Nursery funded hours - is this right?

[hardyloveit]

Please don't flame me as I am generally curious to this.

My dd2 nursery was shut during the whole lockdown (private nursery)
I'm a key worker by the way.

I've just been invoiced for July and queried a few things on it. I'm friends with a member of staff there and during lockdown was worried about the nursery staff etc but they were all furloughed luckily.

Anyway I asked what happens to the funding (we are entitled to 30 hours) and they said they have used it all for bills.
This is where I'm confused as we aren't entitled to any of those 3 months funded hours that we have essentially lost out on.
They did get the maximum grant thing that came out which was around £10k. I've read the following and because they were closed during lockdown and not even open for key worker children, I'm reading that they couldn't just spend the funding for 3years + in this way.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding

Please can someone help with this and confirm to me what it means as I've really had to struggle with keeping my job and juggling new childcare during lockdown etc.
The nursery reopened mid June

Thank you and hope that makes sense as I've rushed writing this post

*inset

@ToothFairyNemesis we follow the adjacent school's terms so never finish earlier.

They only get funding for so many weeks of the year. In ours we always have to pay the final week before summer due to how many hours or weeks they can claim. Is it not something like that?

No I've asked my friend who has a child in year above and year above that and she's gone back through her invoices and it never happened to her or in the month of July

Often nurseries give you the option to use the 30 hours every week of term time or to stretch it out over the whole year (so then it's 20 some hours per week but over 51 weeks or whatever they state). Normally, if you haven't opted for that, then you get your 30 hours per week but only in term time. There is a big gap in the end of July and August until the autumn term begins again. If your friend doesn't see this on her invoices, it's probably because she had opted to stretch it over the year. Or otherwise, maybe there is some sort of mistake in the accounting. You should be getting your usual hours again now up until the start of the summer holidays. I would just ask the nursery to explain how you've been invoiced.

Ok.

Summer 2 finding only covers seven weeks in my area, it may well be the same for you, leaving the week beginning 20th July unfunded.

Also unfunded will be any insert days?

Assuming your DC has been at the nursery for the full academic year, have you had 38 weeks of funded childcare since the start of the academic year? Just for clarity, the term time during lockdown period would count as part of that 38 weeks, even if your DC didn't attend.

If you ask the nursery what date the term ends for the purposes of funded hours (which may be different to physical opening hours) they should be able to tell you.