Moving county mid term and transfer of Early Years Funding- help!!

[MrsH2010]

We are moving from Kent to Norfolk in the Feb half term.

My son can claim his 15 hours funding for pre school from January- and the setting requires 4 weeks notice of any change. I have told them already he will be finishing (and moving) 13th Feb. so he will literally only be funded at this setting from Jan 07th to Feb 13th.
We are then set to put him into a new preschool in Norfolk for his free hours when the term restarts Feb 24th. However his current setting in Kent have said they wonMt transfer his hours to Norfolk until April 22nd! This seems absurd... Norfolk said that if a child is moving out of county this is not on, as he's entitled to jt and they often have children transfer mid term from out of area with their hours.
I have logged a call with Kent County council to ask whats going on, but it seems fraudulent, for want of a better word, for The setting in Kent to claim a kids hours who they have had due notice for for over 2 months after he has left!! It's not like he could physically get there, and he will then be kicking his heels, in a brand new place, for 2 months instead of starting to meet new friends and settle down... Surely none of that is actually in the best interest of the child...!

Does anyone have any experience of this? It all seems really silly, and not at all geared towards the child, or family, but towards funding and who can get what!!

[PeterParkerSays]

Is it to do with academic terms, as 22nd April will be the start of the summer term, so maybe they only do the transfer at the beginning of each term?

[doreme]

This happened to us. As I understand it, the nursery gets a he ey funding for one term in a lump sum, so it can't go with you when you move. What my new nursery did was fill out a form requesting the transfer of the outstanding money to them (available from the local authority) and the money was eventually transferred, although it did take a couple of months. It is a real pain, but because they have to apply for funding on advance, this is what happens. We had to cover the shortfall ourselves and then the funding was added as a credit to our account when it came in.

[doreme]

Sorry for spelling mistakes, on phone!

[insancerre]

some councils won't let settings transfer funds after the forms have been signed and the money sent
it might be better to pay for the couple of weeks before he leaves the old seting and make a new claim at the new setting, which is allowed

the setting can't claim for the couple of weeks, they have to claim for the term

[insancerre]

this is from our council's website
What if I need to move my child to a different childcare provider?

Wherever possible, it is better for children to stay and settle down in a familiar place rather than keep changing. If you move your child after the headcount date, you will not be able to claim a free place somewhere else for the rest of the term. You can sign up with another provider to start the free entitlement again from the next term (ie 1 January, 1 April or 1 September).
The only exception is for looked after children. Children in public care or at risk can move during a term, under certain circumstances, and still keep their free place.

[Littlefish]

In our local authority, you can only transfer the funding after head count day if you move too far away to travel to the original nursery, or if you can prove that the original nursery cannot meet your child's needs.

[MrsH2010]

Thanks everyone! Appreciate it- it just seems so silly as we can't physically get him there when moving Kent to Norfolk! Yet as a result he misses out- surely there has to be allowances! As you said, we are now considering paying for the month at the start of the term ourselves, then starting his funding when we get to the new setting in Norfolk, instead of him having to miss out on two months as a result of Kent claiming the funding 'first'. Just irks me that it's not actually set up to be in the best interest of the child, or particularly straight forwards for the parents dealing with it... Oh well!!

Thanks again for the help, i shall see what Kent County Council come back with first, and then will probably have to pay ourselves :( xx