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.

As someone who just missed out on the new childcare hours and at the time thought, well annoying for me but really pleased for future parents, you are being extremely unreasonable! This money has to come from somewhere! Stay at home parents for example don’t get their children’s lunch paid and only have (usually) one salary to cover it.

How many non- private nurseries are there for working parents?

You realise nurseries have just put the prices up to compensate for the "free" hours? Parents today aren't hugely better off. Fees have gone up more than £30 a day in the last 2 years.

When my DS was at nursery he was given breakfast lunch and smpnacks but I ( and the other parents) provided nappies and suncream etc. When did that change?

That is a usually choice though? You could work if you want.

Wow. You sound very entitled. Pay your way. Nurseries are closing left, right and centre. If you want your children to be well cared for, pay for it.

I think it just depends on the nursery, we can choose to provide our own if we want but most don't.

I am paying my way! I was paying £1400 for 4 days a week for one child until recently. I'm literally questioning paying something that nursaries aren't legally allowed to charge for. I don't make the rules. Money is tight for everyone right now.

@IVFmumoftwoof course, the point is you shouldn’t expect for someone else to pay for your child’s lunch

What I don't understand is why the government aren't encouraging these top up fees then? Why have they made them optional?

I’m really surprised by posters aggression and telling op to research areas of her city that have cheaper nurseries and move there?! Just because she’s asked if other people pay an extra 4K a year (on top of the fees she’s actually paying for a service) to their nursery, basically just out of good will. Can’t imagine doing that for any other business. Do people give the school 2k per child too to help with resources? They’re underfunded as well.

Thank you! I'm really surprised at the roasting I'm getting here.

I don't to be fair. However you should be able to choose between lunch cooked on site or a packed lunch. My child's nursery you don't have a choice.

They’re attempting to force your hand by refusing to allow you to send food in because of allergies. Really they should tell you what foods are and aren’t allowed (I’d put money on it just being a general no nuts rule if you actually looked at what they are serving the children) and let you send in a packed lunch that meets that criteria. That’s what our nursery does if you don’t pay for lunch.

Although I don't see the relevance of SAHM because if you don't provide it no one else will feed them whereas you can either the nursery feed them or provide a packed lunch yourself but nurseries aren't giving you that choice.

Because they don’t want people realising they are massively under funding the whole thing.
It’s like this silly breakfast club thing. It’s not funded properly so schools are already pulling out.

Did the email literally just say that it is no longer mandatory or was there anything else?

I imagine that if enough people choose not to pay then the setting will stop accepting funded children

The nursery have sent that because of the government changes two weeks ago which have given nurseries no chance to really work out their finances.

The funding covers only the educational side of the EYFS it doesn’t cover meals and consumables. Consider if your nursery offers extra on top of the basic EYFS - such as trips out that might need enhanced ratio/transport, things such as music or sport sessions that require a separate teacher to come in. Forest schools. Events they might do such as Christmas parties, parent evenings, inviting parents in for shows etc. These all involve extra cost to the nursery in paying for the sessions, extra staffing, resources etc. This is the type of thing the consumable charge goes towards. Admin hours for SEN plan and taking on the role of speech and language etc that parents have a long wait for and nursery staff help with.

In regards to meals, consider if your child is there all day and might need a decent hot meal at some point. It may have to be cold food all day if the nursery has no way to heat food and you’ll have to consider how to keep the food cool all day if they have no storage space. Can you easily provide potentially three meals plus snacks that will need preparing each night/morning after a long day. Staff will be too busy to prepare potentially several different meals. Are you willing to look at the ingredients so you know what allergens are in the food if your child has an allergic class mate? Nursery meal times are very sociable occasions and they learn to try different tastes and textures and use a knife and fork. They learn to sit still and enjoy eating at the table in a way a packed lunch can’t replicate.

Childcare isn’t cheap but you are outsourcing all this learning that are the fundamental bedrock of social skills, it is worth the cost if you are unable to be there yourself to teach it.

To be fair, my understanding is that the government hasn’t changed the rules, just told childcare providers to actually start following them. Technically they were never allowed to have mandatory charges for funded hours. My DDs’ nursery never has, but my understanding from MN is that this is fairly unusual.

The funded hours is for the care only, if you want your child to do activities and all the other bits that come with attending a private nursery then you have to pay for it, even if it is technically optional.

At ours the normal daily rate has increased to cover the funding shortfall, min wage increases etc, and then the consumables charges cover all the activities and fun stuff they do on those funded days. It’s still a discount on full price for us so it’s a win, even if it’s not entirely free.

Then parents need the option to bring in food, nappies so that isn’t a cost to the nursery? They would be purely accessing the funded place which is what the intention was.

This is what I can’t understand- why do some nurseries manage it without charging?

Yes, this is an issue. It's cheaper for some parents if their nursery doesn't offer the funded hours.

Cheaper rents/other bills and utilities.

Younger children enrolled which soak up some of the shortfall.

Smaller wage bills.

Fundraising by PTAs to aid buying of resources, equipment or trips out.