Aibu… please help-childcare costs

[Northernlass13]

Hi all,
please can you all advise as I need to know if I’m being unreasonable.
My DS attends a nursery 20 hours a week as his funded hours have started.
I am aware that these hours are TT only and can be stretched over the year (this was agreed with the manager) he gets 30 hours per week

my ds is settled and happy BUT…. they keep sending loads of bills (I means loads) for hundreds every month.
I questioned this every time and explain that his place is funded but now they have said that the bills have been wrong but I do have to pay £80 pcm.
when I asked why, they have said that it goes on per term and he only gets 360 per term and there is a shortfall…. I really don’t understand as he only goes 20 hours per week and and he’s eligible for 30? (Or 21 when stretched) please can someone help as I’m so stressed out about this
thanks

£80 per month really isn’t a huge amount to pay for two ten hour days every week.

The nursery owes you the information about how they work out their charges, but for that amount it will likely be for snacks, lunch and other consumables.

DS has his funded hours stretched (so 21ish a week). However, they can only be used from 9am-3pm, additional hours outside of that cost £8. We also get charged extra for food (breakfast, lunch, tea) and snacks, as well as a monthly charge for consumables (materials etc). All in we still pay over £400 a month for 3.5 days a week.

If he attends all year round (52 weeks) then 39 of those weeks will be free, and the other 13 will be paid at the full rate.

e.g. if it was £60 a day for the normal rate, then the 2 days a week at £60/day for 13 weeks would be £1560. This would then be spread across the 52 week, so £130 a month.

Also while funding can be stretched over more weeks, they can't use the 30h money to provide say 20h a week at a higher rate.

The term funding is only for the number of weeks in a school year, so 30 something? The 30hrs for those 30 odd weeks is then stretched over 52 weeks. Our nursery did some months as three weeks funded, some four, some twotospread it out that way. So some months we paying more than others. Even though food is included, it could be that they add 'extras' which aren't covered by the funding - simply because the 30hrs free means their costs are not covered.

Childcare is confusing and expensive.

This is our breakdown of hours/funding/additional cost. They should be able to provide you with something similar.

I think this is the most sense…. Thank you!
I checked the bill and it Literally says -Bill -£80… no other information!

its all inclusive so they provide everything… nappies suncream, snacks and food.

I think they just haven’t managed my expectations in regards To stretching the hours…. Even when I asked them over and over again and I was told, no it’s fine!
I feel sorry for him as settled and enjoys it. I’m gunna try and cut back (I don’t know where) and I’m gunna have to pay the extra.

i‘ve emailed the manager to ask what’s happening anyway so I shall see
thanks for the helpl

I’ve had nothing like this!!! Which is worrying as it’s a big change!

Chain even lol

its all inclusive so they provide everything… nappies suncream, snacks and food.

That the thing thing, the funded hours is very very unlikely to include this. A nursery just doesn’t earn enough money with the amount they receive for the funded hours to include food, nappies, suncream, wipes etc. You will have to pay this on top.
They would be making a loss if your 30 free hours covered these things.

So they're charging you about £10 a day? I'd assume that's that is for food and other consumables.

Ask for detail on how they work it out. Our nursery provide a sheet explaining it.

My DS also does 2x 10 hour days per week. He gets 30 hours funding which we spread over the year, 22 hours per week.

Our nursery charges a top up of £1.79 per hour, so £17.90 per day.

Remember you may be eligible for tax free childcare though, so we actually pay £14.32 per day.

They should give you a breakdown of exactly what they are charging for.

The summer term April-August is 390 funded hours, so if he is doing 20 hours a week then that is just over 19 weeks. If he's actually going to attend 22 weeks before the next funding block starts in September then you will have 2.5 weeks to pay.
From September you should be ok as you'll have 1140 hours for the year, if he attends (nursery is open) the full 52 weeks then he'll get 21 hours a week.

Check with the nursery if they are also charging you a fee for things like nappies, wipes, suncream, snacks, outings, craft materials, milk and meals as they aren't covered by funding.

Would speak to your local authority early years funding team. Providers have to give you clear itemised invoices and the local authority should be checking nurseries are making all charges clear to parents.

https://www.lgo.org.uk/information-centre/news/2023/may/council-asked-to-repay-father-s-nursery-fees-following-ombudsman-investigation

This I think is the answer... so for the period April to August you have 18hrs a week free so are needing to pay for the remaining 2 of your 20hrs.
2hrs×20wks = 40hrs.
8hrs a month over 5 months
I thing £80 a month is probably a little high for 8hrs but there might be consumables on top or if you have actually not been paying anything then they want it back over 2 months so 40hrs each month - £2 /hr is definately cheap.

I'd check the situation from September as I would expect that a child funded across the whole school year should even out...