30 hours childcare - parent vs nursery!

[MacciJ]

Hello everyone, could use your urgent advice

My daughter is 3 and born in January and we're entitled to 30 hours free childcare from 1st April.. Due to annualised billing they are saying that the bill is £450 a month inclusive of 30 hours free. I can't wrap my head around it as my daughter only goes 3 days per week with (30 hours anyway) - how it can be this much?

So my girlfriend works at a nursery which was brought out by one of those big nursery companies a few months back - we were told our rate for our daughter going there wouldn't change (and now it has but we didn't agree or ever know about it?) It's like 40/50 a month - is this legal?

@Onlyrainbows

We pay £700pcm for 25 hours... So considering you're getting 20hrs on top plus holidays spread out through the year, it seems like a decent discount. Don't forget they charge for food and other consumables.

But not in council nurseries....my GD gets free milk ( in cartons) and free snacks....and free hot lunch ( from the main school kitchen)...they also get a free swimming lesson once a week in the pre school year as the attached primary has its own pool....I live in a small ( 25k) market town with 2 council nurseries....we don't actually have a private nursery ...so itsnot an option if you want to stay local

The problem is the government using the term 'free'hours. Actually the hours are funded not free. The amount per hour childcare providers receive from the government per funded hour is rarely enough to cover an actual hour of care, therefore settings have to charge top ups to cover the loss ....although we aren't allowed to call them top ups we have to charge for 'sundries' or 'materials' or make the hours outside the 30 more expensive. A lot of parents fall into the trap of thinking that childcare will become 'free' once their child is 3 and unfortunately it rarely is

@Kitcat15
Don't forget school nursery is different they have buildings and overheads funded by a school....heating 2 extra classrooms in a whole school site dosent add much, rates will be for the site, rubbish collection for the site. Staff ratio is higher as qualified teachers can have a lot more children each....and they get volunteer help. Bulk buying of consumables and food etc.
All nurseries can claim free school milk but free meals is different to schools.
They have staff to cover training and sickness so no extra costs at premium rates as well as training being free. Hours are a lot shorter and are not open 7amto 6pm 51 weeks a year on the same funding as a school that does 9 to 3 for 38 weeks.

Sounds completely normal, it is confusing but the nursery will be able to give you a breakdown. We've just started with the 30 hours 'free' and our bill for four days has reduced from £1000 to £550ish. Hurrah! Day rate is about £65, and they charge an additional weekly fee for all the extras they do (which are why we chose the nursery) - forest school, movement and music classes, day trips etc.

Pre-schools seem to be MUCH cheaper - my friend's son goes to one which only charges about £10 for lunchtime cover if they use less than the 30 hours a week. But it's only open term-time as it's attached to a school, and it closes at 3pm - useless for working parents.

Essentially, the funding the nurseries receive from the government is nowhere near what they need to actually run a nursery. And with food and utility bills going up, that is only going to get worse. There's no way we could afford to have two in nursery at the same time.

[quote jannier]@Kitcat15
Don't forget school nursery is different they have buildings and overheads funded by a school....heating 2 extra classrooms in a whole school site dosent add much, rates will be for the site, rubbish collection for the site. Staff ratio is higher as qualified teachers can have a lot more children each....and they get volunteer help. Bulk buying of consumables and food etc.
All nurseries can claim free school milk but free meals is different to schools.
They have staff to cover training and sickness so no extra costs at premium rates as well as training being free. Hours are a lot shorter and are not open 7amto 6pm 51 weeks a year on the same funding as a school that does 9 to 3 for 38 weeks.[/quote]
Hours are 9 to 3.15 free 5 days a week ...but wrap around care is 7.30 to 6pm at £4 per hour or £2 per half hour...and holidays are extra ...closed Christmas week only....the free luches are not great...pizza...pasta...jacket potato...fish bites....but its all tbats on offer round here and given the prices think its OK

The council ones are v area dependent - there were a couple in our old area but they only offered (obviously!) 9am - 3pm during term time with no wraparound available for a child that young. And local holiday clubs wouldn't take a kid under 5, which caused problems in Reception year, let alone before that.

Whereas we needed at least 8am - 6pm to cover a day at work and commuting. DD's nursery was actually open 7am - 6.30pm so, although a lot of money, was perfect for us. The food was also fantastic (far better than school dinners) and included all meals and snacks so a lot less to think about every day.

@kitcat15
Wrap round at school comes under different and much higher ratio rules often with mixed ages and again has all the subsidy of being on school premises yours is actually quiet expensive many charge £6 or so a session ...£4 is a typical childminder charge

30 hours free for a nursery open all year round is 22 hours a week free. This can be set as 9-12 1-4 so you'd pay outside of these times or can be anytime they are open. The funding rate here is £4.56 an hour so nurseries have to add on where they can as this doesn't cover staff costs never mind rent, resources, food, admin etc.

My daughter is 4months old. 4 months I lived in my home having her grand father and my sister in law at home.

now m back to work. I take him to a day care that is near to my office but she is crying there . She can’t sleep there because of noisy environment. What should I do?

should I leave her at home at my sister in law?

or should I wait for her to get settled in day care?

is there any side effects of putting child in day care in this early age ?
in day care I can visit her every two hour

but if I left her in home I can’t visit home and I will be back home after 10 hours

Nurseries are excellent at settling babies and there's a big sleep regression at four months which affects sleep so it's probably that. You have to give them a chance to settle - normally there is somewhere quieter where the babies sleep at a nursery?

Is it too disruptive having you visiting the nursery during the day too? It can make it harder for them to settle if you're constantly reappearing.

Did you not have short settling in visits gradually building up ...as a childminder I would have had you visit about 3 times before leaving baby for an hour then gradually at her pace build time up to cover feeds and naps. I start settling about 8 weeks before you return full time.
Babies benefit from a consistent carer....does the nursery have one person...the jey worker...who takes her in settles her and plays with her? Or do they swap staff about a lot?
Visiting 2 hourly is not a great idea baby will get unsettled and want to leave with you.