30 hours free childcare

[jarofheart]

DH and I are thinking of trying for DC2. I want to have an idea of nursery costs before we start.

Currently DC1 is at nursery for 4 days a week (we pay for 44 hours). I want to time it so that by the time DC2 starts nursery DC1 will be eligible for the 30 hours free funding (or before DC2 starts nursery at least).

I know some nursery's charge for food and that funding is only for term time, but I was wondering how much your childcare reduced once the 30 hours free kicked in. I know all nursery's will differ so I might ask DC1 nursery when I get a chance. DC only just started so don't really feel comfortable having that conversation yet.

Also, is it pro-rated so the 30 hours are based on 5 days childcare so if DC is going for 4 days we will only get 4/5 of the 30 hours?

Thank you

Each nursery works it out differently so you're best speaking to them about it.

@wheresmyhairytoe I appreciate that, I really do, but I was just wondering what others experiences were.

Well, my colleague's childcare went up by £12 a week when they first introduced the 30 hours

I don't think that is typical, now Nurseries have begun to get their heads round it, but, do realise that Nurseries still have to pay all their overheads - staff, premises, food, consumables, insurances, staff training, etc.,etc.etc. The hourly rate they get from the Gvmnt doesn't cover the hourly rate they need to charge, so they need to recoup it one way or another.
Don't anticipate you suddenly only paying for 14 hours. Nurseries can't afford to do that.

Oh god I hope it doesn't go up!

I'm not expecting to pay only 14 hours, as lovely as that would be, but I met someone at a baby group who said the 30 hours made a massive difference. It was only a brief chat and I was far to polite to ask about the exact amount she paid

I'm sure I read somewhere that nursery's get £4.88 an hour for the funding so I'm wondering if it will reduce by 30 x £4.88 a week spread over a year to take into account term times.

Ours is going from £900 ish to £298 for 3 days a week with 30 hours and tax free childcare. We're in London.

*thats for all year around. Not just term time

30 hours per week is TERM TIME ONLY. DD's nursery spreads this across the year so 22.5 hours per week. I'm not eligible, so a bit fuzzy on the details.

It isn't free hours, the local council will fund a set amount (which varies by council/area) e.g. £5 hour. However it may cost the nursery £8 hour, so they would be losing money. Nurseries cannot charge for the shortfall per hour, but they can get round this for charging for extras (food)/service charge. I think this is understandable as why should they fund the governments initiative.

If your child is 3 in January, you'll be able to claim the 30 hours the term following the 3rd birthday, i.e. after Easter. However you can get your code from HMRC up to a couple of months prior to the third birthday. I think the codes expire every 2/3 months

It's capped at 1140 hours per year.

Thanks @stanski and @Frazzledandfedup

@stanski that's the sort of information I'm after and the sort of figures I'm expecting. Although I'm surprised how much less the fees are as I thought I was hoping for too much.

Sorry, I didn't read that you knew it was term time only.

It's not pro-rated. So if a child only did 2 full days, this would leave 2.8 hours of funding per week (140 hours spare) which could be used for ad hoc days.

An example I have for 5 full (10 hour) days and 22.8 hours of funding would be

Day 1 10 hours and £10 additional service charge
Day 2 as above
Day 3 2.8 hours and £40 additional service charge
Day 4 £52 full fee
Day 5 as above

So it will cost £164 instead of £260 per week.

@Frazzledandfedup that's ok. If anyone else is interested it would be useful for them to know.

I wonder why it's term time only, rather than saying 25 hours a week all year round (or whatever the equivalent is)

Bear in mind there is a substantial jump between 3 and 4 days a week. In ours it's £630 for 4 days (all year) before you deduct the tax free childcare so nearly double what it is for 3 days only.. depends how they calculate it.

So that it sounds like a better deal than it is. These are politicians after all.

The funding is £3 per hour, for 22 hours a week pro-rata (or that's what my bill says anyway!). My nursery doesn't charge for for food and is really cheap, so it cuts the fees by 40%, which is brilliant.

Sorry @stanski can you explain that for me? In your previous post you said £900 for 3 days and £298 after the 30 hours. In your second post is that £630 for 4 days before or after the 30 hours is taken into account?

We paid for ft nursery (all day 5 days) £1k per month. After the free hours it reduced to £580. Amazing!!
Few things:

It kicks in the term after their third birthday. So if you’re a 10th April baby, it’s september- you can be really caught out with this one!

If your child is FT it’s often pro rata’d To 22 hours a week all year

Each nursery does things differently, so check with them

Don’t forget it recalculate your tax free element when you’re paying less

@Passthecherrycoke yes I had factored in when DC turns 3. DC is an August baby so getting pregnant anytime after November/ December works for us 😂

Forgot about the tax free element so that makes it even better. Thank you.

Sorry what I mean is There's a big jump between 3 and 4 days in cost as obviously 4th day is outside the 30 hours.

So for three full days it's 358 post funding and goes to £298 once you add the tax free childcare (look into this if you haven't); however if we did four days it would cost us £630 ish after funding (but effectively less when you deduct the tax free childcare as well).

Tax free childcare and 30 hour funding can run at the same time (as long as both parents working)

Obviously if you are term time only it will be different and depends on where in the country you are too / the specific nursery etc

Ah I see what you mean. We will be going from
4 days to the 30 hour funding then when/if we have DC2 I may go part time to 3 days a week.

We are in London too.

Mine "only" reduced from £965 to £720 for full-time. I use childcare vouchers at £243 & then pay the difference.
I once worked out that with LA funding the nursery were actually getting more per hour for my child than in baby room despite ratios/No nappies etc & that 15hrs funded for dd1 was the same price to me as 30hrs was for dd2, but haven't challenged it on the basis that I wasn't prepared to move her and I started paying less as soon as she turned 3 despite the funding not kicking until 2 months later.
You need to ask them though as everywhere approaches the funding differently.
As an aside - I thought you couldn't use 30hrs & tax free childcare together??

I sent mine to a kind of school nursery and genuinely got 30 hours free childcare - I didn't pay any extra. It was 9-3 (or 9-1 for just mornings) and term time only.

It obviously depends on your job, but for us this worked really well.

30 free hours and tax free childcare aren’t connected. Tax free child care is a subsidy for payment, exactly like childcare vouchers, and 30 hours is available for all working parents