30 hours free childcare for working parents query

PeachyPika

My child is due to start nursery next term (they will be a year old when they start). I have provided the nursery with the funding code in preparation. The nursery have told me that we cannot use the funded hours until the term after they start nursery. They have stated this is because the county council specify that any child starting later than the first month in the term will have to wait until the next term to allocate funding. I have not seen this information anywhere, I can’t even find it on the council website. This means we will need to pay for all of the nursery hours until the next new term, how could we plan for this if they don’t even make you aware?!

mark_cycling00

My local council has a helpline for the funded childcare which was easy to get through to and very useful. Maybe yours will too.

It's a total mess of a scheme and awful for parents and the nurseries too. 

I end up paying hundreds of pounds every week at the start of the term until a random date when the council decide to send the funds to the nursery. Then I pay nothing until the next term.

Don't forget to renew your special government code every full moon and if you're self employed they'll interrogate you about your expected income 

mark_cycling00

Joking about full moon, I think it's every 3 months but don't forget to do it