms & Conditions, our Privacy Policy & GDPR Policy Statement.

1) Obligations on Happy Families

We will:

a. inform you as soon as possible that your application for a childcare place has been successful. You must confirm within 7 days of receiving notification that you still wish to take up the childcare place. If you do not, the place may be withdrawn;

b. provide the agreed childcare facilities for your child at the agreed times (subject to any days when your child’s school is closed).

c. try and accommodate any requests you may make for any additional sessions of childcare at the setting;

d. provide you with regular verbal updates as to your child’s progress on request;

e. notify you as soon as possible of any days on which your child’s club will be closed (these will be the same as the days your child’s school is closed).

2) Obligations on you

You will:

a. Complete and return an application form with all of the questions answered accurately including all permissions signed;

b. immediately inform us if your child is suffering from any contagious disease. For the benefit of the other children in the club, you must not allow your child to attend the club if they are suffering from a contagious disease which could easily be passed on to another child during normal daily activities of the club;

c. immediately inform us of any changes to your contact details;

d. keep us informed as to the identity of the persons who will be collecting your child from our club. If the person collecting your child is not usually responsible for collecting them we will require the person to provide us with the correct password. If the password is not provided by the individual collecting your child, we will not release your child into their care;

e. inform us if your child is the subject of a court order and provide us with a copy of such order on request, please be aware that without this documentation we have the right to give the child to either parent/carers;

f. check with the company head office in as much advance as possible to check availability regarding any additional sessions that your child would like to attend the club; and provide us with at least 1 weeks notice of your intention to decrease the number of sessions your child requires at the club. You agree to provide 4 weeks notice to withdraw your child from our club and end this Agreement. If insufficient notice is given you will be responsible for any outstanding fees plus the 4 weeks notice from the first session you child does not attend.

3) Fee Payment Terms

Club fees are payable weekly or monthly in advance. if you are paying weekly in advanced payment must be paid in full by your child’s first session of the week. if you are paying monthly then payment must be made by the first day of the month.

We accept cash, childcare vouchers (please call the office to confirm our account information) and online banking as forms of payment.

4) Late Payments / Debt Recovery / Legal Action

It is extremely time consuming to both the club staff and administration staff to be pursuing unpaid fees. failure to pay your childcare fees at least 1 week in advance for any given period will result an invoice being issued detailing the period covered and the amount owed.

If childcare fees remain unpaid for longer than one week, then we retain the right to cancel your child places and reallocate these to other children on our waiting list with no notice to you. Legal action will be taken against you to retrieve outstanding fees via our debt management service provider who will add any additional costs incurred including legal fees to your outstanding bill. Once we have passed your details onto our debt management agency we will no longer be able to correspond with your regarding the issue and all correspondence will need to be sent direct to our debt management provider. Any legal fees including court fee’s incurred to Happy Families will be paid in full by the parents.

Please note: – that your credit score maybe affected once we pass your details onto our debt management agency

Children must always be collected at, or before the clubs official closing time, during each Afternoon session. Children must not be left at the club before the beginning of the Breakfast session and must be signed in by a responsible adult. This is very important as we only pay staff and rent during the clubs official opening hours and we are uninsured outside of these times.

Late collections of your child will result in a late fee of £10.00 every 15 minutes or part thereof. If any other people other than the parents/carers or emergency contacts listed on the first page of your application form are to collect your child, please inform the office immediately and inform us with details of this person.

5) Booking Alterations

Happy Families reserve the right to charge an administration fee of £5.00 for this service. If you require written confirmation of an amendment you will incur an additional administration fee of £5.00.

6) Childcare Places

Happy Families reserve the right to withdraw childcare places without notice and for any reason that the company deem necessary.

Administration Charges for Written Documentation.

Should you require an invoice or a statement of your child’s account, Happy Families reserve the right to charge an administration fee of £5.00; this is to cover the costs undertaken by the companies’ administration staff.

7) Cancellations / Refund Policy / Notice requirements

It is not Happy Families Childcare’s Ltd’s policy to issue cash refunds for any cancellations. 4 weeks notice must be given to us in writing or payment in lieu of notice is required if you wish to withdraw your child from the club. The 4 week’s notice period starts from when we receive your written notification not from when your notification document is dated. We require 1 weeks notice if you need to change your booked ad-hoc sessions or if you wish to cancel an ad-hoc place.

8) Holidays and Absences

All holidays and absences (including child sickness) that occur during term time must be paid for in full.

9) Lost Property

Please ensure that children do not bring valuable toys and belongings into the club with them as we cannot be held responsible if they go missing or suffer from any damage. We cannot guarantee the return of lost property, but will endeavor to return items that we are able to identify. Parents will be required to pay the cost of postage and packaging should it be requested that any items are to be returned to you using a postal service. Happy Families will keep lost property for a period of four weeks only, if it is left unclaimed after this period has expired, Happy Families will distribute the lost property to either a local charity or dispose of it accordingly.

10) Photography

During some of the routine activities at the club photographs and recordings may be taken, these will be used for display work within the club, as evidence for Ofsted and early years and for training purposes. They will not be used on the internet or for any publicity unless separate permission has been granted.

11) Medical Information

If you book a childcare place by telephone, we will ask you for relevant medical information, allergies, special needs and dietary restrictions information regarding your child. You must complete an application form on collecting your child as we require a hard copy of all your child’s details. When you complete a paper based or online application form the same information is requested. If this information is not completed or only partially completed your child may be excluded from certain activities, or could be excluded from the club. In such cases no refund will be paid. Happy Families reserve the right to cancel a booking at any time, where there has been a failure to provide full information about a child. It is both parents / carers responsibility to ensure that this information is kept updated.

12) Illnesses and Medication

Certain infectious illnesses (e.g. meningitis) will require your child to be excluded from the club for an appropriate period of time, to prevent the spread of infection to other children. We take advice from the local NHS authorities and the department of health to determine the most appropriate course of action in each case. If your child becomes ill whilst attending our club, we may ask you to collect your child if we believe this action is necessary. Any medication that your child requires must be clearly labelled by a chemist or GP and handed to a member of staff. The parent / carer must then complete a medical consent form and sign for each dosage upon collection of your child.

13) Dropping Off and Collecting Your Child

During our breakfast club all children must be dropped off at the club and handed over to a member of staff. It is the parent’s responsibility to bring the child into the club; the company does not accept liability for any children that make their own way to the club.

Children must always be collected at the clubs official closing time, at the end of each afterschool session and must not be left at the club before the beginning of the Breakfast session and must be signed in my a responsible adult. This is very important as we only pay staff and rent during the clubs official opening hours and we are uninsured outside of this time.

Late collections will result in a late fee of £10.00 every 15 minutes or part thereof. If any other people other than the parents/carers or emergency contacts listed on the first page of this application form are to collect your child please inform the office immediately and inform us with details of this person.

We have a password system in place for your child’s security, so the collector must know this password to take your child off the company site. If for any reason you decide not to use your booked childcare place, it is the parents / carers responsibility to inform a member of the company staff. This is to ensure that the club staff do not collect your child and are not searching the school for your child. Please note that if any parent / carer has a court order not to collect your child the office and club staff must be informed immediately and a copy of the court order must be given to the company before we can refuse access to the child. This is for legal reasons and is a mandatory requirement.

Happy Families staff have a duty to respond if they suspect that any child within their care may be suffering from abuse, or if a child makes a disclosure about abuse. In this event the relevant staff will follow our safeguarding children’s procedures as detailed in our policies and procedures.

14) Liability

Happy Families accepts no liability for personal injury or death of any participants unless directly caused by the proven negligence of the company or its employees.

15) Insurance

All children in our care are covered by our public liability insurance.

16) Staff

Happy Families ratio of staff to children normally exceeds all statutory requirements. The actual ratio varies between activities and age groups. Happy Families does not offer any higher ratio than 1:10 irrespective to any child’s special needs unless arranged and agreed previously, but the ratio of staff to children does not exceed 1:10 for all children under 8 years old.

17) Abuse of Staff

Happy Families employs staff to provide childcare for all our clubs. As employers we have a responsibility to ensure their safety and wellbeing. Abuse by parents will not be tolerated. If a member of staff has cause to speak to a parent whom they feel is likely to be abusive, they will be accompanied by another member of staff, who, will witness the interaction. If abuse occurs the incident will be reported to the company directors.

If the abuse involves a physical assault of any kind, the parent involved will have their child’s place terminated with immediate effect and the victim encouraged to seek advice from the Police.

If the abuse is verbal, the parent involved will receive a written warning from the company, which will detail the incident and state that should such an incident occur again their child’s place will be withdrawn with immediate effect.

18) Changes to these Terms and Conditions.
Happy Families retains the right to make changes to and/or add sections to the terms and conditions above. We will detail any changes in a letter to all parents, which will be given to you by a member of our staff when you collect your child from the club.

Should you disagree with any of the changes made to the Terms and Conditions you must inform us in writing within 7 days of being issued with the letter; in these circumstances you will need to provide us with 1 months’ notice to cancel your contract, where the previous Terms and Conditions will still apply up until your leaving date.

After 7 days of the letter being issued, it is automatically assumed that you agree to the changes made to the Terms and Conditions and adhere to them.

19) Programme Changes

Happy Families’ reserves the right to amend its services and activity programme, content, times, dates and venue in the event of unsuitable weather conditions, failure of equipment, building faults or any other operational faults that may arise from time to time, without refund or compensation to the customer.

20) Policies and procedures

A copy of Happy Families’ policies and procedures are available at each individual club or can be sent to parents on request.

21) Enforced Club Closure

If any of Happy Families’ clubs are forced to close due to the compulsory closure of its premises by order of a competent authority (eg School, Local Authority, Environmental Health etc), due to inclement weather (eg Snow, Ice, Flood etc), outbreak of a human infectious or contagious condition (eg Influenza, Meningitis), Industrial Action (teaching strike etc) or for any other reason, customers will not be liable for any fees due/paid, during the entire period of closure.