School fees

[Noway123]

I’m hoping for some advice as I am panicking and absolutely pissed off!!!
I currently live in a London borough and my children attend a children’s centre 3 days a week, 8am-6pm, term time only. I have just been informed that if my children want an 8-6 place then I will have to pay for all year round. Can they do this? I’m just about scraping by as it is and now they are adding hundreds of pounds a month to my children’s fees. I work full time, my partner works full time and I honestly don’t know how I’m going to be able to do this.
AIBU to be totally pissed off? Another smack in the face for a working parent.

Why do the government call it ‘your childcare provider’

Why is is called ‘tax free childcare’

Tax free childcare is for people who work and get some tax relief to pay for childcare.

30 free hours is not a government con at least for me.

I get 15 extra hours help towards my childcare. That on top of the 15 hours that every 3 year old is entitled to means I am saving about £400 a month.

You would still be saving money overall if you kept your child in the nursery on similar hours to what he is in now - you will pay less in September than you do now.

@luckymummy I know, I was trying to show that it is classed as childcare.
Great that it’s worked out like that for you but for me the 30 free hours I would have lost by paying through the holidays and I have also lost my 25% discount on 1yo, including a 2% rise in fees. I would have had to have paid for 550 hours a year that I wouldn’t have used or needed. That’s if I had accepted AYR. Obviously with a childminder it wouldn’t work out like that. That’s why I have opted for that. What I will be saving I will be losing out on with my partner not being able to work mornings. So should roughly cost the same, which is great. But it not in the best interest of my child, which is sad.

You have already allocated the savings you are going to make from the 30 free hours to increasing the number of days you use the nursery.

The nursery wouldn’t be looking at that when they made their decision. They would have considered the scenario of someone nursery 3 days a week TTO who would now be paying for the holidays, resulting in them paying about 25% of what they had been paying before they qualified for the 30 free hours.

The problem is more that you have committed to spending the savings. The nursery wouldn’t have considered that when looking at the scenarios of parents.

I know it doesn't help you but this is a result of public sector cuts. Many Children's Centres are closing completely so I guess at least they are trying to do something to help them stay open. I can see how it's difficult for you though OP. You may be able to negotiate something with them given your low wage.

@panda we have not allocated the extra £ we would have got. Just hoping on a family day out a month. Not always going to the park but something a bit more exciting.
That is not the case. The nursery discussed each individual case with a senior employee in our borough. When they discussed this they were fully aware that I would be increasing to 5 days. I gave them about 9 months notice.

You have allocated it by upping the number of days. If you had stayed on 3 days a week you wouldn’t have to spend more than you do at moment.

I appreciate that your personal circumstances make that a problem, but that is beyond the remit of the nursery.

@panda unfortunately that is also not an option. The new contracts require 5 days a week, 8-6, all year round. I would not have been allowed to stick to 3 days.

This is the case for so many parents when they look to have both parents working.
Sometimes childcare just makes it impossible.

You are being deliberately obtuse. It is called childcare but the purpose of the funding for deprived 2 yr olds is to expose them to the eyfs system earlier to replace what they may be missing at home.

“Noway123

Rather than putting more funding into free childcare why not put more money into schools? I can’t even order pencils at the moment as there are no funds. Primary schools are struggling immensely. ALL positions have recently been deleted where I work except TA’s. The SENCO, SENTA’s, reading support, family liaison officer, lunch time staff, the list goes on. But yet there is money to offer free childcare.
Some days I actually get so emotional at the state of our schools.”

I’m a school governor and my biggest frustration is the constant chatter about how they can’t afford anything yet I head up the finnace committee and can see very clearly that there is sufficient budget available and much remains unspent. There is this weird culture about not spending the money available to them - particularly on IT and equipment I’ve noticed. It’s hugely frustrating. I can’t see any reason why a school in England wouldn’t be able to pay for pencils.

@sprinkles A LOT of children from our school have left so our funding has decreased. If what you say is true then why can’t I get a key cut due to our budget. I’m sorry I genuinely can’t believe what you say. If that is the case then why are some of my colleagues being made redundant, why have they deleted all the positions in the school. Why can’t I order ANYTHING? The difference in schools 10 years ago to now is shocking!!

@hellena yes I am, but to prove a point. I don’t see why a child attending a nursery would be more beneficial than a family accessing others services together, so they receive support as a family.
I have worked in the early years for 6 years and I honestly don’t see a difference in children attending a nursery with their free 15 hours. This is due to the parents not being able support their children academically at home. I know this is just my location though, it may be different in other areas of my borough. I live in a deprived area and the majority of our parents receive extra funding. Over the years there have been many other services that people are able to access for example families first. Children’s centres offering free family drop ins etc. Why should that be less beneficial than attending 15 hours free. The inky positive is respite for the parents?

Once again like I’ve said before ‘deprived’ families have more disposable cash than I do a month.
I think it should be offered to the most deprived, and I mean deprived, families who really struggle, I’m not including myself in this. I may struggle every month but I wouldn’t call myself deprived. That is not the case at the moment. If I leave my partner and work 16 hours I will be much better off at the end of the month.

I don’t want people to assume that this is an attack of deprived families, it’s an attack on the government.
Let me give you an example. My best friend, who I know the ins and outs of her life, as she does mine. She is entitled to
Free childcare
Heavily subsidised rent, which includes free repairs etc
No council tax
Reduction on her gas & electric bill
CSA
Working tax credits
Child benefits
Not sure if I’m missing something

She recently found a job for 16 hours and is £10 better off a month, her getting a job was more for her mental state rather than the money.
She ends up with more disposable cash than I do a month, lives a much better life then I do. I don’t blame her I support her, but at the same time I don’t think it’s right. But I blame the government for that.

My other best friend works for the job centre and she is angered everyday at the fact she cannot support her working families. She also gets frustrated that getting someone with children back into work may actually make them worse off

If you have a combined income of 60k your problem is the 'expenses' incurred by your oh. That's what you should be concentrating on addressing surely?
I understand that it can seem unfair but you need to look at what you can change rather than worry about what you can't.

@sugarhunny unfortunately there is literally nothing we can do about his expenses.
The reason we were so worried is because we have no disposable cash. What we earn pays for our bills etc, no spare cash.
It’s sorted now. I just find it sad that there’s so little support.

I just think they should have honoured all contracts for a year. That way the nursery would have helped us and also themselves. For the next year they will now be earning less as they have forced TTO 8-6 parents to find other cheaper provisions. They’ve lost £170 from us a month. Not sure what the overall figure will be.

Because you have people managing budgets who have no idea what they’re doing, if it’s anything like our school. You’re telling me they didn’t get awarded budget to spend £10 on keys? Bull. Budget is set at the beginning of the financial year.

@sprinkles it would cost less than a tenner. I can assure you it was rejected

I can well believe it. I’ve been told that teachers can’t have new laptops when their old ones don’t work because there is no budget. All the while I’m in finance committee asking why the £400k capital equipment budget isn’t being spent.

Why did you need keys cut?
If it was because someone had lost them then I can see why the request was declined

@incanserre we have one copy but needed two, so that both members of staff had access to something. It was not a door.