early years fund/grant - do you have to pay extra?

lkmc01

for those who recieve the early years fund / grant for their children - how hard was it to find a nursery / center / school nursery (foundation) place with vacancy's?

also are you having to pay still for extra nursery hours?

I only want the 12.5 hours a week for 38 weeks a year, as I will be studying (postgrad) and can not get any funding for this, including any childcare funding.

The nursery we are looking at has 8 - 12 and 1 - 6 sessions and all day monday to friday, but I only want 2.5 hours a day.

This I can not find in any of our local nurseries and I am being asked to make up the remaining cost of the session.

I only want 8 - 10:30 free. After that my partner and my mum will be taking care of my child.

Can I demand that I have a session for my child for 12.5 hours a week free only without having to pay for childcare I don't want or need

- or -

should I accept that I will have to get a loan out (commercial loan as will not be entitled to student funding as will be at postgrad level) to cover the cost of the childcare for the remaining 1.5 hours 10:30 - 12 per day for childcare I do not want or need?
I will not be classed as working from tax credits so can not get any help from them.

has anyone else had similar problems?

winnie81

I have always had to pay top-up fees for my little ones when they went to playgroup etc

I don't think you can demand that you have the hours to suit either I'm sorry

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will come along shortly

Mips

Interesting.

I should imagine, from the Nurseries financial point of view, that having a free child there using only a couple of hours each morning, is taking away from a child who could go there all morning and pay perhaps £15/£20 - taking money off the Nursery, if you see what I mean. Or even taking the full day rate because they would lose a full time place perhaps, that day?

They would have to ensure the Staff were there to cover the child/staff ration and pay a wage out for someone there all morning and the 1 child would only be there for a few hours.

Am not saying it is fair, but perhaps this is where they are coming from.

Hope this makes sense.

Spendless

Some private nurseries round here do offer the 12.5 hours per week, 38 weeks per year, but AFAIK they don't offer times to suit they will tell you when the sessions are, usually they are around 9 -11.30,(ish) same as at a school nursery.

Is it due to your course times you need the 8am start?

lkmc01

yes I need to travel for an hour into uni. the nurseries we are looking at are close to my mum so she can pick up my child.

lkmc01

its going to be tight getting into uni in an hour. I was trying to find a nursery with a 7:30 start

chaliepud

You may be better off trying to find a local childminder willing to take your child, obviously you would need to pay for this but would be cheaper than a half day at a nursery...

lkmc01

well my mum would be looking after my son for most of the day. i thought that because of the 12.5 hours a week free he might as well go into nursery for a bit each week just for this just to keep him interacting with other children as he goes there full time now for free as I am a undergraduate at the moment.

morganb

Have you therefore thought about a pre-school, they tend to offer 2 1/2 hour sessions a day, this would mean you could use your vouchers and would still benefit from the interaction with other children, etc. Just might mean that your Mum has him in the morning and he does pre-school in the afternoon, etc.

lkmc01

its just that I was trying to help my mum out. she will have just retired from working at a school herself. I was trying to aviod dropping him off too early in the morning.

dangers

What about trying to find an accredited childminder who can take the nursery vouchers? The only downside is that you want term time only. A childminder who is accredited will sometimes advertise this fact on the childrens information service website.