15 hours of nursery funding, how to use it?

MrsE_2

My DGS is only 1.5.

He will get 15 hours of nursery funding the term after he's 3.

My DD has heard she HAS to use that for 5 x 3 hour sessions.
A session a day.

I thought you cold use the 15 hours anyway you wanted?

She pays for 1 (long) day at a nursery while she works. I have him one day, I was planning on going back to work normal hours rather than compressed (as I'm doing now 9 hours x 4 days) when she gets the funding.
My thinking being those 15 hours will nearly cover 2 full days & just leave her a few hours to pay.

Who's right? Her or me?
Can she use her 15 hours anyway she likes?

jackomdj

It may have changed from when my d d was using hers (she is y1 now), but back then you had to use it over 5 separate sessions.

Spendless

Private nursery or one attached to a school? Mine went to private nurseries to start off with and they worked in the way you state. DS did 3 mornings 8-1 and got 7.5 hrs funded as you paid for the extra hours. (was 12.5 hrs nursery when mine were this age). DD did 3 full days which used funding on 2.5 days and we paid the rest.

They both later changed to the school nursery and they were only open for all morning or all afternoon sessions, you either did 5xam or 5 x pm session. In recent years they've changed and you can also have 2.5 days but not any 2.5 days ours only does all day mon-tue and we am or wed pm, thurs and fri.

I suspect it will depend on what the nursery your daughter wishes to use offers in the way of availability.

MrsE_2

Spendless wrote: »

Private nursery or one attached to a school? Mine went to private nurseries to start off with and they worked in the way you state. DS did 3 mornings 8-1 and got 7.5 hrs funded as you paid for the extra hours. (was 12.5 hrs nursery when mine were this age). DD did 3 full days which used funding on 2.5 days and we paid the rest.

They both later changed to the school nursery and they were only open for all morning or all afternoon sessions, you either did 5xam or 5 x pm session. In recent years they've changed and you can also have 2.5 days but not any 2.5 days ours only does all day mon-tue and we am or wed pm, thurs and fri.

I suspect it will depend on what the nursery your daughter wishes to use offers in the way of availability.

Private nursery, costs about £60 a day.

Its open 8 to 6 (or thereabouts).

daska

Some places insist on it being one session per day because it's simpler for them. It used to be that the hours had to be used over 3 days, this was changed last year (?) and AFAIK they can now be used across only 2 days.

Edited to add link to article about it
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18248658

izoomzoom

I am a Childminder who offers Nursery Education and in my borough, there are rules about offering the free funding:

It can be used over a minimum of 2 days, with a maximum of 10 hours or minimum of 2.5 hours a day.

Best check out the rules for the area that your grandchild lives in, and cross reference it with the policy set up by the intended nursery.

iammumtoone

I think it depends on the nursery. I had friends whose very popular nursery would only allow them to use their 'free' hours in the afternoons as they were less busy, but the nursery where I sent my son allowed me to use them when every I wanted to. I could even change the hours every term if I wanted to.

EDIT my son is now 5 not sure if the rules have changed.

mwa

I understand that different nurseries have different rules, I don't think there is a prescribed way that you must use the hours. I have heard of nurseries insisting you can have 'mornings only', 'afternoons only' etc - I am lucky with mine as we can use the hours as we like, I just pay the extra.

sweaty_betty

I've been inquiring about this at our nursery.
Here you can use the 15 hours over a minimum of 2.5 days. So one session for a morning, another for the afternoon of the same day, repeat on day two, then a half day session on a third day.

They even have a list of charges for "wrap around care" - e.g. to pay for a full day when you're using 2 of your "half days" (in reality, 3 hours) you pay £19, instead of the usual £42 (and approximately £29 for a full day if you're only using one of the "half days")

Don't forget you only get the 15 hours during term time. At our nursery if you pay for wrap around care usually, the price goes back up to full price during school holidays. I worked out that the total annual fee for 39 weeks at the reduced rate was significantly lower than the full price fee for 13 weeks - ouch!

bethl79

My daughters preschool offers set session times - either 9 - 12, 9 - 1, 9 - 3 or 12 - 3. So for example my dd does 3 full days so we claim 2 x 9 -3 and 1 x 9 - 12 and then pay for the extra 3 hours. I assume there is no rule regarding this and each setting can do whatever they choose as they all seem to do different things.

mummyroysof3

Why doesn't she ask the nursery which options they have? Does she not want him to attend a nursery attached to a school art that point?