Free Nursery hours - 3yrs

[WhiteRedRose]

Our little boy just turned 2 and we're looking ahead now to next year for his free hours and choosing what nursery (We don't qualify for 2yr funding).

How does it work? Does everyone get 30hrs or does everyone get 15hrs but 30 if both parents are working full time?

How do you use yours? If 15 can we spread the 15hrs over three mornings or a day and a morning?

Are we going to have to remortgage the house to pay wrap around fees/meals/extras if we both work full time?

Did you even use your free hours? He's a lovely, bright well socialised little boy and we do loads of activities at home and with playgroups/playcentres/friends kids etc so not even sure what else nursery offers that he's not currently getting (except maybe an even stronger immune system 😁)

It's only if both parents work, so if you're a SAHP you'll only get 15 hours

You need to work at least 16h each and neither can earn over 100k to qualify for 30h. Otherwise it's 15. You need to speak to your favourite nurseries to find out what extra costs would be involved.

And certainly it's hugely beneficial to have time away from parents in a nursery/pre-school setting at this age.

www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare
How the hours are applied is dependent on the nursery, so ask around.

We have used DD's 15 hrs at a school nursery. Completely free but 5 3 hour sessions a week. Other school nurseries locally offer 2.5 days (9-3) x 2 and either 9-12 or 12-3 on Wednesday- so Mon Tues Weds or Weds Thurs Fri.

Every provider will have different rules about how you can use them. It's 15/30 hours term time only, some places will let you actually use them term time only, others will only stretch them all year round (so 30 hours turns into just under 22 per week). Then places will have a maximum number of free hours you can use in a day. For example, a full day at my son's nursery is 10 hours, but you can only use free hours for just over 7 of them, so have to pay the rest of the session plus food supplement. As an example, using free hours takes our daily rate down from £55 to £22

Mine just went to the school nursery.

5 mornings a week. No wrap around.

At my son's nursery you can only use a maximum of 6 hours per day, so although he gets 30 hours, he only goes two days so we use 12 hours funding and pay for 6 hours per week. You can use tax free childcare though so government pay £2 for every £8 you pay