Can’t afford the additional charges at nursery for my 3 year old

Tbh I don’t think the government even know what they are funding whether they want to encourage people to work or call it educational, it’s confusing isnt it, and nowt in the world is free!

Copy and pasted straight off my local education authorities website: “Every child aged three and four is eligible to access up to 570 hours of free early education per year, 15 hours term time or stretched over the year. The free places are available in settings that are Ofsted registered and are on the local authority register of eligible providers.”

@Mustard3 yes but I’m talking about nurseries that are part of primary schools .

Sorry but you could not be more wrong.

”not supposed to be childcare”

It is 30 hours free childcare for working parents.

To quote the government website:

Check you're eligible for free childcare if you're working
You may be able to get free childcare for your child aged 9 months to 4 years old if you live in England.
The amount of free childcare you can get depends on…….
If you’ve already registered, you can sign in to your childcare account.

It's funded childcare but unfortunately the government doesn't fund it enough to make it completely free.

I charge a top up as a childminder because otherwise I would be losing money on funding.

It's not legally forceable. We refused to pay and took legal action. The legislation is very clear on what they can and can't charge for.

@Mustard3 annoying as it is it’s not supposed to be free childcare the 2/3/4 yo funding is supposed to be there to encourage children to get a good start in life and offer an early years education it’s not compulsory as compulsory school age is 5, that’s why costs aren’t covered like they are in reception and up like you refer to in your post about free school meals.

£80 is a lot, I am sure you won't be the only one who can't afford it.

I think if a few of you got together and objected, they might reduce it or you could reach a compromise.

@Lilacbluewaters also just thinking can you apply for DLA for your son and carers allowance for you you don’t need a diagnosis and then use the money to pay the extra nursery costs

also have you chatted to the nursery this and are you in receipt of benefits because I’d bet a fiver if it’s a school nursery there is some sort of help for families eligible for free school meals or in receipt of certain benefits

Edit: I seemed to have cleared the quote but was in response to 'not having heard it called Reception for over a decade'

We call it Reception where I teach and, like in many schools with mixed year group classes, the children in that year group within the class are referred to as 'the receptions'. Our head is an Ofsted inspector so it can't be that unusual or I'm sure we would have updated.

Fully agree OP, it’s ridiculous.

Our DD is three and has 30 free hours (I think because we both work).

They still manage to charge us £100+ every month. £40 for dinners (even though Reception-Yr2 children get it free), and then they conjure up an extra £40+ or more of “fees” every month.

That being said, I still remember when I used to pay £900 a month when my eldest was little, so it’s not as bad as that. But it IS meant to be “free childcare”, so it’s very dishonest.

@Lilacbluewaters ah I see. Just playing devils advocate but you’re absolutely sure that your child will get a place in reception at the same school aren’t you? Because entry to the nursery doesn’t guarantee entry to reception it’s a totally different application process. And you may need to be in catchment/fulfil other criteria for a place in reception as nurseries don’t have catchments even the ones inside schools

Well yes, but the wrap around care is done by the same staff in the same room.
But my initial post was responding to someone asserting that 2 year olds or under 2s cannot attend school nurseries. Which they can!

It comes down to different understandings of the words used I think. To me, being ‘in school’ means in a classroom learning environment. If I’m understanding your situation, your DC is in a classroom standard school hours (9-3) but with wrap around care either side. While he may well be on school property 7:45-17:00, to me he’s ’in school’ 9-3 and in childcare the other hours. But forgive me if I’m wrong!

The nursery will probably insist on you paying for the app as that will be how they communicate with all parents about their child's progress. If you opt out of the app then they will not be fulfilling their duty in communicating with parents and tracking your child's development. Most nurseries use some sort of app that they pay for. Some childminders do and some don't.

@Lilacbluewaters it sounds like you don’t actually need the nursery to cover childcare whilst you work so have you considered something like a church run pre school, my friends dd goes to one 9-12 daily 5 days a week and it’s completely funded by the 15 hours. She packs a snack and drink, the kids don’t even get a cup of water it’s all provided by parents but it’s a good little setting and they’re quite common if you seek them out.

Currently eligible 3/4 year olds can get 30 hours. From September, eligible 1 and 2 year olds will also get 30 hours.

@Needmorelego historically it was that 15 hours gets you 3 hours a day, 5 days a week at a preschool nursery within a primary school, and yes you’re right, it’s education not care. However times have changed and not many people can be around to drop off at 9am and back to pick up at 12noon every day. Even for me in the 90s, my mum used a childminder every day to pick me up and have me til 4pm as my mum worked, but this was quite unusual. And my mum did 10-3 daily which now seems like a dream to me haha.

15 hours now only equates to 1.5 days funded at my DD’s nursery as one day is 8-6 which is 10 hours even if you want to collect at 3pm you can’t have the 3 hours ‘back’, the hours are the hours.
So unless you only work literally 1.5 days a week you’re going to be paying for nursery or someone/something to cover the shortfall

Can’t some people get 30 hours funded?

As a PP said, the word 'voluntary' has been removed by the Dept for Education with regard to top up/care packages/consumables/extras. The provider is asked to provide an alternative such as a parent providing nappies/food etc but alternatives can also include the provider restricting when the funded hours are taken so there is a charge for certain hours or withdrawing a place completely.

The 3/4 year funding rate is much lower than the 2 and under funding rate which is why settings will charge extra for 3/4 year olds. However the nursery should not be charging for nappies or wipes for a child that doesn't require nappies or wipes.

It's an absolute scandal that the governments have continued to call it free childcare when, as everyone who works in childcare knows, it is subsidised childcare. Parents expect completely free childcare when that is very rarely the case.

There is a huge crisis in childcare with not enough places available for the number of children that are now on funded hours. It will only get worse in September when the 15 hours increases to 30.

OP, by all means query why the nursery wants to charge you for nappies and wipes. That is not on. Ask for a fully itemised invoice. However, childcare settings are now permitted to charge extras and this should have been detailed in the contract/paperwork that you signed and agreed to.

Education is not well funded. People have been pushing for education to be funded better for years. This isn't new. Staff fund a lot through their own wages.

But some schools offer the 15 hours over 2.5 days so children are in for 2 full days

That’s completely unacceptable that you should be paying for other children’s wipes and nappies while your child is clean and toilet trained.
Refuse to pay it.