Free hours from April nursery being odd

[Notsofast1]

I have always had my kids in nursery 3 days 1 week 1 day the next as our nursery is at a hospital so accounts for shift working. Never had an issue before with free hours for my oldest, they do a reduced cost per day stretched over the year. So my youngest gets 30 hours free from 1st april. I'm now being told that she'll only get her free hours entitlement for 1 day a week because our nursery now uses funding loop. Now I'm not being funny but is this really allowed? She going to get 7 hours free per week and thats it....I'm actually not going to save any money really now and half the time she's at nursery she won't get the free hours that she's entitled to and that we've had before for my other kids. What's changed because I am fuming!

Were you previously in theory getting the free hours for the 3 days every week and then only using them every other week? If so the nursery was essentially scamming the council by charging them for hours your child wasn't using, so I'm not surprised it's stopped!

Variable hours isn't possible in our borough, we have to declare what's being claimed and we can't overclaim hours which aren't being used. If you're only using 7 hours every single week then that's what they'll claim.

Just send her 3 days every week?

Can’t you just sign her up for 3 days every week? Then you’ll get 3 days a week funded hours and presumably it doesn’t matter if you don’t attend the full time the second week.

Funding loop is just software the setting can use to collect your funding forms.
There's no way this should stop you accessing your free hours.