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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Nursery not letting us use up to 30 hours childcare?

8 replies

Mimiandme · 04/01/2023 18:05

Hello :-) I’m a bit confused and I think we have somehow messed up our childcare bill / hours. We applied for our 30 hours childcare and our nursery allow us to split it over 52 weeks.

We have booked our little one in for 3 x full days ( 8am - 6pm) as our nursery only does half or full days… We may do the odd day up to 6 but otherwise it’s just before 5 so it’s not the full 30 hours but instead shy of 27 hours a week.

The nursery asked my husband to fill out a form for 15 free hours as they said it’s fraudulent?!! I just assumed it was up to 30 hours… we do qualify for the 30 hours and it’s been approved on the .gov website etc…. If she’s in till 6 does that make it ok?

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matthancockslovechild · 04/01/2023 18:12

if you are spreading over 52 weeks you get 22 hours a week funded. It's only 30 hours a week if term time only.
if you have your child booked in until 6, it's irrelevant when you pick up. You will be paying until 6:00pm because you pay for the nursery place, it's not a pay as you go / pay as you use.

jannier · 04/01/2023 18:12

30 hours split or stretched funding is around 22 hours a week....the free entitlement is 30 X 38 (term time less 5 training days) divided by the number of weeks the setting is open.
The settled Ng can choose how they offer the hours including if they want to do 6 hours or two sessions of 3 hours with lunch in between or any other combination but they must not claim for more hours than are used.....everyone is entitled to 15 universal hours the term after the child turns 3. To claim extended hours you need a code.....you need to talk to them and check what they have claimed.....how many hours do you use and how additional charges are calculated.

NumericalBlock · 04/01/2023 18:13

So RE leaving early, it doesn't count, they set the sessions and you pay regardless, even if that is with funded hours.

If you split the hours over 52 weeks it works out as around 21 hours per week IIRC so you would still need to pay extra anyway.

The nursery will ask you to fill forms, are they aware you're applying for the 30 hours? Are you absolutely certain that you are able to apply for it?

jannier · 04/01/2023 18:13

Effectively you will be paying for around 8 hours a week

Gobrookeyourself · 04/01/2023 18:13

Hi, I’m not an expert on this by any means, but splitting it over the full year would mean around 22 hours per week instead of the 30 as the allocation is only for 38 weeks of the year.

how old is your little one? The criteria is to not earn over 100k but earning at least £1976 per 3 months. Does this apply to you?

cadburyegg · 04/01/2023 18:16

As above, it's 30 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year. If you want your dd to do 3 full days all year then you'll have to pay towards it.

If she's booked in for 8-6 then those are the hours that will need to be paid for, no matter what time you pick up.

Lunde · 05/01/2023 15:12

Many providers only offer the "free" hours on a sessional basis for 6 hours a day - for example 9-12 and 1-4 (x 5 days/week) and then you pay their normal rates for any hours outside of those times. As pps have said you only get around 22 hours a week for full year

Also you pay for the time you book - if you book until 6pm then you pay until 6pm - they can't dock the pay of the staff member just because you decide to turn up early

Original poster

Mimiandme · 05/01/2023 23:01

Thanks everyone :-) It’s all sorted now, I spoke to the nursery today. We do qualify for the 30 hours, our key worker got crossed wires and thought our little one was only attending 2 days a week, she use to do 2 mornings a week but now does 3 days a week since the start of this term, this week. I think she thought we just changed her morning to days and didn’t realise she was doing the extra day. We do have to pay towards childcare still which we knew, even with the 30 free hours. It’s roughly the same as we were paying for 2 mornings each week, which was without the government funding. I was just worried we were going to end up paying for an extra 15 hours ish a week. We are ok to pick her up earlier and it doesn’t effect the 30 hours, we do pay till 6 but our nursery is either half day or a full day only. It means we have an extra hour or so too incase we ever need it, work, traffic etc. Thank you everyone for your help :-)

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