Can anyone help me work this out please?

[childcarequestion22]

Sorry - posting for traffic. I've nc as linked to my other posts it could be identifying.

My DD will be entitled to the 30 free hours of childcare in September 2024 (yes I know it's a while off but it helps to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel now!)

We currently use 3 days a week with a childminder, at a cost of £39.50 per day (this covers any hours needed in the 10 hour period 7.30am - 5.30pm). This works out £118.50 per week.

However we don't use the full 10 hours (albeit we still pay the full day rate), as we only take DD 8am-5pm. Does this make a difference in terms of our entitlement?

By my calculations, 30 free hours cancels out our costs entirely as we will only ever use a maximum of 30 hours a week with childminder anyway (albeit we are using an hour per day less than this in reality).

How would we work out the new costs with the 30 hrs applied? Am I right that our costs would be cancelled out completely on these hours? Any advice appreciated, thank you!

The 30 free hours is term time only for starters so assuming you need cm year round you'll have to stretch them and top up or pay for hols.

Apart from that, your cm might charge a higher fee for the chargeable hours as often the gov doesn't pay their usual rate and need to recoup it somehow.

And I know of some who won't take them at all.

All going well though, your costs should be much much lower and free for those 30 hours as you're paying for a session even if you're not using it all.

Your best bet is to ask you CM how they apply 30 hours funding.

some providers will only allow it in specific sessions eg 9-12 and 1-4, with other hours charged separately. They may also charge for consumables.