Looking for some advice from someone who knows about nursery funding, please. I've name changed (regular user) in case the manager is a MNer.
We have used the same nursery for 2 DCs, the youngest of which is still there. DC2 attends 9 hours a week over 3 mornings.
I was so looking forward to September when DC2 will be eligible for her 15 free hours a week, following her 3rd birthday this month. Nursery has now decided to change its policy and is no longer giving free hours to individual children, but rather (as far as I can gather, they're being infuriatingly vague) pooling all eligible children's free hours funding in order to lower the hourly rate for those who use nursery the most.
As a result, instead of DC2 attending 9 hours a week for free, as was the case with DC1 last year, we will instead have to pay a session fee of approximately £14, which will amount to around £170 per month. So, we are looking at another year of an unexpected expense. I know it is tiny by comparison to what a lot of people pay for nursery education, but it's a significant outlay for us.
Despite the change taking effect from September this year, they have not formally announced the details yet. I was told informally during a routine drop-off and shown the figures. I was so dumbfounded that I only nodded and feel I was made to feel a little bit guilty about the parents who have a higher bill than us, who stand to benefit from my DC2 not getting any free hours.
I thought funding was applied for on a child by child basis and that the money 'belongs' to the child. It just doesn't sit right with me, so would appreciate some advice as to what I can do in terms of arguing for DC2's free hours, if at all possible.
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Is nursery swindling DC2's 15 free hours allocation?
15 replies
IllMetByMoonlight · 21/07/2016 13:06
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