Price increase letter to childcare and nursery parents
Copy it, replace the bracketed bits, send it. Below the letter: the text-message version, how much notice to give, and what to say when they push back.
Dear [PARENT NAME], We are writing to let you know that our fees will change from [DATE]. Full day: [OLD] → [NEW] Half day / session: [OLD] → [NEW] [HOURLY / ADDITIONAL HOURS]: [OLD] → [NEW] For [CHILD NAME]'s current pattern of [DAYS / HOURS], your monthly invoice will be [NEW MONTHLY] from [MONTH], up from [OLD MONTHLY]. [IF FUNDED: Your [FUNDED HOURS / SUBSIDY] continues to be applied as now; this change applies to the hours and items outside it.] We know that any rise in childcare costs is hard, so we want to be clear about why. By far our biggest cost is our team. We must keep a set number of qualified staff with every group of children, so we cannot reduce staffing to save money — and we would not want to. Staff wages have risen, and we want to keep the people your children know. We have also kept [WHAT YOU HELD — e.g. "our meals and nappies included in the fee"], so there are no new extra charges. If this change causes real difficulty for your family, please speak to [MANAGER NAME] in confidence. We may be able to help with changes to sessions, and we can point you to [TAX-FREE CHILDCARE / SUBSIDIES / CREDITS] you may be entitled to. Thank you for trusting us with [CHILD NAME]. [MANAGER NAME] [SETTING NAME]
How many customers can this price rise lose?
10% ÷ (40% + 10%) = 20%
Open the full calculator, with your prices and customer count →whatever your parent contract says — commonly four to six weeks — and ideally aligned to the new term or January
3–8%, usually once a year
The text-message version
For the customers whose entire relationship with you lives in a phone. Send it before the visit, never on the invoice.
[SETTING NAME]: we've emailed an update on fees from [DATE]. If you have questions or it causes difficulty, please speak to [MANAGER NAME] — in person or at [PHONE].
Why it is going up, in words you can use
“Rising costs” persuades nobody because everyone says it. Name the actual driver in childcare and nursery instead:
- staff wages, which are most of the cost and bound by required staff-to-child ratios
- government-funded hours or subsidies often pay less per hour than an hour of care costs to provide, and the gap lands on fee-paying hours
- food, nappies, consumables and materials for every child every day
- insurance, training, safeguarding checks and building costs
When they push back
You will hear these within a week. Having the answer ready is the difference between holding the price and folding on the phone.
- "Isn't this covered by our funded hours?"
- Explain the gap simply and without blame: "The funded hours are paid to us at a set rate, and that rate is below what an hour of care costs us. The fee change applies to the hours and items outside them." Parents usually do not know this, and it is useful for them to hear it.
- "The nursery across town is cheaper."
- Do not compare. Talk about your staff: "Our room leads have been with us for [N] years on average." Continuity of the people caring for their child is what parents care about most, and it is the thing that fee rises protect.
- "We'll have to cut down to three days."
- Make it easy. Families under pressure who feel heard stay; families who feel sold to leave at the next opportunity. Offer the pattern change and mention you will let them know if extra days become available later.
Is a price rise even the right move for you?
Sometimes it is not. Sometimes the money is in a service plan for customers you already have, or in the job you are quoting below cost without realising. Describe your business in one sentence and you will get three specific moves back — priced per month, with the arithmetic written out so you can put your own numbers in.
Free, no signup, about thirty seconds. If one of them is a price rise, you will get the number to put in the brackets above.
Give me three movesMore letters: lessons and childcare
Other trades
A template, not legal advice. If you have a written contract with these parents, check what it says about notice periods and price changes before you send anything — the contract wins over any template, including this one.