Do you pay your nursery's essentials and extras fee?

[Brightyellowflowers]

My DCs go to a private nursery and receive the 30 hours funding. We've just had notification that the fee they charge for extras is now "non-mandatory" (as per new government guidance). They charge £1.80 per funded hour, which doesn't sound much, but for two kids it's an extra £171 a month each... which is 4k a year!

I appreciate that government funding doesn't always cover their costs, but I can't afford to pay 4k if I don't have to. What is everyone doing? Do you pay this charge? I feel like the nursery is guilt tripping parents into paying it and just wanted to check what the norm is.

I know. I was on the PTA and we held funds so that school trips to continue and the low income families wouldn’t pay.

it was fab and worked so well

Because they have to tell you that. They've been forced to because the government wants parents votes. They'd rather piss off the settlings than the parents.

They didn't email you today because they've suddenly decided they don't need your money.

I think one of two things will happen, they will stop proving funded hours or will reduce costs and in turn places and I can guess which children they won’t have spaces for -those who’s parents don’t pay the extra charges.

Your decision doesn’t just affect your children but all children currently attending your nursery and all future children who may end up with only the choices of fully private provision with no funded hours or Local authority term time only pre-school.

It’s suddenly appeared because a parent challenged in court they could not access 30 hours completely free care anywhere so now all settings are having to sign contracts saying they will offer this to receive the funding but the funding no where near covers the costs!

Are they allowed to charge more for the non funded hours to cover their costs? Obviously they are.

As someone whose DC were at nursery before the free hours came in I think you are pretty lucky to get a discount. If you want your nursery to fold or stop offering the free hours then you are going the right way about it.

How old are your kids? The fee is absolutely nothing compared to what fees used to be before the additional funded hours kicked in (for kids under three). Ours have started it to for my 2yo but it’s nothing compared to what I was paying for when my now 5yo had no funded hours at that age.

In many cases it’s not actually a discount, I paid less for my DC before the 30 free hours than I do now with the 30 free hours applied to the bill. She’s in nursery the same amount.

You don't need to pay it. Just if you don't, and lots of other parents do the same, the nursery standards with either go downhill or nursery will close.

Don’t pay the fee, but then don’t be surprised if the nursery closes. There’s a crisis in early years childcare currently and it’s very well publicised that the government funding does not cover the costs of running a nursery.

The nursery in the village have said that when this term ends they will have no funded places. It’s the only place in 20+ miles

My two are well out of the nursery years but I remember having to pay extras for ds1. Not as much as that though. I think it was about £50 a month. I really feel for parents and nurseries too. Everyone has been sold this “free childcare” malarky and it often ends up costing people more.

You are very lucky to get any free childcare hours - I paid full, nothing free.
If parents choose not to pay for extras then one or two things will happen:

1. Nursery will close
2. Nursery will become private and not accept government funded hours

Complain to your MP ... its the government's fault entirely.

Because providers have been forced to by the LA. The government have screwed them over.

If your current place is £100 a day, and the funding is around £5ph, your nursery will close. But of course, it's your choice.

I still paid £400 pcm for 3 days care with my “free hours” although it was year round and not term time. I also had a baby in the baby room and it was £750 for him.

Just pay it OP. You’ve been paying it to date. It’s hardly extortionate.

This is indeed the mess the government have created. Providers never knowing when they will be paid, sued or made bankrupt.

Legally they can't charge for any extras above the free funded hours (apart from extra unfunded hours)

How old are your children? Do you know how much the LA is paying per child per hour and how much is the usual nursery fee per hour?
Some nurseries have been charging excessive amounts apparently.

I work in a preschool and we are on our knees because of the awful rates of funding we receive and the increased costs- like at home. We hope that parents acknowledge the value in what we offer and the fact the government have confirmed the funding isn’t intended to cover consumables. If parents don’t pay we will offer alternatives as we have been advised to- parents bringing snack in/ parents not accessing our online diaries/ children not taking part in cooking etc as the funding doesn’t cover this and we can’t afford to give it for free. Creates so much extra work for us and we wouldn’t want children to feel left out but we are so short on money. If enough people don’t pay we probably will have to close. Staff wages are already dire and we can’t cut back any more!

She said it was compulsory didn’t she?

Our nursery breaks down the extra charges into nappies, lunch, snacks, sun cream etc. I've always been happy to pay if I know what it's going towards. The care element is funded but the consumables are not, which feels logical. Nursery is expensive sadly, but you would be unreasonable not to pay.

Well the government seem to be legally able to create a monopoly, take over self employed businesses without providing the benefits of being employed, and pay less than minimum wage sooo

I do pay it. Nurseries are on their knees, they'll end up closing if they are running at a loss and I value my childs nursery and the staff who work so hard far too much for that. I'd be gutted if my nursery closed down.

Oh. That’s horrific. Gosh. I’m so glad I didn’t ever have to pay nursery fees.

Ok so here’s another way of looking at it. Our charity run setting has just cut the hours of all staff due to this change. The mandatory fee was used for snacks, drink - some kids have special diets so particular snacks were catered to at a higher cost, messy play resources, flour etc for playdough etc etc.
We are all paid minimum wage (despite some being highly qualified).
This is causing lots of excellent staff to look for other work.
I just wish the new system was for private run nurseries and not charity run ones. It’s incredibly difficult for these fantastic settings to stay open.