15 hours free child care help

Cliecost

Hi,

My little boy is 3, he currently gets the 15 hours a week child care at his nursery.

He goes one day a week from 8:30-5:30 so that's less than the 15 hours but we still get a charge for him.

The nursery say its because the Gov would pay for 15 hours a week but that's spread over 38 weeks and the nursery is open for 52 so they spread it out over the year which results in there still being a small bill.

Is this right?

Thanks for any help.

shoe*diva79

Yes, that is correct x

gingergee

They only pay term time - ie when schools are open. I have 2 yr old funding in place and also get 15 hrs. She does 9-5.30 on mondays and 9-3.30 thursdays. I pay a small amount each week to cover holidays so im not paying hundreds out in one go.
Your little one doesnt have to go in holiday time. That way you wouldnt pay anything. xx

Cliecost

gingergee wrote: »

They only pay term time - ie when schools are open. I have 2 yr old funding in place and also get 15 hrs. She does 9-5.30 on mondays and 9-3.30 thursdays. I pay a small amount each week to cover holidays so im not paying hundreds out in one go.
Your little one doesnt have to go in holiday time. That way you wouldnt pay anything. xx

Yeah, but I work all year, so he has to.

clearingout

gingergee wrote: »

They only pay term time - ie when schools are open. I have 2 yr old funding in place and also get 15 hrs. She does 9-5.30 on mondays and 9-3.30 thursdays. I pay a small amount each week to cover holidays so im not paying hundreds out in one go.
Your little one doesnt have to go in holiday time. That way you wouldnt pay anything. xx

nurseries on the whole don't accept children on an on/off basis, or allow holidays. You pay for the whole time they are open, regardless of whether or not you use the place on a particular day. They are, essentially, keeping a place open for you and have to pay staff to be there on a strict child:adult ratio basis in case you turn up.

johnsmiffy

Perhaps I can help shed a bit of light on this - I am Chairman of our local pre-school/nursery.

This is how our LEA runs the Early Years Flexible Entitlement Funding, but should be the same in other counties:

Since September 2010, 3 and 4 year olds have been entitled to 15hrs free flexible early learning and childcare a week. This is to be spread over a minimum of 38 weeks per year up to a maximum of 50 weeks as long as the hours claimed do not exceed 570hrs per year in total (38 weeks x 15hrs = 570hrs)

The term flexible is dependant on how your setting runs, i.e. fixed sessions (9:00am - 11:30am, 12:30pm - 3:00pm etc), or 'drop off' and collect anytime during the day.

You said that your setting is open for 52 weeks, as the maximum that can be claimed is 570hrs over 50 weeks, then you should be able to claim 11.4hrs per week of free entitlement.

Remembering that free entitlement doesn't start until a date after your child turns three. Our LEA dates are:

Child born between 1 Jan - 31 Mar:
Becomes eligible for funding 1st Apr after 3rd birthday.

Child born between 1 Apr - 31 Aug:
Becomes eligible for funding 1st Sep after 3rd birthday.


Child born between 1 Sep - 31 Dec:
Becomes eligible for funding 1st Jan after 3rd birthday.


Our LEA requires that all parents sign a 'parental contract' which details the hours which you are claiming for the free entitlement. Check to see if you have signed one of these and see what hours are being claimed.

Unfortunately, if you have not claimed enough hours, then once the claim has been finalised by the setting and the LEA, then any increases in hours will have to be paid for by the parent until the next claim in the following term.

The other question that I have is do you use another child-care provider, as if you are they may be claiming for some of your free entitlement? You can split your free entitlement over more than one setting.

You say that your son attends for 9hrs a week, over 50 weeks this is 450hrs per year so less than the 570hrs a year maximum. I do not see why you would still have to pay. Even if the setting could spread the funding over 52 weeks then this would be 10.9hrs per week.

I would check your contract with your setting, ask then for a detailed breakdown of hours at the nursery, which hours are funded, and which hours need to be paid for. You should have been made aware of all these details prior to sending your child to the setting.

There may be some 'hidden' charges within your contract i.e. providing lunch/snacks etc. If this is the case, then you should have been made aware of this prior to signing any contract.

Another possibility for charges is where a settings normal fee per hour (non-funded hours) is greater than the level of funding which they receive from the LEA per hour. Thus, the bit you have to pay may be the difference between the two rates. If this is the case then, again, they should have made you aware of it before you signed any contract. We set our charges for non-funded sessions to be the same as the funding we receive from the LEA.

Hope this has been of some help and you get things sorted.

gingergee

The nursery mine goes to is part of a childrens centre and is part state/private. They do have a system in place for those with either 2,3,yr funding or supported childcare. So they can either pay for when the funding isn't there, or they just have holidays off like the older ones do. I have to pay for my "eggs" dinner there, that isn't covered.
Mine goes year round, to give me a chance to "rest". lol x
Hope you find out why yr paying, it may be helpful to other parents on here x

joandkaz1

gingergee wrote: »

The nursery mine goes to is part of a childrens centre and is part state/private. They do have a system in place for those with either 2,3,yr funding or supported childcare. So they can either pay for when the funding isn't there, or they just have holidays off like the older ones do. I have to pay for my "eggs" dinner there, that isn't covered.
Mine goes year round, to give me a chance to "rest". lol x
Hope you find out why yr paying, it may be helpful to other parents on here x

your using a funded nursery so you can rest??

gingergee

joandkaz1 wrote: »

your using a funded nursery so you can rest??

Erm no! I have SLE, Kidney disease, a heart condition and im quite ill!!!!!!!!
The funded care was put in place by my support worker, Doctor and HV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also my child has speech delay and is not confident in social situations, so they put her in nursery to help.
The 9 months she was in nursery untill the funding was sorted, i paid for through salarysacrifice (YES i was working!). Once i was too ill to work, she kept going, till the funding came in, now that pays for it.

joandkaz1

I see. so in other words you are using funded place but you have goods reason to rest.
did you now you had slu before you had kids?

johnsmiffy

joandkaz1 wrote: »

your using a funded nursery so you can rest??

The funding is provided by government and is there for anybody. It is not means tested, and so can be used by anybody who wishes to accept it if they work or don't work because of any reason.

The parent can use their 'free time' do do with as they wish.

I know plenty of parents who say that they are glad their little one goes to nursery for a few hours so they can rest.

Why should gingergee have to prove why she needs to rest?