3 year olds free childcare

susancs · 25 January 2016 at 10:07PM

Postofficehater wrote: »

So according to that BBC report then, the email and invoice from them shows they are "illegally" charging top up fees.

When challenged, they may well come back with set hours etc but what they have given us so far at least gives us an argument.

Thanks again.

Rich.

Yes, the reality is that as the 15 hours free education for 3 and 4 year olds is covered by Govt legislation (refered to in the document link posted previously), it is illegal to charge top up fees for the free 15 hours except for specialist extra provision or food. These hours have to be clearly stated as totally free on any invoice. They also cannot insist on extras like uniform or having food they provide.

Spendless · 26 January 2016 at 1:06AM

Postofficehater wrote: »

Hi all,

Probably a simple question for this site but I have searched the .gov site and cannot get a definitive answer.....

My daughter is now entitled to what I believed was 10hrs per week of free childcare.

The bill came from nursery saying "Child education grant: £123.75". (This is per month)

This leaves a short fall of £88.75 per month.

She is only there for 2 mornings each of 5 hour sessions.

Do the government only pay £2.97 per hour and we are having to pick up the shortfall?

The nursery charge £5.10 per hour.

Thanks all and I look forwards to being pointed in the right direction. :j

P.s. they are also now charging us for "food charge for free education grant" of £33 per month which was included in when we used to pay the full amount.

Mine are now at Secondary school so the following may not be the same now, but when mine were at Nursery (back then it was 12.5 hours funded) you couldn't join funded sessions together. Therefore my eldest who went 3 mornings per week so 5 hours (8am-1pm) I only got 7.5 hours funded, as I could only have 2.5 hours funded in each session.

When I sent my youngest, she went for 3 full days and then I did get the whole 12.5 hours funded, as she could be funded for 2.5 hours in a morning session and then again for the afternoon session.

susancs · 26 January 2016 at 1:49PM

Rich, most local authorities have a termly parental declaration form, filled in by the setting, that parents are asked to sign stating what free hours they are having and when these occur. These can be audited by the Local authority officer in charge of the scheme during a spot check visit. You could use this declaration form for a discussion with the Nursery as parents usually have to sign to say they are receiving the stated hours free of additional charges.

The Statutory guidance (legal guidance) for local authorities is to be found here:
https://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/Statutory%20Guidance%20for%20Local%20Authorities%20on%20the%20Delivery%20of%20Free%20Early%20Education%20for%20Three%20and%20Four%20Year%20Olds.doc

Local authorities are required by legislation to:

1.1 Makeavailable sufficient free earlyeducation places offering 570 hours a year over no fewer than 38 weeks of theyear for every eligible child in their area from the relevant date followingtheir third birthday until they reach compulsory school age (the beginning ofthe term following their fifth birthday) and to ensure that every place is provided free of charge.

Local authorities should:

1.4 Ensurethat providers who charge for any goods or services, for example meals, optional extras or additional hours of provision outside of the free entitlement, do notdo so as a condition of children accessing their free entitlement.

4.1 Ensure providers do not charge parents for anyhours for which the provider already receives any funding from the local authority.

C.3 Ensurethat parents can clearly see, from the information they receive from theirprovider, that they have received their child’s full 15 hour entitlementcompletely free.

Postofficehater · 5 February 2016 at 12:38PM

Think we're finally getting somewhere now.

Have spoken to their area manager and she said they were only claiming for 10 hrs over 38 weeks for us.

She said they can now claim for 15 hrs and use them as a "stretch" to cover the hours they are short of.

We have to wait until the new term but hopefully will now only need to pay for the lunch.

Thanks.

susancs · 5 February 2016 at 2:31PM

Postofficehater wrote: »

Think we're finally getting somewhere now.

Have spoken to their area manager and she said they were only claiming for 10 hrs over 38 weeks for us.

She said they can now claim for 15 hrs and use them as a "stretch" to cover the hours they are short of.

We have to wait until the new term but hopefully will now only need to pay for the lunch.

Thanks.

Thanks for the update, glad that hopefully you have got some sort of resolution in place.

3 year olds free childcare

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