30 free hours + charges

[vixb1]

Hi,

For those who have their kids in nursery with 30 free hours.

How much extra does the nursery charge on top? We've been quoted £25 per day for food and "extra activities".

I understand it is hard for them to make money from the 30 free hours scheme, but it seems like a significant top up. I definitely don't worry in general about how much money the nursery group my daughter goes to is making....!

Just wanted to get a feel for what others are paying?

Cheers!

[purplemumster]

That's a huge surcharge on top of your free hours! I'd expect my child to be joining mensa with all those extra activities they must be planning!

We're in the North and our free hours are just that. We pay extra for meals (£2.50) per day in both childminder and pre school and we also pay an extra £5 per day for forest school with childminder just due to their raised costs on those days so we only pay a maximum of £7.50 extra.

It is difficult for childcare providers but I'd be asking to see a breakdown of where that amount of extra money would be spent as it's still quite a financial burden on you. For reference, we would pay up to about £35 a day all in for childcare before the hours.

[vixb1]

Oh my goodness, I can't believe how much we're paying! Our day rate is about £60 per day.

We live in quite an affluent area, I suspect that they are taking advantage / taking the piss.....! I feel really cross about it, we were looking forward to easing up financially with the free hours but it isn't going to make that much difference.

[purplemumster]

Yikes! That is a lot, the most we paid when we previously lived nearer to a city was £45 per day but we're now fairly rural and have seen it drop fairly significantly.

Iswym about looking forward to the financial burden easing off a bit. I'd be inclined to wonder if your nursery is trying to price you out to free up a non funded (and more lucrative) place for a paying child?

[SpiltMilk100]

Like purple our hours are completely free. We send DS with a packed lunch but lunch would be £2.60 a day otherwise. They give breakfast, snacks and tea for no extra charge. Was £35 a day when we were paying. Enjoying the extra £336 a month! Did you know you can use tax free childcare on top of the 30 hours?

[vixb1]

Wow, I definitely feel like I'm being ripped off! Not that I didn't before, but I definitely do now!

Guess we'll need to keep paying into the childcare fund as you say. Damn it!!!!

[jannier]

You can ask for a full breakdown of charges....does you lo go full time or just term time? The 30 hours only covers 38 weeks a year....the nursery can allow you to spread this over however many weeks they are open which means around 22 and you pay the rest. They may also have hours they offer funded spaces so some may say between 9 and 3 then you pay anything outside this...even if you dont get to use the full 30 hours....but they cant claim for what you dont use.

[SMaCM]

If they're charging about £60 per day, I'm guessing that's around £6/hr. They are probably only getting about £4/hr from the government and although they're not allowed to simply 'top up' the fees, they do need to pay their staff and meet their other costs somehow. Ask for a break down, but please direct your anger towards the government misleading parents, not the nursery.

[Lazypuppy]

When our free hours kick in we'll go from 5 mornings to 4 full days and 1 morning for the same amount of money.

Sessons are either 6 or 8 hours, and you can only claim 3 or 6 of the hours as free so always paying for a couple every day regardless

[jannier]

@Lazypuppy. Settings are not allowed to make extra hours a condition of accepting funding so if you dont want to do more than the 3 hours session you dont have to.

[Lazypuppy]

@jannier there are only 2 options for hours anyway-half day of full day. Thats regardless of the funded hours.

But once you get to that, they stretch the 30hours over the whole year so you claim 22.5hours a week as max, so you claim either 3 or 6 depending on your session.

I know other nurseries do the same but over lunch essentially, so if you want a full day you have to pay for the bridging hours.

I definitely want more than 3 hours, 3 hours seems a bit pointless to me. I'm looking forward to my dd being nearly full time for the same cost as we pay for part time

[Cordial11]

I have moved to Australia and the childcare system is much better set up then the UK. Basically, from day one of nursery, half your fee is paid. And nurseries accept from 6 weeks old.
Average cost in my area in £60 so we would pay £30.

The UK makes it so hard for working mums to go back to work!!!

[INeedNewShoes]

For any days that are covered by our funded hours, DD's nursery charge us £10 for food, plus I think they charge for an additional hour: The allotted hours, once stretched over 51 weeks, equate to two ten hour days a week, but our nursery is open 11 hours so I think I pay for that extra hour on the funded days only.

[Apple40]

It’s getting harder and harder for parents to find completely free 30 hours as nearly all providers now have to charge extras just to stay open, as every year the government puts up the national and minimum wage and pension contributions business have to pay, where as the funding paid to providers as not increased in nearly 3 years locally we get £3.65 an hour from the government for funded hours but charge £4.50 normally. Sadly more and more parents think they should be entitled to completely free childcare so refuse to pay the additional charges and then can’t find the care they need as the care providers refuse to see why they should subsidies that parents care. Locally most providers charge £1 per funded hour the parents food, trips out etc are extra. The funding only covers care and does not include food, trips art n craft etc. I would check to see what it is you are being asked to pay for, they should give you the option of bring own food and not paying for it and supply all your own art n craft etc. It also worth noting it’s up to the provider how they offer the funding term time or all year round, hours during the day etc the parents get no say in this, like wise it is not compulsory to offer any funding.Everything is supposed to be fair so charges not higher for funded parents over fee paying etc

[jannier]

If you want it completely free many childminders still offer this.

[Angeldust747]

Ours charges about 1.40 an hour for extras such as food and crafts, it's getting more and more common (North West)

[mswales]

Whether £25 top-up is normal completely depends where you live and whether your place is termtime only or full time (as 30 hours "free" only applies to termtime, if you need full time then it's only 22.5hours a week "free"). Nurseries where I live are all about £65 a day, in other parts of London they can be £80, it's madness! There's hardly any where 30/22.5 hours a week is actually free.

[bananaskinsnomnom]

My nursery doesn’t allow parents to spread the hours across the year, because to be perfectly frank the maths was getting too complicated and then people would leave at weird times and technically be owed money and it was a mess....

We allow funded hours between 9-12 and 1-4 term time only. You are welcome to use only the hours that are free of charge. There is a charge for 7-8, 8-9 (breakfast) 12-1 (lunch - we provide it and it’s not free or reduced if people want a packed lunch) and then 4-6 (with tea). Preschool parents can select the times for each day they need, so several only pay the lunch hour for example but have to pay full whack in the school holidays. We used to include Forest school, yoga and french in our fees but no longer can and they are charged as extras. Likewise, parents now have to provide their own nappies, which also used to be included. We can’t afford them anymore.

I’m wondering OP if your nursery is operating something similar? It’s the only way ours can survive. And many.

Something needs to change bloody quickly, if parents want to be paying nothing yet have nurseries with descent staff and equipment for your children.

[coffeeandpyjamas]

My DS will get his hours in September but the nursery will charge a supplement of £12 per day. I’m going to ask for a breakdown when the time comes as that seems sleep to me in some ways but if I knew what it was actually for I would probably think it was reasonable.

[SMaCM]

Coffeeandpyjamas it's probably for just about everything, as the government offer free places, but don't pay for them. If the nurseries want to provide good care and education for the children, it costs money (including toilet rolls, wipes, snacks, washing up liquid, craft materials, etc etc etc). This is what you need to pay the extra for, so the nursery can provide this excellent service and not close.