Explain 30-free hours like I’m stupid

[Notsoyummymummy2]

I’m sorry if I’m asking a really obvious question, but I just don’t understand 30 free hours childcare.

My child is about to turn 3, and currently goes to nursery two days a week (= 20 hours). Does this mean his nursery will be free (from the term after he is three)?

I have read that it only counts during term time but sometimes you can get it spread over the whole year? So does this mean if I get it spread over the year, so it will almost be free? Is it something that all nurseries offer?

Our nursery has a new manager who doesn’t seem to understand either (she is still having training in the financial side) so she’s asked me to Google it 🥴

Thank you!

Each nursery will have it's own policies as some don't allow you to spread it over the year (although I think most do). Some will then only allow you to use it for certain sessions and if you need a whole day, you need to pay an additional fee to cover lunchtime etc.

My main advice is not to think of it as free, but as discounted. This mindset really helps, because otherwise it feels like a con!

I think the term time is considered 39 weeks, so 30hrs x 39 weeks =1170 hours. 1170 divided over 52 weeks =22.5 hours free throughout the year, in theory.

A school year is 38 weeks....13 weeks holiday and a week of training days so funding is available for 38 weeks a year at 15 hours to all and 30 for the eligible. Settings can agree to stretch funding....this is the yearly entitlement of 570 or 1140 hours divided by the number of weeks they are open.....if you get 30 hour funding and nursery closes one week for Christmas that is about 22 hours a week.
The nursery may say they offer set hours for funding like 9 to 3 ....you pay full rate for hours outside of these. They may charge for consumables, extra lessons, food .....but it's voluntary and you must be able to opt out or provide your own.

Up to nurseries if they only do term time or allow to spread it.
We've spread my sons hours out over the year and approx 22.5 a week.

We are lucky we don't pay anything on top of this, but my friends nursery in the next town along pays £10 a day for food etc.

So every nursery is different.
I can't believe a nursery manager, new to the job or not; doesn't know how the 30 hours work. Key workers at my sons nursery are all aware how it works and what the nursery offers.

It's really not ideal that the nursery manager doesn't understand it. the nursery needs lots of brilliant carers who have excellent skills with children, and a manager who is excellent at logistics, finances and understanding economic issues and bureaucracy. too many nurseries are managed by people who have lots of experience as carers but are totally at-sea when it comes to management skills.

The key thing that they need to grasp is that the money they will get from the "free hours" funding is usually not going to cover their actual costs. in order to not go bankrupt, the nursery needs to cross-subsidise the free-hours kids with other income. each nursery does this in different ways. some will have a large number of kids who have way more than 30 hours and their fees are high enough to cover the shortfall. some will have a raft of top-up charges (though there are restrictions on what they are allowed to charge for, they can't just do what they like). some nurseries attached to primary schools are run term time only and for exactly 30 hours a week only so there are no extras at all, and no top ups required, but they are run on an absolute shoestring.

There are 4 non term time weeks of your choosing in the year when you have to pay full price (or take your annual leave then as I plan to). I spread mine between a termtime provider and school nursery and a non term time provider.

Be aware that the funding kicks in from the beginning of the term following their third birthday, not from the birthday itself. (Probably the beginning of April, from what you've said.)

My nursery only allows 17.5 hrs per week free, the rest (12.5 hrs per week) can be accessed as free if the child is in pre-school nursery, 2.5 hrs per day. This is in Wales. Where in the country are you, OP?

At my child nursery they allow you to spread it over so she gets 24 hours free a week all year. I just pay for 1 hour a week, she does 25 hours a week. She was 3 in March so got its free the Easter holidays

Huh? This isn't a thing.

How useful it will be will really depend on the nursery's policy. Our nursery didn't accept the hours outwith term time and you could only use it on certain sessions. As a result we were only able to use very little of it because we would have been paying a fortune outwith term times, just to maximise the use of the "free" hours during term times. It didn't make sense for us financially and we had to make alternative child care arrangements that worked out cheaper.

To be honest there is absolutely no point in us explaining it to you as all nurseries apply the funding differently.

Your biggest issue will be that the people running your child's nursery don't seem to understand it and that would worry me massively!

@AnotherAppleThief it is with the childcare offer for Wales. The 30 free hours isn't for the entire year.

???? There are 3 school terms each split into two half terms. School holidays are 13 weeks and training days another week. A setting on stretched funding may offer anything up to 52 weeks if open over the whole year.

Thank you so much for your replies! It has helped clarify things.

I do need to find out if they will split it over weeks of the year or are only limited to term time hours. On the website, it says it’s a possibility - but it’s a big corporate so I imagine each individual nursery is different.

Yea, the new manager not understanding is definitely an issue - I’ve been asking for a month now for her to send me a proper ‘official’ invoice (like we used to get) so I can pay my monthly fees, but she replied with an very short email (and no paperwork) saying ‘you owe xx amount for x child, and xx for x child’ 🤦🏼‍♀️

www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-and-education-for-2-to-4-year-olds

Your update doesn't sound promising. The new manager sounds like she hasn't got a clear idea on how to run a nursery and I would worry about what else she doesn't know and what else isn't getting done.

Knowing about the 30 hours and sending invoices is the very basic of basics.