Family · Care exit
Childcare / infant-care exit
Serve centre notice in writing on the fee-cycle boundary — school withdrawal does not stop childcare billing.
Last reviewed 2026-09-15
Leaving mid-term with infant care, childcare, and student-care contracts still live — notice weeks, deposit returns, and how centre exit collides with school withdrawal, movers week, and fibre ETF cash.
Inventory every centre and after-care contract
Infant care, childcare, student care, and holiday programmes often sit on separate contracts from international school. Cancelling school enrolment does not auto-stop centre billing. List every centre with written-notice weeks and deposit amounts the week you resign.
- Screenshot parent-portal invoices and notice clauses for each centre
- Confirm whether sibling discounts survive one child leaving
- Ask whether holiday-programme deposits are separate pots
Notice windows vs last attendance day
Many centres want one calendar month’s written notice ending on a fee-cycle boundary. Diplomatic-clause exits and mid-month flights collide with those cut-offs. Serve notice early enough that the last billed month matches the child’s last attendance day — not an empty week after you fly.
- Email written notice and keep the acknowledgement PDF
- Align last attendance with the centre’s published fee cycle
- Do not assume verbal notice to a teacher counts as contract notice
Deposits, meal plans, and uniform kits
Caution deposits, meal-plan top-ups, and uniform / bedding kits linger after the child stops attending. Some centres forfeit deposits on short notice; others refund after a final inspection of returned kits. Inventory kits before movers week swallows the bag.
- List deposit, meal credit, and kit items per child
- Book kit return on a day the centre office is open
- Ask whether unused meal credits refund to the card on file
Same-week stack with school and fibre
Centre notice, school withdrawal, and fibre / broadband early-termination fees often land in one fortnight. Sequence so the child still has care on school clear-out days, and so fibre ETF cash is not raided by a surprise centre deposit forfeit.
- Put centre last day, school errands, and ISP cancel on one family calendar
- Sketch fibre ETF cash on /tools/fibre-broadband-etf
- Keep one adult free for centre-office handovers on notice week
Subsidy and employer childcare edges
ECDA / employer childcare subsidies and claims can reverse when attendance stops mid-month. Confirm whether you owe a clawback on prepaid subsidy months, and whether HR needs a stop date before your last working day.
- Ask the centre how subsidy claims change on early exit
- Email HR the childcare stop date with the EP cancel window
- Keep final invoices for any employer reimbursement still mid-flight
Cash float: centre deposits vs fibre ETF
Centre deposit forfeits and fibre early-termination fees are small next to IR21 withhold — but they hit while movers deposits are live. Keep a dedicated SGD float so a centre invoice does not raid the ISP ETF pot.
- Total open centre deposits and notice-month fees before resignation week
- Sketch fibre / broadband ETF on /tools/fibre-broadband-etf
- Pay parent portals while Singapore cards and PayNow still work
This playbook is editorial guidance, not legal or tax advice. Confirm current IRAS and MOM requirements before you act.
Related: Fibre broadband ETF · School withdrawal · Utilities exit handover