AIBU or is my childminder being a CF here?

[GreyRockChick]

Long-term lurker, first time poster here.

DS turned 3 in November and became eligible for 20 hours' funded childcare in January (will be 30 hours in September when he starts pre-school). He's with a childminder 3 days per week which amounts to 27 hours per week. Up to now, non funded hours have been charged at £5 per hour. Childminder daily rate is £41 (I know this is considered cheap in the grand scheme of things but is in line with rates for other local childminders).

Tonight, childminder has sent a message to advise that as they are now receiving £6.40 per funded hour, they have been advised to charge the same as a top up amount for any additional, non-funded hours. This means that she will now receive £57.60 per day for my DS whereas children with no funded hours are still charged at £41 per day. This was about 10 minutes before she sent me an invoice due on 1st May based on the increased rates with no prior notice given.

The more I think about this, the more I think there's a bit of CF'ery going on here. It's not so much the monetary increase, more then principle of why should she receive substantially more per day for my child than other younger children who do not qualify for funded hours. I don't begrudge her or any other childcare provider earning more money but I feel there's a real element of unfairness going on here.

I am being unreasonable - just shut up and pay the extra

I am not being unreasonable - no, she's being a CF and I should challenge this with her

Thanks for reading

There's a couple of things here to unpick (I'm a childminder).
Firstly yes she's seeing a CF but unfortunately the funding system is making a huge mess of the way our business works.
Do you have a contract for the funded and unfunded hours?? If so it should state there's a time frame for changes - usually 1 months notice.... so I'd push back on less than a weeks notice for a price increase... if of course you can find alternative care if she decides to stop offering care to your child.

She should give you 1 month's notice so ask for the price change to come in next month.

But she's running a business so of course she will maximise her profits.

The rise isn't really the issue, the lack of notice about it is and I'd certainly speak with her about this.