Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Unflip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Unflip

1 2 3

Original poster

30 hours childcare - parent vs nursery!

61 replies

MacciJ · 28/03/2022 19:07

Hello everyone, could use your urgent advice

My daughter is 3 and born in January and we're entitled to 30 hours free childcare from 1st April.. Due to annualised billing they are saying that the bill is £450 a month inclusive of 30 hours free. I can't wrap my head around it as my daughter only goes 3 days per week with (30 hours anyway) - how it can be this much?

So my girlfriend works at a nursery which was brought out by one of those big nursery companies a few months back - we were told our rate for our daughter going there wouldn't change (and now it has but we didn't agree or ever know about it?) It's like 40/50 a month - is this legal?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

RidingMyBike · 28/03/2022 19:28

Yep, this is normal. When the 30 hours was announced I mistakenly thought our childcare costs would drop to almost nothing as we were paying for 3 days a week (nursery open for 11.5 hours a day). They dropped to about £700 a month from the term after she turned 3.

It's because the nursery doesn't get the full hourly cost of what they're providing back from the govt and it's termtime only. A lot of nurseries also only let you use it in 3 hour blocks per day so 30 hours = 10 x 3 hour blocks per week, so it reduces the bill but not by a huge amount. In our case that meant we claimed 6 x 3 hour blocks (for the 3 days a week we needed it), then paid for the rest of those days.

Look up champagne nurseries lemonade funding!

Original poster

MacciJ · 28/03/2022 19:21

Thanks everyone I do appreciate the comments (apart from the sausage at the top who said if you don't like the prices you can leave - thanks captain obvious)

They take into account school academic year (Sept-July) This is for the whole year, completely understand term time funding vs non funded holidays. She goes 30 hours every week all year round.

Surely the point of the government 30 hours free is to benefit parents in the intended way(30 hours free), why would it be annualised when I'm only entitled to this benefit now and wasn't with all my full price bills prior? (I feel I've paid my premium already pre-discount)

Hoping someone can see my frustration at £450 a month for 30 hours a week when I'm entitled to 30 hours free. I do get there's complexities to it.

We know of our friend who's child goes there and they pay £100 less but have had 30 hours free since September.

OP posts:

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 28/03/2022 19:20

Also just to say, the Summer term in our borough doesn't start until 25th April so that's almost a month less than you were expecting.

NewBrownMouse · 28/03/2022 19:18

30 hours is term time only so if your daughter also attends in non-term time you will pay for those weeks and they spread it out through the whole year to make it easier for you to pay (you don't have to pay a larger lump sum in August when the free hours dont apply for example)
30 hours also doesn't include food so they will add on a small daily cost for this each day term and non-term.

Headabovetheparakeet · 28/03/2022 19:18

Free Hours funding is only for 39 weeks a year (school terms) so you're not getting 30 hours free all year.

If you use a nursery that's open 52 weeks a year then you will get around 22 hours a week and that may only cover 2 days in a nursery that's open 11hrs a day.

Because free hours funding is low, nurseries can charge for extras including food, nappies, activities and teaching as well.

Smartiepants79 · 28/03/2022 19:15

For your daughter attend all year or term time only?
I think the 30 hours is only for term time.
Happy to be corrected.
What is the daily rate if you’re paying?

Hugasauras · 28/03/2022 19:14

For example, our nursery lets you spread it over 48 weeks (two weeks nursery is closed over Xmas and two weeks of your choosing you take your child out). But they have limited spaces for that setup and some children can only go term-time with funded hours.

Hugasauras · 28/03/2022 19:12

Presumably that includes full payment for Jan to April? Is her funded spot term-time only so you have to pay full rate for school holidays? Some nurseries let you spread it across the whole year but others only have funded spaces for term time.

Oblahdeeoblahdoe · 28/03/2022 19:12

I think it's something to do with the 30 hours only applying during term time so only 36 weeks a year. Someone else will be along shortly to explain it more fully than I can

Hwory · 28/03/2022 19:10

Does your child go year round?

The funding is term time only.

insancerre · 28/03/2022 19:10

If you don’t like the new prices then just find another nursery

Unflip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread