Do you pay your nursery's essentials and extras fee?

Exactly!
We need more state funded childcare options that cover wraparound care
and more infrastructure built to implement this. More women can then afford to return to work and continue their career and families won’t be spending a massive proportion of their income on childcare. This will be good for the economy and an investment for the future as the low birth rate is a ticking time bomb.

Some of the chain nurseries are making huge profits with bank accounts held offshore.

OP - look up the landmark ruling on nursery fees - this is why the nursery is having to ask for more money instead of charging you directly:
https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/governance/396-governance-news/59965-high-court-judge-rejects-legal-challenge-by-council-over-ombudsman-report-in-nursery-fees-case

Ours is £16/day and at the moment it isn't optional.

We also provide (and always have provided) our own wipes and nappies, and we aren't allowed to bring food in from home she to allergies.

I pay it - our bill for 4 days a week with 30 hours free funding for my 3 year old is about £850 a month. That includes a non-mandatory daily cost to cover essentials. I think it has always been the case that it isn't allowed to be compulsory. So, maybe this email was just to clarify?
I am sure I could question it but I wouldn't dream of doing so. I was aware of the cost of the nursery when we signed up and it has provided me with amazing care for my two sons. I wouldn't want to feel responsible for a degradation in service because it wasn't making enough money to pay enough staff, for example. That is what happens when people who could but don't pay. Where I am, a couple of nurseries have gone under and new, way more expensive ones have opened. Now those who didn't pay (I know a couple of people) have bigger bills than they would have previously - a clear case of a few people spoiling it for everyone else.

I heard that if parents stop paying the extras, nurseries will put up their base rate further, close or stop accepting funded pupils. Presumably this would make it completely unaffordable for you and you'd either have to change nursery or stop working to look after your children? I'd just pay it.

It’s not about causing trouble or otherwise, it’s about ensuring that the service continues. What will happen if everyone stops paying: nurseries will close. Will that make you better off?

Just pay it.

I think £1.80 is a great price. £3 for every funded or part funded hour here.

Pay it or find somewhere else, if you can. It is what it is.

Personally I'd much rather pay £3 than the nursery offer no funded hours or be really restrictive on use of the funded hours. Vaild between 8-4 for us which means we don't have to pay too many non-funded hours.

Our nursery has been very reasonable and our total bill is about £170 a month - for 1 full day and two mornings.

There is no option not to pay at our nursery. The care activities and food are excellent.

Ok so here’s another way of looking at it. Our charity run setting has just cut the hours of all staff due to this change. The mandatory fee was used for snacks, drink - some kids have special diets so particular snacks were catered to at a higher cost, messy play resources, flour etc for playdough etc etc.
We are all paid minimum wage (despite some being highly qualified).
This is causing lots of excellent staff to look for other work.
I just wish the new system was for private run nurseries and not charity run ones. It’s incredibly difficult for these fantastic settings to stay open.

Oh. That’s horrific. Gosh. I’m so glad I didn’t ever have to pay nursery fees.

I do pay it. Nurseries are on their knees, they'll end up closing if they are running at a loss and I value my childs nursery and the staff who work so hard far too much for that. I'd be gutted if my nursery closed down.

Well the government seem to be legally able to create a monopoly, take over self employed businesses without providing the benefits of being employed, and pay less than minimum wage sooo

Our nursery breaks down the extra charges into nappies, lunch, snacks, sun cream etc. I've always been happy to pay if I know what it's going towards. The care element is funded but the consumables are not, which feels logical. Nursery is expensive sadly, but you would be unreasonable not to pay.

She said it was compulsory didn’t she?

I work in a preschool and we are on our knees because of the awful rates of funding we receive and the increased costs- like at home. We hope that parents acknowledge the value in what we offer and the fact the government have confirmed the funding isn’t intended to cover consumables. If parents don’t pay we will offer alternatives as we have been advised to- parents bringing snack in/ parents not accessing our online diaries/ children not taking part in cooking etc as the funding doesn’t cover this and we can’t afford to give it for free. Creates so much extra work for us and we wouldn’t want children to feel left out but we are so short on money. If enough people don’t pay we probably will have to close. Staff wages are already dire and we can’t cut back any more!

How old are your children? Do you know how much the LA is paying per child per hour and how much is the usual nursery fee per hour?
Some nurseries have been charging excessive amounts apparently.

Legally they can't charge for any extras above the free funded hours (apart from extra unfunded hours)

This is indeed the mess the government have created. Providers never knowing when they will be paid, sued or made bankrupt.

I still paid £400 pcm for 3 days care with my “free hours” although it was year round and not term time. I also had a baby in the baby room and it was £750 for him.

Just pay it OP. You’ve been paying it to date. It’s hardly extortionate.

Because providers have been forced to by the LA. The government have screwed them over.

If your current place is £100 a day, and the funding is around £5ph, your nursery will close. But of course, it's your choice.

Complain to your MP ... its the government's fault entirely.

You are very lucky to get any free childcare hours - I paid full, nothing free.
If parents choose not to pay for extras then one or two things will happen:

1. Nursery will close
2. Nursery will become private and not accept government funded hours

My two are well out of the nursery years but I remember having to pay extras for ds1. Not as much as that though. I think it was about £50 a month. I really feel for parents and nurseries too. Everyone has been sold this “free childcare” malarky and it often ends up costing people more.

The nursery in the village have said that when this term ends they will have no funded places. It’s the only place in 20+ miles

Don’t pay the fee, but then don’t be surprised if the nursery closes. There’s a crisis in early years childcare currently and it’s very well publicised that the government funding does not cover the costs of running a nursery.

You don't need to pay it. Just if you don't, and lots of other parents do the same, the nursery standards with either go downhill or nursery will close.

In many cases it’s not actually a discount, I paid less for my DC before the 30 free hours than I do now with the 30 free hours applied to the bill. She’s in nursery the same amount.