30 hours - how does it work with CM

[drspouse]

We cannot use all our 30 hours care with the nursery and our CM says she will accept it but she's been waiting to hear the details.

If you are a CM, or a parent who uses a CM, and you already have the details, how does it work? Especially if using part of the care elsewhere?

I've got my number from gov.uk or whoever it was. Do I just give it to her and say I want to use all the rest of the hours with her?

Is it up to her whether she uses all the free hours at the beginning/end of the year/term or does she have to use them evenly?

Also we have some paid holidays (if we go on holiday, we pay 1/2) so can those hours be free hours or do we have to use them only on days our DC actually turns up?

We cannot use all our 30 hours care with the nursery and our CM says she will accept it but she's been waiting to hear the details.

If you are a CM, or a parent who uses a CM, and you already have the details, how does it work? Especially if using part of the care elsewhere?

I've got my number from gov.uk or whoever it was. Do I just give it to her and say I want to use all the rest of the hours with her?

Is it up to her whether she uses all the free hours at the beginning/end of the year/term or does she have to use them evenly?

Also we have some paid holidays (if we go on holiday, we pay 1/2) so can those hours be free hours or do we have to use them only on days our DC actually turns up?

You can split your hours wit 2 settings. The exact rules do seem to vary a bit from each LA but basically if the nursery takes 15 hours term time the cm can say she will take her 15 hours term time or offer it spread over the year at around 11 hours a week...she can determine the hours its available from but in many boroughs it must be a continuous 3 hours or more a day and not more than 8. She can charge you for extras like meals and outings or you can opt out and provide your own food...the funding is often less than normally charged so she may well be earning less. She can charge you an on call fee if she needs to be available to pick up your child for example if nursery finishes at 11.30 she cant sell the space as you will need her in holidays. Its quiet straightforward but may not b economically viable for her she will need to find out more herself.

Your CM, if not already giving the 15 hours funding, needs to contact her Local Authority/early years team to register.
You then give your code to her along with your national insurance number which she then has register on the local authority funding 'portal'.
Then she just needs to fill in the interim funding form and the headcount form as she gets them in order to get her funding.
Depending where you live the hourly rate of funding may be less than her hourly rate;in which case your CM may charge for extras to make her money up.

It's the 30 hours not the 15 but I think that makes more sense now, thanks.

Our nursery is under the impression they can take the maximum for the hours I'm using and pass the rest on to another arguing that accepts it. Maybe they've changed that. I don't use 15/term time week with the CM.

It doesn't have to be 15/15. It can be 10/20 or any other combination.

Your childminder will have to register with Local Authority and find out how much they will pay her. Across most of the country the rates paid are lower than the usual childminding fee so not all childminders will offer funded places and those that do are having to be creative in finding ways to make up the shortfall in fees without breaking the rules. Funding should be used evenly as she cannot claim for more than 15/30 hours per week (less if its a stretched claim). You will need to agree how many hours will be claimed at each setting and which will be the core hours and which will be the extended hours. If your entitlement to 30 hours ends, you will lose the extended hours so some settings will only offer the 15 core hours to avoid being the setting that loses the hours.

Right, CM and nursery are all sorted out:
I can claim up to 10 hours a day and up to 38 weeks with CM, meaning I have a few hours spare because I had more than 380 hours left over from the nursery.
Nursery is taking all the basic hours (she got 2 year funding with them too).
Result is one very reduced childcare bill.
Couple of complications with exactly which weeks we pay for as CM is available for work on bank holidays so if we don't send her we pay half (and Christmas/New Year BUs are on her day this year too).

Not sure its worth stressing about bank holidays There are 8 a year which if she was due to work on all of them between now and next August wouldn't add up to much financially and you already agreed to pay 50% on your old contract ( a bank holiday on a typical 40 hour a week £5 an hours contract averages out at a of £s a week) and she's already agreed a pay cut by taking it if she's in a typical low paying LA.

No I'm not stressed, I'm concerned not to short change her if they are all out of term time though.

It is optional for childminders and nurseries to offer the 'free' 30 hours of childcare, or the 15 hours of early years education.

They don't have to subscribe to it. I am a childminder and if I opt in the new system of the 'free' 30 hours of childcare, I will receive £3.89 by the council, per child, per hour. I charge £5 an hour at the moment, so I would effectively have to take a pay cut and end up being paid below minimum wage. So I am opting out. This might force me to close down eventually, and my forecast is that there will be a shortage of good childcare places in the very near future...