Please help me understand how free 15 year childcare hours are calculated.

jaideep211

Hi All

Could someone help me understand how free 15 year childcare hours are calculated. 

My daughter who will be turning 2 in one month goes to nursery full time 5 days a week. The nursery is open 7am to 7pm M-F and she spends 9am-5pm M-F and we have been paying full fee for her until we became eligible for 15 free hours a week in Sept 2024. 

The fee for non-funded kids is £1,408 per month (something we have been paying prior to Sept 2024). Starting Sept 2024 (upon receiving 15 free hours) I was told I would need to pay £1,313 per month (with the free hours being spread out throughout the year). I was told this is because 15 hours funding is only available for 38 weeks in a year. On top of that I was told I would need to pay £8 per week for lunch or £32 per month. Therefore, my total is £1,345 per month. 

When I inquired I was told that 15 hours are covered all year around is that you use certain hours out of her 15 hours for 1 day and rest goes over during holidays. So it balanced and spread out for whole year.

To me, it is very odd since it is not much different from the fee for a full fee paying kid. Could someone explain what am I missing here

Thanks a lot!

sheramber

you get 570 hours a year.

This calculated as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks a year, which is the school terms.

If the 570 years are spread over the year you get just  over 10 hours a week- 570/52 

You do still have to pay for extras like lunches, snacks, trips etc.

The nursery should be able to  give you a breakdown of how the free hours have been allocated and how the remaining hours have been charged.