My 3 year old daughter attends a private day nursery for 3 full days (the days I work) but in September started pre-school for 2 afternoon sessions on my days off. I completed the grant form for the private nursery and they said 3 sessions could be knocked off the private nursery bill as she was only using 2 sessions at pre-school. This was done for Oct & Nov but when I picked her up tonight I was told that they are unable to claim the grant as the pre-school claim all the grant. I don't understand why this can't be split. Any ideas or advise ? Has anyone been in this situation
Thanks
Julie

meant grant - not grany !

should be able to split the grant - at the setting I work in we get parents to fill in a form stating where they are claimimg the grant, and we claim the vouchers the parent nominates to us.

talk to the preschool and ask them what they are claiming.

Is it a maintained sector (ie attached to a school) pre-school?

As long as the split is across two non-maintained settings (ie not a school nursery and a private day nursery) there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to claim at both providing you don't go over your 12.5hrs (15 in some areas).

You can't claim across two settings if one is a maintained nursery as the school nurseries are funded differently (different budgets and different method of funding).

Thanks for your messages. I made some phone calls and apparently the pre school is maintained so they get the whole funding regardless of how many sessions she attends there. I can't stop her 2 days now as she absolutely loves going there so will have to pay the full private nursery fees.

Annoyingly I was told this will change in September 2010 and you will be able to split maintained and private but that will be too late to help me ! typical
Thanks

Julie