childcare vouchers (when child turns 3)

iskc85860506

Hi my son recently turned 3 and will start recieving the childcare vouchers for september.

He currently goes to nursery 3 days a week 8-6. £32.50 per a session.

We recieved an invoice for september the other day and they have only given us a discount of £56 for the month and I thought it was going to be higher than this I asked them and got no answers atall no-one seems to know how it is worked out.

I thought that he would get 15 hours per a week paid.
So if you devide the session by the hours he goes for it makes nursery £3.25 per an hour. (32.50/10 = 3.25)
then the £3.25 (nursery fee per an hour) times 15 (the amount of hours allowed under childcare vouchers) = £48.75

Therfore I was expecting to get £48.75 per a week discount on his nursery fees.

Then times the weekly figure by 4 for the monthly figure
£48.75 x 4 = £195

Monthly discount sould be £195 not £56 as they have said.
Is this correct? If not how does it work and what discount should I recieve?

Thank you in advance

saveallmymoney

i don't know the calculation, but for our nursery its £150 a month off.

sooz

It's been ages since my eldest got these (and my youngest is not yet old enough) but IIRC you only get an entitlement to vouchers for the days your child attends nursery. As yours only goes 3 days per week, you don't get the full 12.5 (not 15 yet!) hours in vouchers, but 3 paid 'sessions' (which aren't nearly as long as the hours your LO is doing)

Have a look here for more info

elainew

You only 12 1/2 hours a week "free" from the government. I take it he goes all year round like over 52 weeks . The govermnet funding is only for 39 weeks so your discount will be spread out of the year .

lindsaygalaxy

We had a shock in August as I forgot they are for term time only. Also check with your nursery that they let you have the 12.5 hours per week ( not 15) as mine would only cover 3 sessions on the 3 days she goes. Also, often with nursery, 1 session doesnt cover the cost "per hour"

onlyroz

We got a £144 subsidy this month - and our boy attends 9am-4pm mon-fri. I'm unsure if it'll be that much every month though.

elainew

Also your daily rate would include food maybe nappies etc so your hourly rate may be much smaller

Woby_Tide

the discount isn't based on what you actually pay the nursery on an hourly rate, it's a set figure from the Council(funded by the government). Not sure if it's weighted or changes round the country. Ours down here is basically £8.50 per 'free session'(2.5 hours). He goes 3 days a week so we get the 5 sessions. The funding does change on some months due to the way the weeks and sessions span out and also with only 39 weeks being funded. It is a dark art but I'll admit Mrs Tide has a better grasp on it and managed to work it on our fees spreadsheet so that it seems to tally now. The £56 though sounds too low even if they are only covering a couple of weeks in september.

Raise it with the nursery so they can explain how they calculate, thast the only way we managed to work it out