Do childminders must also give the 15 hours free childcare when a child turn 3 ?

[IHAVEALIVERABBITINMYCRACK]

My ds turned 3 in january and he is starting pre-school in september. I'm entitled to 15 hours free of childcare, I have asked my childminder but she doesn't seem to want to do it. If I'm honest I'm a bit miffed !

Don't think they have to, it may even be down to what inspection grade they have previously got. Pre-school may not give you 15 hours, in my area parents are lucky to get 9 or 10 hours, as places are hard to get.

They don't have to do it. It is up to individual childminders. You might be eligible for the 15 hours, but if the childminder doesn't offer it then there's nothing you can do except move to another setting which does.

Did the childminder ever lead you to believe she offered the funded hours?

No it's optional.
You'd be less miffed if you saw the hoops you have to jump through and all the paperwork.

As a CM you need to be graded Good or Outstanding. Not sure whether you need a qualification.

In my area the local authority pay less than I charge too so I'd be doing the same work for less after I'd jumped through the many hoops to be able to offer the funding.

Yes the rate paid is derisory and the CM is not allowed to ask the parents to pay the balance so would lose out on income

Crap system!

No. In our area very few nurseries offer any free hours either. The government only pays about £3 an hour so unless you pay less the nursery or childminder will be working at a loss

No reason to be miffed - you have the option of applying somewhere that does offer it, or you can choose to stay with the CM. As others have said, it's just not worth their while, financially (nor the other paperwork and hoops they have to jump through) to offer it.

Several nurseries in my area have stopped offering it because of the low rates paid. When government says it's free, they expect someone else to pay for it.

As others have said, it is often not financially viable - certainly in my area, the shortfall would be a significant percentage of my income and I can fill my places at my standard rate. We are not permitted to charge the difference although I have had a number of parents who were keen to pay it!!

I don't offer it as I have enough business at £6ph without offering funded hours which pay me £3.95ph (not to mention the additional paperwork involved) . Tbh it's a shame as I can of course see the benefit to parents & sadly I do sometimes lose children to our local pre-school even if parents would rather stay with a cm

You're not entitled to 15 hours free childcare; you're entitled to 15 hours free nursery education that your childminder is now allowed to offer if she is Outstanding or Good and if she is prepared to do the associated paperwork. She may also operate at a loss if she offers it.

I do offer it. I wade through all the paperwork and planning and lose out financially.
I don't know how much longer I will continue to offer it, though.