AIBU to question nursery saying 30 free hours cannot start until September?

[plentyofprettyplants]

My son turns 3 in May and will be starting at the nursery that's attached to our local school as soon as he is 3 (they don't take them any earlier than this).

He is entitled to the 30 free hours of childcare we get now in England, and benefitted from these at his previous nursery.

When my eldest started at nursery at the same school a couple of years ago, we were able to get the free hours of childcare for him from the day he started, which was mid-term, though the school did apply the term before for his funding when he was still 2. So we expected to be able to do the same for our youngest son.

The school have come back to say the early years funding advisor (presume at the local council) has advised that they cannot put the funding application in for my youngest son until he is 3, so he cannot get the funding until September 2026. This means we have to pay for him to attend the nursery there between May-July.

Has anyone been successful in getting their child's place at a nursery with an age restriction funded mid-term since the 30 hours funding came in? Or has your experience been you've had to wait until the term after they've turned whatever age the nursery takes them from?

I feel like surely it should be possible to get the funding given we managed to get it for my older son, and that someone is just misinterpreting the policy. It's much cheaper than his old nursery's day rate, but it's still something we haven't budgeted for as we assumed we'd be able to get the funded hours.

YABU: suck it up and pay the fees for a term
YANBU: fight for your right to free childcare!

That depends on whether they’ve interpreted the rules properly. And what their LA allows. Open to challenge, I’d say.

They might not all work like that - but equally there is no right that a setting must allow op to start using the hours as soon as 3

let’s hope she sorts it out one way or the other

I’m a provider. We have already completed summer term’s applications so would have needed your code already. In our LA, every week in the term has to be a claim for the same amount of hours. You also have to tick that child will be there on headcount day in order to get paid.

If it's a nursery class within a primary school then some schools actually only do a September intake so even if a child is entitled to funding earlier (because of when their birthday is) a school setting simply won't take them.

The government quite like the misinformation. It means providers get the grief for implementing the rules, and the government are wonderful for giving everyone “free” childcare.

As I said upthread though - a nursery class within a school (which is what the OP seems to want) isn't "childcare".

It’s funded in the exact same way, with the exact same codes, and following the exact same curriculum (except all children automatically get 15 hours the term after they are three). It’s still claimed from the same pot using the same system.

Err no not really. Settings are allowed to put in their own policies for funding. There arw enough refs and rules about funding, but not everything can be dictated to force settings to accept funding. You are mistaken in thinking parents are legally entitled to use their funsing whenever and wherever they like.

Yes but a school environment is different to a childminder or a "daycare".
They are different things despite where the money comes from.

I suspect it’s because he would require the 2 year funding for the summer term but the school nursery is only able to claim the 3 year old funding. He’d also start after headcount day although there is a late adjustment period too a bit later in the term for children that have been missed off headcount or they started later.

We had this. Older now so found a silver lining!

There compulsory school age will be Sept Yr1. So you take them on as many term holidays in reception and it doesn’t count. 🥳🥳🥳

But settings have been swindling parents for years with so called top up fees. Look how that turned out. Many deliberately misinterpret the rules for their own ends. It’s not watertight at all.

And many don’t take funded places as the government contribution is too low.

Well the government and LAs are the ones who put in these rules (only claim term after birthday, headcount days, submission deadlines, etc etc). That isn't made by the settings. They have an absolutely right to say what they will and will not accept. They cannot be forced to accept funsing and this thread has nothing to do with top up fees.

School nurseries can claim 2 year old funding for their rising threes. It’s just that many don’t realise they can.

Only if they have a age 2+ class.
Most schools don't.

A rising three is a child that turns three the term before the universal 15 hour funding kicks in, so in this case the OPs son. School don’t need a 2+ class to take advantage of this, they just take the children from their third birthday as they come with funding now.

Many primary schools only do September intake though.
They don't have any "rising 3s" because the class will only be those who turned 3 between September 1st and August 31st the previous academic year.
In a primary school a child usually has to actually be 3 before they start in the September.
Not all schools obviously but that's the system I mostly know about.

Ratios and funding are getting conflated now.

Pleased to update you that we are indeed entitled to funded hours this summer term!

I had a response from the Early Years Funding Team at our local council who clarified the school can claim the 2YO Working Family entitlement for my son in the upcoming summer term (as he will be in the last term of being eligible for this funding type before becoming eligible for the 3&4 YO funding from September).

They also confirmed he needs to be registered and attending during the headcount week, which is the week before summer half term where we are. So I assume if his birthday had fallen after that week, we would not have been able to get funding for his nursery place until September.

The EYF team spoke directly to the head at our school to clarify all this before responding to my email, so everyone is on the same page now. I'm not sure why the advice the school initially got from the EYFT was contrary to this, but we've got there in the end! Hope this thread helps anyone in a similar position to us in future.

Good to hear OP