FEEE Free Entry Education Entitlement, incorrectly charged

the_quiff · 12 July 2017 at 2:16PM

I have previously had post on the forum just search "FEEE Free Entry Education Entitlement" from within the forum.

The gist of the conversation was "can I be charged for the 15 hrs free that I get"

As I am now 95% sure that I am right and they are wrong, can I do anything? Particularly now as they going to the 30hrs they are rewriting their calculation sheet.

This is how it has currently been written:-

Attendance: 3day/s 0 sessions 8-6pm 30hrs per week
Gross monthly fees £728
Total amount of this terms gross fees: (April, May, June) £2379.00
Number of funded hours per week: 15 @ £4.21 each: 63.15
Number of funded weeks for this term :12
Total number of funded hours for this term: 180
Total amount of this terms funding £757.80

Period of terms funding April, May, June
Total gross terms fees £2379.00
Less total terms funding: £757.80
Total net terms fees: £1621.20

Monthly privately funded net fess for the term: £1621.20/3 = £540.40

To me this is wrong and it is a top up. I think they intend to change how it is written so that money is not associated to the hours. But that said there is a years worth of missing hours/money due to me?

The hourly rate works out at £6.10 per hour over the 38 weeks I get 15 hrs for I am short by £1077.30

Can anyone clarify this for me, and what should my next steps be. The private childcare provider just dance around the issue. So definitely wouldn't just say opps there is £1000 refund!" potentially as that is everyone there."

thriftylass · 12 July 2017 at 2:24PM

We had a similar issue with our previous private nursery. I think there might only be a set amount per hour that is funded i.e the £4.21. If you go to a nursery that charges more than you need to top that up. We are now with a council nursery and now the funding matches the hourly rate almost.

So it's not 15hrs free per se but 15 hours @ £4.21 free = £63 a week free. Basically the government advertises 15 hrs free childcare but can't actually meet the costs that most private nurseries have, hence the short fall.

Also you only get actual nursery education hours free. So if your child only goes 3 hrs a day 5 days a week, he can go free. But if he also attends lunches etc then it's the daily rate minus the funding. So you can't really calculate it by an hourly rate.

the_quiff · 12 July 2017 at 3:14PM

I was thinking more that it has been mis sold to us, I was under the impression they cannot charge top up fees but they can charge additional hours at a higher price or change for lunches, wipes etc?

when you read through the invoice/calculation sheet. They have directly asked us to pay more.

I understand how they can avoid it, but in this case I believe they have made the mistake not to avoid it.

thriftylass · 12 July 2017 at 3:32PM

But you are not getting charged for the "free" hours. You get charged for 3 full days incl lunch etc (never mind the hourly rate) minus the £63 a week that the nursery gets funding from the government. Unless your actual invoice looks different to the one above.

There are various articles like http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-32957950 about how the schemes is flawed. But I think the main flaw is that the government calls it 15 hrs free. It should be called £63 a week free. It's a useless and not very practical system.

My invoice looks like :
£145 a week charge minus weekly funding £51 = £94 still to pay. The hourly rate doens't come into the calculation apart from that the £51 comes from the 15 * £3.4 the nursery gets a week from the council. And of course even the council nursery doesn't operate at £3.4 an hour

thriftylass · 12 July 2017 at 4:01PM

I guess you're right though in saying they shouldn't call their 3 full days 30 hours as that implies an hourly rate whereas I'm sure they have a full day and half dat rate. Also you're probably not in for 30 hours but anytime after 8 and leave just before 6.

And I guess you could read their invoice as 15 hours get funded/supplemented with £4.21 but you still pay the rest as funding not necessarily covers the whole cost of sth.

Oh and here in Scotland anyway, funding is only during school term, so in school holidays we pay full price.

Can't wait for our nursery paying days to be over (only then to get ripped off by after school club, yay)

thriftylass · 12 July 2017 at 4:09PM

the_quiff wrote: »

I was thinking more that it has been mis sold to us, I was under the impression they cannot charge top up fees

I think that only applies to someone who is actually only in for the 15 hours which most nurseries make impossible anyway as the have half days etc and not 3 hrs slots.

sheramber · 12 July 2017 at 5:52PM

the_quiff wrote: »

I was thinking more that it has been mis sold to us, I was under the impression they cannot charge top up fees but they can charge additional hours at a higher price or change for lunches, wipes etc?

when you read through the invoice/calculation sheet. They have directly asked us to pay more.

I understand how they can avoid it, but in this case I believe they have made the mistake not to avoid it.

up are correct that they cannot charge top up fees for the 'free' child care hours but can charge for extra hours.

Here is the information on the Essex county website. Your county may have similar.
https://www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Early-Years-Childcare/Help%20paying%20for%20childcare/Documents/FEEE_Guide_Parent.pdf

FEEE Free Entry Education Entitlement, incorrectly charged

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