30 hours for 1.5 year olds and over expected tomorroe

[QforCucumber]

As per the attached! This would help people so much

So I don't qualify for the two year funding or the three year funding so we will have to wait until three and pay the fees via UC if I decide to send them before that.

@Username721 my childminder is £7 an hour, she gets £4.87ph for the funded hours. Nowhere near.

Will this apply to Childminders? Anyone seen anything ?

Following for updates 🙂

I think it will be great for parents and I can only hope and pray they do find it properly as it would make a huge difference.
We are another family where the second child is just coming up to school age so it would be gutting to know if we’d waited a couple of years we would have been much better off financially. But we have spent £60k on childcare (and I’m only part time!) over the past 5 years which is frankly ridiculous.

It sounds great but logistically it may not work for everyone. When my DD was turning 3 I asked her private nursery how the 30 hours worked. She only did 2 days (she was with my mom the other 3 days). They split the 30 hours across the whole year, she would have to go for a minimum of 3 days plus they charged a top up so it worked out whilst I'd get an extra day I wasn't saving much at all (covid hit then anyway so she ended up going to a school nursery after things opened back up). Now I have DS (1) at the same nursery doing the same 2 days. It wouldn't surprise me (or I don't think I'd blame them really) if the nursery said he would have to go full time to take advantage of these 'free' hours so it would actually cost me more.

Is this applicable for people on benefits only like the 2yo funding currently is?

This would help is massively as my one year old just started nursery.
I don't understand re not enough funding from the government for 3 year olds as nurseries charge the difference for sure?
I still paid a few hundred every month when my ds qualified for the free hours and he was there for 4 days a week only

Where is all this money coming from?

@BuffaloCauliflower @bibbybox

Thanks for the info! I did a quick trawl through the gov.uk website and can see how poor their contribution is. I pay the fees for my 1 year old, so I had no idea that the “free” hours were essentially being paid for by the provider.

I agree.
As brilliant as it would be for people to only pay for wrap around care if they qualify for the “free hours”, are the nurseries actually going to receive the same amount of money as they’d have received if the parents were paying up to age 3?

@GoodChat what? Why on earth would you want to pay less for childcare? This is terrible news. The childcare sector is going to collapse.

No, we can't charge the difference. We can charge for consumables etc or time outside of the funded hours.

The 30 hours for 3 and 4 year olds has crippled hundreds of settings.

If they reduce ratios too a sector already in crisis will implode.

People just do not understand how hard early years is at the minute. Minimum wage, very long hours, no appreciation. We're on our knees everyday, there's no let up and staff are leaving in droves as we could be paid more stacking shelves.

The Guardian suggests the amount plaid to providers is going to increase (see paragraph three) although obviously no details as yet.

Hoping this is all a nightmare. Mothers (and maybe some fathers!) will be out of work soon once we see our nurseries close or see the quality slip so that we don’t want them In nursery.

nursery managers are cacking themselves tonight.

be careful what you wish for.. currently trying to compose a letter to my nursery asking them NOT to accept funding for 1-2 year olds (although I will hold of until we know more details of course!)

Wow, where do you live? My childminder is £50 per day!

I feel terrible for you all. I’m not sure what your salary is, but I imagine it’s nothing like what you deserve.

The girls at my son’s nursery are all lovely. From a staff members point of view, is there anything parents can do (or should avoid doing) that would make your lives better or easier?

I think it’s great news! Even if the nursery charge the difference between funding and the current rate it will reduce our monthly bill by hundreds of pounds!

@lady3009 No. This will not help your 1 year old. Nurseries will collapse OR quality will slip. Be careful what you wish for. The 15-30 funded hours scheme for 3-4 year olds has crippled nurseries - im waiting for more details, but I feel sorry for me who is likely to have to quit work and my child who probably won’t have a good nursery to go to soon

@HOL2024 its terrible news. Are you not shitting yourself? Think about it, how will this “work” I don’t mean on paper how it will work, but in practice?

My child is long past this age but I’m all for it if it’s properly funded and for people who are actually working!

Nurseries near us are charging £90 a day or a bit less and booked up for the next year and a half. Not London. Every single one recruiting too. I just don't see any way this is going to be a workable plan from the government.

They’ve stated that they are increasing the amount that they pay to settings. We currently pay £58 per day, that’s a lot of money over the month, if the government pay £40 then I’d be happy to pay the £18 difference as it’s reduces my bill significantly but the setting receives the same amount.

@MarshaBradyo will be a tougher slog once this is introduced , trust me

I’m afraid Early years is on it’s knees, the government are simply not paying enough to cover costs.
Our local county council will increase funding from April by just 23p per hour for 3yrs & over to £4.60 an hour, a rise of 5%.
The wages bill alone will rise by 10% when the NMW goes up in April, rent, utilities, supplies etc have all gone up hugely.
It will be impossible for many nurseries to remain open, the figures just don’t add up.
Many settings have already closed & I fear many more will have to after April.
Very hard to recruit qualified early years workers for minimum wage but settings can’t afford to pay more.
Who would choose to undertake continuous study & training while you work to gain the qualifications needed to do the job, have the huge responsibility of caring for, educating & ensuring the safety of children, daily exhausting work all for minimum wage when any job in retail, hospitality etc will pay much more with much less responsibility & stress?
The government’s plans would take away a settings ability to charge more for under 3’s, to help to makeup the shortfall in Government funding, this is the only way a lot are staying afloat.
Where are these extra places supposed to come from?
There aren’t enough staff or places at the moment.
I’m also appalled at the idea of increasing ratios, unsafe & dangerous and would lower the quality of care children can receive.