AIBU to be miffed at wraparound charges

[nurserygames]

DD has turned 3 and we are eligible for 30 hours funding. Her nursery offer the 30 hours of funded childcare, stretched over the year, which they will provide for 7.3 hours over a 10 hour day for up to three days. We have to book half day or full day sessions and so pay wraparound care, which I understand and accept. A full day is 10 hours and the fee without accessing funding is £68.60, i.e. £6.86 per hour. If I use the extended 30 hours funding, which uses 7.3 hours a day, the wraparound charge for the remaining 2.7 hours is £30.95, which works out at £11.46 per hour. AIBU to be a bit miffed at the huge difference in hourly fees for the same service if I access funded hours? Does anyone else have experience with this and are the nursery allowed to charge these different rates?

It’s not just a few for hours, it will include sundries. Ask your nursery for a breakdown.

Sorry fee for a few hours

ie £6.86 per hour

That’s not how it works.

Google champagne nurseries on lemonade funding for the answer to your post.

Also worth noting that the local authority won’t pay your nurseries hourly rate, but far less...(40% less in some cases) and the deficit will be passed onto parents.

It’s frustrai but it’s nnot possible to deliver a service otherwise as the government undervalues childcare so much.

As PP said, it's to cover food etc which isn't funded by the government. Only the actual cost of the childcare is included in the funded hours, not extras like nappies, cream which some nurseries provide. At our nursery the funded hours basically equate to a reduction in fees by 2/3 when you take into account still paying for extras and that it is term time only. I'm still looking forward to it kicking in!

I don't quite understand your 7.3 hour issue but yes my nursery charges £10 for starting half an hour early so £10 on top of what would be approx £53 10 hour day rate if non funded. It's how they make their money up on what the government pays them.

Should I be miffed that an hours breakfast club for my eldest costs £7.50, while a half day (5.5 hours) for my youngest is £27.50 so only £5 per hour?

Generally you do get discounts for booking more hours. If it’s a problem, you could always ask for the 30 hour funding to be given term time only, then pay for 3 10 hour days in the holidays?

Totally reasonable. They have to make the funded hours work for their business. Count yourself lucky that your provider offers 30 hours funded, our nursery only offers 15.

Thanks. I guess I was budgeting for "free hours", rather than subsidised hours, so in budgeting, was deducting what I thought were free hours from the standard rates I've been paying.

The government calling them free hours is really unhelpful for parents, it's great they are subsidized but that is what they should be called.

Actually they are not allowed to enforce wrap around hours, if you want your child to attend for just 7.3 hours a day then they have to allow this. They also have to allow you to send a pack lunch and all sundries so the childcare is truly free.

I believe that each setting can provide the hours how they wish. Some offer sessions (9-12 & 1-4 for example) with the lunch hour being chargeable even if parents provide lunch.

Totally standard

It's not so much the enforced wraparound care, but that the cost of the wraparound care is roughly a fiver more per hour than their standard fee for the same period. Before I knew if I was eligible for thirty hours, I asked them how fifteen hours funding worked. They said that they provided three/six out of every five/ten hour period, with the rest charged at normal fee rate.