Claiming funding for looking after my son

[RandomAccessMemory]

I'm a Childminder in Essex and as well as looking after other parent's children I also look after my own son, my son turned three a week ago and I was looking forward to being able to claim free entitlement funding for him from the spring term.

However I have just discovered that because I'm looking after my own son the local authority will not allow me to claim the funding for him, they say that there is a blanket ban on childminders claiming funding for children whom they are related to.

I don't want to send him to another childminder so should I kick up a fuss? I don't see why I should miss out just because I happen to be looking after him.

Home Edders should get an allowance to cover books, material and educational trips.

I did ask and so did my partner but they said they don't fund home schooling families. There is no set curriculum to follow and a family can choose to unschool if they want to. You don't even have to be a qualified teacher maybe that's why they don't fund it, it could lead to parents abusing the system.

It's about choices isn't it. Choices have financial implications - working full time, working part time, sending kids to nursery, looking after them yourself.

OP has chosen to be a childminder. That has financial implications when it comes to looking after your own kids. OP wants to have her cake and eat it too.

Do you pay yourself for looking after your son?

Genuine question - presumably if you think you should get the funding you are also currently paying yourself your full childminding rate out of taxed income and then as the recipient of that income you are paying income tax and NI on it??

Highly unlikely that you are in which case YABU for expecting the funding too.

You can't be serious? Surely you can see the difference between looking after other people's children, which is a job; and looking after your own child, which is called being a parent? Of course you can't be funded to look after your own child.

By your logic I should get some funding as DD1 is entitled to 30 hours funding at nursery, but as both me and DH work full-time, but will only actually be at nursery 21 hours a week (to cover the times me and DH are both at work). So by your logic I should be able to claim the remaining 9 hours childcare for myself should I? Can you not see why that would be ridiculous?

And the home Ed thing is a choice too. You choose not to access the state provision, there are financial consequences to that.

But presumably you chose childminding as a job because it allowed you to stay at home with your son?

No, I've been childminder a childminder for roughly six years.

Out of interest op

If you didn’t have any mindees and assuming your household income allowed you to would you be impressed if you were not allowed to claim any benefits associated with being out of work because you had your kid at home?

But you are no worse off than if the funding paid for someone less to look after him
she is as he counts in her numbers so she can't take on another child.
A nursery manager / owner is able to claim the funding for their own child, just not childminders. It should be a blanket ban on all childcare settings, or allowed for all

can you send in a charge to yourself for looking after your son? and then get a rebate?

Needs, I am on your side! Just pointing out the absurdity of people suggesting that because she is missing out on having a paid mindee and choosing to have her DS at home she should be being paid. If she wants to claim funding/be paid, she needs to send him to a CM. She can't have it all ways.

i guess if you send him to a child minder elsewhere - which will be free for you - you can then get the money from having another child in your house instead of your ds.

If she puts him in nursery she won't be allowed another child in her ratio

When DH & I both childminded they wanted to take a child of each of our ratios because of DD

So 3 each, with 1 child - we thought we should childmind 5 children but they said no only 4 because each of us was responsible for DD - I fought it & won

The next one was when DH was 'out' with DD, the council thought I should only have 2 children because there might be an emergency & DD would return home.....I thought that very unlikely and fought that too

Different situations but expressing the ratio inflexibilty

I thought part of the point of early years education is for the child to experience a different setting and a carer other than their parent in preparation for school. If your child is with you he isn't getting that so you shouldn't be funded for it.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah aha ha!

That is all.

You have a job that allows you to look after your own child, I don't see why you feel you should get paid for that.

i guess if you send him to a child minder elsewhere - which will be free for you - you can then get the money from having another child in your house instead of your ds

No she can't. your own child counts in your ratios till they start ft school even if they're not in the house

You have a limited number of paying child positions available and if your own child is filling one of them, you cannot then fill that position with another paying child. So you are losing money

Presumably the child has been filling this space for the last 3 years, without OP being paid for it. She is not 'losing money' by continuing to fill the space with the same child, as she is not getting any money for his place at the moment. She is trying to claim money she is not entitled to from the LA.

Being a childminder may not be the most highly paid job in the world, but it has the huge advantage of being able to legitimately combine working with looking after your own child.

Havingahorridtime

I have been home schooling from September 2013 until now. Wind your neck back in and read my post properly. I think you created a fantasy of what I'm expecting from the local authority. I chose to home school my children so there for I must fund it or did you not get your child, your responsibility from my last post???

If you didn’t have any mindees and assuming your household income allowed you to would you be impressed if you were not allowed to claim any benefits associated with being out of work because you had your kid at home?

If i didn't have any mindees then unless I resigned my childminder registration I'd technically still be working, just not receiving an income. So I wouldn't be able to claim any benefits associated with being out of work regardless.

Lol, I’m a childminder and I find it ridiculous you wanna claim money to look after your own child. Send him to nursery and get another child in? If a sahm decides they didn’t want their child to go to nursery then they would just lose the funding!!

Send him to nursery and claim. Don't kids go to nursery at 3 anyway? You'd also have a vacancy which you could fill so more money coming in. Win win.

I spose the councils have cut backs.
There isnt a money tree, as someone else has said, probably in government.

things change. its tough.

you could get a job at a nursery instead of working at your home op?

My response about home ed wasn't to you emoji.

I'm not sure why people are giving her a hard time. She's being perfectly logical. She provides a service for which government subsidise consumption. It does contradict the general principal to not allow a qualified child minder to be subsidised for looking over their own child. Presumably this is just to save money, as otherwise lots of SAHPs would qualify as child-minders so they could receive money just to look after their own children.