So confused about 30 free hours

[Spanckd]

I'm sending my child to nursery for 30 hours a week, he's only 10 months and starting when he's 1. The nursery I'm sending him to states that 'wraparound care' (food and snacks) etc is £34 per session. So it's not 30 hours free, it's £34 per day, instead of £58 per day. So I'll be paying just over £400 a month still.

Had no idea and am now sending my son here knowing I will end up taking him out at 3.

Is this normal? Surely food and snacks for him don't really come to £34 a day?

Anyone happy to share what they pay under the 30 hours funded scheme?

I'm referring to 2 years time when he turns 3, not now. In aware I'm not entitled to anything just yet.

30hours eligibility is AFTER 3rd birthday.

It’s 30 funded hours for term time only, so it’s averaged out over the year.

Also 30 hours funded is only available from when they’re 3. Or 15 hours when they’re 2 if you’re on a low income. Have you double checked everything?

Our nursery said the 30 hours gets paid to them at £5 an hour so you pay the rest of the days charge, I put both of mine in the school nursery instead which had no charge, might be worth looking into local schools a bit nearer to the time

Usually the 30 hrs funding doesn't start until the term after their 3rd birthday and that is if you work over a certain amount of hours.

www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare

You may be eligible for 15 free hours from the age of 2 depending on your circumstances

The free hours are term time and school hours only, so if he is going to be going full days, and all year round they may have averaged it out.
That’s what happened when my DS turned 3, he went 3 full days and my bill dropped from £600 to £300 per month.

I'm so confused. They want £34 a day on top of the free hours? My nursery is only £46.50 a day unfunded. Are you sure you have that right. They might be telling you the cost for them to have your lo before and after school?

If he is doing full days, they are longer than the “30 hours free” day. That aren’t supposed to charge a per hour top up, but are allowed to charge for hours longer than the 5 hour day

Yep, it says that it's 21.9 hours a day,l funded, which is fair enough as it's stretched over the year. But you have to pay 'wrap around' fees which cover food, drink and an admin fee. This is additional. Just done a bit of googling and a lot of people have pulled their kids out of this particular nursery for this reason!! I had no idea and now I am stuck sending him there knowing I won't be able to afford it in a year. The 15 hours funding is the same.

A week sorry

Our private nursery was 29 pounds per funded school hours day when I asked last year. They allocate the funded 30 hours over 52 weeks so it works out as 22 hours a week you can use. You can then use 2.75 hours in a morning session 9 to 11.45 and 2.75 hours in an afternoon session 1.45 to 4.30. You have to pay for the 2 hours in between morning and afternoon even if you collect at 3 as well as food which is how it adds up to 29 pounds. When we looked all the private nurseries do something similar round here - the government funding for the free hours is so little they all pad it out somehow.

We can get 30 hours for free in a preschool but then they don't run over the school holidays, don't offer longer hours, and are definitely run on a smaller budget as they don't use anything like as broad a range of materials. If you only need school hours term time then yes, you'll have to move at 2 or 3 to cut your childcare expenditure.

Our nursery was £48 per day unfunded.
For a full day when funded I think it was £12? That is for 3 meals and 2 snacks.

It’s funded hours not free hours as originally promised by the government. The government pays the nursery so little for these funded hours that they can’t afford to not charge extra. Many nurseries have gone bust as a result of this.

We've never paid anything. But we supply their lunch and any nappies. I am a teacher so only need term time care. We can opt to pay extra for the lunches if we want to. We

the 30 free hours are term time only (i.e. for 38 weeks). If you average it out over the full year, you would get just under 22h/week free. That is 4.4 hours a day. That is less than half a day. If you book your child on for a full day, paying £34/day seems fair.

Man nurseries charge that for a morning or an afternoon session.

I reread your post - are you sure 'wraparound' care refers to food only and not to extra hours needed by those who need a full time place?

Very confused. So you can afford the full day rate now, hence you’re sending your 1 year old, but when they turn 2 and receive some funding (if you’re eligible) you can’t then afford the lower rate? Huh?

Yes, I'm a single mum and have a bit of money that I can put towards nursery as I am living with parents. I can't sustain it for years though.

It depends what they define as wraparound care. To my mind this would be to cover a full time place ie 08:00-1800, rather than the funded 09:00-15:00, for example.

What time does your kid go to nursery?
30 hours is only school hours so if he's still going until 6pm and starting early then that's why it's that cost.
Ours is £4 for lunch, £7.50 for breakfast club and £13 for tea time club.

Our nursery was open 8-6 and charged £60 a day - so £6 an hour. They've got to recoup the difference between that and the government funding somehow.

If you want it to be truly free you'll need to use a term time only preschool, open 9-3 for 38 weeks à year, because that is what the funding will cover. Assuming you're working, you'll need another option for holidays and the wraparound hours.

My DD has just got her funded hours. We knew that we would have to pay for the 'extra' hours around school hours, but didn't realise it would add up as much as it did! Eg lunch hour costs £6.40 for the hour itself, plus £4.45 for the meal, so £10.85 for having her there from 12-1pm!
There are definitely some nurseries that are cheaper than others, but unless you are prepared to keep to the short hours, it's likely to still be costing at least half of what you pay before funding kicks in.
We have just had to accept that it is a discount rather than free.
I'm not really sure how it helps the really vulnerable children and families that the funding is supposed to target though.

Yeah the nursery we chose is expensive for "free hours" (only there 2 days a week so even averaged out we're under the limit) but they supply all food and nappies. Its still pretty extortionate and there's cheaper options out there, but we really like the nursery. DD is 10 months so I guess we'll see nearer the time what we decide to do.

Sounds harsh. Our nursery would let funded children do three days a week 8-6 term time, or two days all year round, for a fixed per day fee of £7.

I am so confused by the OP. 30 funded hours is for the term AFTER a child’s 3rd birthday. A 10 month old would never be entitled to 30 funded hours anyway.