Advice on nursery fees and funding

[liveinhope100]

So I found an amazing nursery for my daughter to attend when she is 2 years old but they are trying to charge me by saying their FEET funding slots are fully booked but yet they have space if I was to pay for it on top?

So basically I get 11 hours free a week but have to pay the extra. Has anyone had experience of nursery’s trying to get more money? I only really want her to go for 15 hours a week which they have space for but not on FEET funding...doesn’t make sense to me.

I’m assuming it’s because they want to make more money but is it legal for nurseries to just offer limited FEET funding slots?

Its not because they want to make more money its because they want to actually make some money to pay wages and bills! Funding doesn't cover the cost of actually providing the hours so they need to make up the lost money.

How much are they asking for?

Yes it is legal. The funding they receive is a pittance and so they have to charge for unfunded spaces. Are they saying you can have a funded space if you pay extra as I’m sure the funded spaces are unconditional.

Pretty sure our nursery only has a set number of funded places available. Existing kids get prio. If they can't accommodate you, you might have to find a different nursery.

Ok thanks for the advice. They are trying to charge £400 a month for 15 hours a week so are only allowing around 11 hours a week FEET finding

The funded hours are usually only term time only, it sounds like they are offering it to you over the full year instead so this would reduce the hours you can you use each week. 15 hours x 39 ( term time number of weeks) / 52 is 11.25 hours a week. So if you then want to make it up to 15 hours you pay the extra .

They need to show what the extra money is for. It can be for lunch, snacks activities, craft supplies etc. 400 a month is very high for this I think.

Do you want term time only or all year around?
Funding tends to be paid under the normal rate which is already a challenge to break even on so they do have to put some restrictions. This can include a limit on the number of funded spaces or the hours offered.

400 a month seems high. My dd has a funded place, she does one day a week 9 til 3 and I pay £90 a month which covers holidays and extras - French teacher, yoga etc