Lovely CM useless with paperwork

[clabsyqueen]

My wonderful childminder will be with my daughter when she turns 3 this summer

Argh! Stupid iPhone.

Anyway she has no idea how to claim the free 15 hours for 3 year olds.
Where can I find out about it?
But a few questions in case someone knows...

1. Which local authority pays? The one where the childminder works or where we live?
2. Do all local authorities find at the same rate and what price can we expect to get per hour? (Will help me to know if I need to top up as I pay her £8 an hour currently)

Thanks!

She needs to contact the local authority where she lives

She may prefer not to.

From what I know of them, it is incredibly long and tedious system whereby her income is much lower and it can be drawn out months before she sees the money owed.

I know of childminders who simply do not offer the free 15 hours.

£8 for a childminder is high. Oxfordshire pay £3.82 per hours at the moment (or thereabouts), my CM charges me £4 per hour which is about the going rate round here. Why is she so expensive? London?

Thank you. It is london and I only need her term times so this price reflects the fact that she has quite a few weeks without work but it suits her and her children too.

I had a feeling this was going to be a pain for her/us. Are there lots if childminders who say they won't do vouchers? Is there anyway to make it easier? Can I do the paperwork? Could I pay her up front and claim the money myself?

Childcare vouchers and early years education funding are not the same thing.

If she charge £8ph I doubt she will want to accept the circa z£4 ph she will receive.

No parents can't claim it back.

And cms aren't allowed to charge top up fees so the funding will be all she gets.

Gosh, I'm even more confused now. My child does 30hours a week with her so What I thought I could do was get her to claim the 15 hours at 4 pound an hour (or whatever) then I would pay her for the other 15 hours and also pay her the £4 extra hour that she would be missing out on.

You can pay the extra 15 hours but the the 15hrs EE has to be free and the point of delivery to the parents. Providers can charge for 'extras' such as food. (Though the option of a packed lunch must be available), extra hours and may dictate when the funding may be available such as 9-12pm only etc.

Sorry am typing on a phone- while clarify if you need me to!

Thanks so much for the help.
So... could she claim the 15 hours at 4 pound an hour and then we can say she is charging me 12 pounds an hour for the remaining 15. That way she doesn't lose out (works out the same as 8 pound an hour overall) and I get a small discount.

It used to be quite difficult to claim and you had to jump through lots of hoops but ever since last September it has been made a lot easier. As long as she got a good at her last inspection she should be able to claim. Where you live makes no difference, she will be paid by the LA where she works.

Each LA pays a different rate, in my area (Surrey) it is £4.15 an hour. She will not be allowed to charge a top up for the 15 hours, they have to be completely free, but she can charge you more for the other hours.

So, you currently pay:
£8/hour x 30 hours per week = £240/week.

Just for arguments sake lets assume her LA pays £4/hour:
£4/hour x 15 funded hours = £60/week.

£240 (what you pay now) - £60 (funding) = £180
Dividing that by the remaining 15 hours gives:
£180 / 15 non-funded hours = £12/hour.

So she could change your contract so that you get 15 hours free and another 15 hours at £12/hour. That way you benefit from the funding and she does not lose out on her income. This is how I have been instructed to do it by my LA and it is all perfectly within the rules.

I started claiming last year and the process was very straightforward. Just a few short forms to fill in. If she gets started on it now she should be up and running for the term after Easter. She will most likely have missed the deadlines for this term already.

Oops, sorry, didn't read your last message. Yes, that is exactly what she should do.

Thanks busy days.