Govt subsidy for 3 and 4 year olds

[castlesintheair]

Can anyone please remind me what the subsidy is for nursery children aged 3 and 4 and how it works? Or if there is anything I can link to? Thanks.

[meemar]

In the term after their 3rd birthday children are entitled to 5 free sessions of nursery/pre-school per week.

[LIZS]

It is an entitlement to up to 12 1/2 hours total (rising to 15 hours in 2010 although some areas are already offering this) termtime only, 5 sessions per week, from term after they turn 3. Your LEA website should have details of how it is implemented locally, under Early Years. Not all nurseries, preschools and chidlminders are included in the scheme.

[castlesintheair]

OK thanks, so a 15 hour week would mean I could get up to 12.5 hours refunded. Does that sound right?

[LIZS]

Possibly but in most areas there is a maximum of 2 1/2 hours per "session" so if your 15 hours is made up of 5 hour sessions 3 times a week you may only get 7 1/2 hours(3 x 2 1/2) funded. There may also be a local cap on the hourly rate allowed.

[amidaiwish]

it isn't as straightforward as that, DD2 goes to nursery (daycare) and does 2.5 days per week. hours i pay for are 8-6 x 2 days and 8-1.30 x 1 day.

the monthly bill is £559.04
the govt subsidy for 12.5 "free" hours is £163.84
so i still pay £395.20/month when in reality half the cost should be refunded.

does that make sense?

also i don't get that subsidy all year round - def not in August and i think there is another month too when i don't get it.

[shonaspurtle]

In our area only a few private nurseries have been designated as "in Partnership" with the local authority and thus eligable for the subsidy payment.

The council say that there are enough free places already available in state nursery schools. However, the state nurseries are only open during school hours so you would need to pay for a childminder, who would probably want paying for the full session as they wouldn't get another child for that 2.5 hrs.

Thus, the private Partnership nurseries are full and so the subsidy is fairly moot.

(I've only just found out that ds's nursery has been turned down for Partnership status so I'm a bit raw about this - can you tell..)

[tiggerlovestobounce]

As far as I know the value of an "hour" is standard across the local authority, and not related to what it costs at the nursery you use.
The subsidy is only for term time, so you wont get it all year round (though some nurseries average out the value of the vouchers across the year, so you get the same in total over a year, but slightly less each month).

[castlesintheair]

Yes it makes sense. It's for 5 x 3 hour sessions LIZS so it will be interesting to see what we get, if anything. I've emailed the manager to find out if the nursery (the only option) is included in the scheme. Thanks for the advice.

[purepurple]

our nursery, a private day nursery, offers the free sessions only, if parents want them. The session runs from 9 till 11.30 with the option of staying for lunch for £2.50 till 1. The afternoon session is from 1 till 3. 30. During the holidays the parent have the option of paying full fees or keeping them at home. This means we do lose money but we subsidise by filling the spaces with school children on holiday. One parent, sends her child 2 days from 9 till 3.30 and pays just £5 a week for lunch and is able to send him during half term cos her entitlement is stretched over the year.
It is beginning to work for us as we have an after school club so the children leaving at 3.30 free up spaces for the school children and we don't have to employ extra staff for the school children.

[mapleleaf]

In our pre-school it came as a discount of around £530 per term (5 morning sessions). I believe it varies from borough to borough. This is in SW london. It starts in the term after they turn three.

[JRocks]

At our preschool the entitlement is 15 hours, so DS goes 5 mornings for 3 hours a time and it's all covered.

[Tanith]

The grant is for free education rather than free childcare, so it's term-time only. It's available the term after your child's 3rd birthday and can be claimed by nursery schools, pre-schools, daycare nurseries and accredited childminders. If your setting offers this, you should get 2.5 hours for up to 5 sessions. You can claim more than one session in a single day (morning and afternoon) and you can claim at more than one setting, provided you don't exceed the 5 sessions a week.

The grant should be free at the point of delivery. In other words, your setting is not allowed to charge anything at all for those 2.5 hours, even if their normal fees are more than the value of the grant. They are not allowed to charge a top-up fee (increasing the fee charged for non-subsidised hours to cover any shortfall). They are not allowed to hold onto the grant and refund you at a later stage (e.g. end of term). They must not discriminate between those receiving the grant and those who are not, for example by charging a different rate.

Incidently, if you use a childminder for childcare and send your child to a nursery for the grant, then expect to pay the childminder for those 2.5 hours. The reason is that the childminder is holding those hours open for your child to use when the nursery is closed, e.g. holidays and INSET days. Effectively, during those 2.5 hours, you're taking up two childcare places, only one of which is free.

[amidaiwish]

yes but am i entitled to say to my daycare nursery - "i just want the 2.5 hours, so i'll drop her off at x and pick her up at x+2.5"
because i don't think that option is available and all nurseries/pre-schools are packed here with long waiting lists.

[purepurple]

no, you are not entitled to say that, but some chiodcare providers will do that, we do!

[HSMM]

I think our local pre school lets children do their 12.5 hours if they want it completely free, but I think all the children do the full hours and term and pay extra for healthy snacks.

[Tanith]

According to my co-ordinator, yes you are entitled to say that.
At the moment, I have to do this for a parent who can no longer afford my fees as a childminder, but who wants her child to continue to take up her free entitlement.

Your local education authority should be able to advise you if that's what you want to do.

[thinkingabout3]

Amidai, you are absolutely allowed to say that you only want the 2.5 hours and that you will pick up after that time. I have clarified this exact issue with my local council just last week

[toomanyprojects]

Amidai,

We have been reminded by our County Council (Northamptonshire) to make it absolutely clear on our paperwork that there is the option to just have the free 2.5 hrs and not pay extra for the three hour session.