My son turns 3 in May and will be starting at the nursery that's attached to our local school as soon as he is 3 (they don't take them any earlier than this).
He is entitled to the 30 free hours of childcare we get now in England, and benefitted from these at his previous nursery.
When my eldest started at nursery at the same school a couple of years ago, we were able to get the free hours of childcare for him from the day he started, which was mid-term, though the school did apply the term before for his funding when he was still 2. So we expected to be able to do the same for our youngest son.
The school have come back to say the early years funding advisor (presume at the local council) has advised that they cannot put the funding application in for my youngest son until he is 3, so he cannot get the funding until September 2026. This means we have to pay for him to attend the nursery there between May-July.
Has anyone been successful in getting their child's place at a nursery with an age restriction funded mid-term since the 30 hours funding came in? Or has your experience been you've had to wait until the term after they've turned whatever age the nursery takes them from?
I feel like surely it should be possible to get the funding given we managed to get it for my older son, and that someone is just misinterpreting the policy. It's much cheaper than his old nursery's day rate, but it's still something we haven't budgeted for as we assumed we'd be able to get the funded hours.
YABU: suck it up and pay the fees for a term
YANBU: fight for your right to free childcare!