goverment subsidy for day nurseries

baron777red

hi

my daughter who will be 3 in february is currently in a private day nursery(4 days a week) for which we pay £450 a month

but the april after she is 3 if we keep her in the nursery, as opposed to starting pre-school at a primary school, i am sure i heard that the state subsidise the nursery, and i was wondering if anybody knew how this worked, and how much better off we would be

we are going to keep her in a day nursery as most of the local primary school that have a pre-school only allow you either a morning or afternoon place per day, i think it amounts to 15 hours per week of free schooling.

i would love to hear what other peoples nursery fees reduced to as a result of the subsidising by the goverment

thanks

daveyjp

As of yesterday we are now eligible for 15 hours a week free during term time. DD also attends four days a week (so we get 12 hours free) and we will save £142 a month.

You just need to check if your nursery offers free hours and how many hours your local authority will fund, some are 12 hours a week, some are 15.

jacqhale

Hi, DS has just turned 3 in August and he would have been able to have the free sessions at his private nursery which would have equated to about £500 off the bill for Sept - DecI think. The free sessions are only available during term time so if you pay monthly will fluctuate quite dramatically! (our nursery did the workings over a few months and divided it equally).
Have a chat with your nursery they will know exactly what you are entitled to and how to work it out for you.
We chose to take DS out of private nursery and put him into a pre-school for the free sessions (Mon-Fri 9-12) purely because his nursery was chosen to be near my work rather than where we live and I wanted him to be making friends with children that he is likely to be going to school with.
He starts tomorrow and I'm terrified because it feels like he won't be 'looked after' so much as prepared for school:eek: I know I'm being stupid and he is so looking forward to it (everyday asking if he can go to school yet!!!)
Good luck!

Counting_Pennies_2

Hi the subsidy applies to all official child care provisions, I understand it can even apply to child minders.

It is very helpful and keeps costs down, and saves you moving them from their nursery they are happy with.

Enjoy the extra money!

jackomdj

daveyjp wrote: »

As of yesterday we are now eligible for 15 hours a week free during term time. DD also attends four days a week (so we get 12 hours free) and we will save £142 a month.

You just need to check if your nursery offers free hours and how many hours your local authority will fund, some are 12 hours a week, some are 15.

Daveyjp - I would check how much you are entitled to. If LO is at nursery /creche rather than pre-school you will be able to claim 2 sessions a day up to the max of 5 sessions. Our DD was at creche 2 full days so we claimed 4 sessions via them. Then she went to the pre-school attched to the school she starts at on Monday & we got 1 session via them free & paid for the extra 2 days.

We did the mix as creche is attached to my work where I work 2 days a week and pre-school we did so she got to know a lot of the children who she will be at school with.

HTH
Nicky

choccymoose

Hi, the entitlement is now 15 hours a week, and in some areas it is available fron the age of 2. You will need to speak directly to your nursery or contact your local early years team. Each local authority has their own rules that they apply, where we are you can now use the NEG through the holidays and the year is split into 3, Pre-schools, and private nurseries are not that much different now where 3-4 year olds are concerened and with it being 15 hours entitlement you do not have to go for mornings or afternoons you can have a mix, in addition you could choose to use 8 hours at one setting and the remaining 7 hours at another.
Childminders are also able to claim the grant as long as they meet the additional criteria set by the local authority, where I am they need to join the NCMA children come first network and then do an additional accreditation scheme within the network.

HTH

Choccy