nursery vouchers

[Emmagee]

Will someone please explain....

How it works in our borough is that the nursery receives the payment for three pluses and deducts it from your fees. We don't have to do anything when our son turns three because he's already there. I assume that if you are applying to a new nursery they will do the same.
Confusing, isn't it? I only found this out during a 15 minute chat with our nursery manager. It seems the days when you received vouchers to spend as you chose are long gone. But I may be wrong...Confused of SE London.

Where we are in Brighton the term after your child is 3 they are entitled to 2.5 sessions a week during term time only. Therefore, if your child attends full time then they'll get around half of the fees paid for except for during school holidays which is daft considering they're not at school!!

The age at which 'vouchers' (funding) kicks in varies from region to region. Here (Oxfordshire) it's not until the term in which the child is four. In some areas it is a full year earlier (i.e. the term in which they are three). Check with your childcare provider, and they will fill you in on the relevant details for your area.

You can claim the funding for a registered playgroup place, a private nursery, or in the form of a place in a 'free state nursery'.

I hope I can help clear this up ( I own two nurseries).

It differs from area to area as to when the funding becomes available. In ALL areas, it is available from the term after your child terms 4. However, in a lot of areas it is available before this. That is because a cetain amount of money is given to each council from the government and it is up to them to decide how to use it.

The funding is only available to children who are in a registered day care setting....this includes nurseries, childminders, etc, but not with nannies or grandparents. The funding is paid direct to the childcare provider for all eligible children upon the completion of various paperwork on a termly basis. In each area, it varies as to how the parents recieve the benefit. At our nurseries, parents continue to pay their fees as usual, and then they get a refund of the funding amount. In other areas it is deducted fromthe nursery fees in advance, etc.

The funding covers up to 5 sessions per week of at least 2.5 hours per session. However, as many of you will know, this does not cover most nursery fees so you will usually have to pay a top up. The 5 sessions do not have to be taken on different days. For example, if your child attends 2 full days at nursery, this will count as 4 sessions.

Your childcare provider should have complete details on how the scheme works in your area.

Hope this helps.

My ds attends a playgroup on the Surrey/Hants borders. I was told by the playgroup that as we live in Hants, he'd not get vouchers until the term he was 4 (unlike Surrey which funds from the term BEFORE they're 4).
One of the other mums told me last week - and I still have yet to confirm this with the playgroup - that as Hants residents, we'll get them at the same time as Surrey. She just rang up the local Educational Dept of Hants Council, and they gave her that answer.
So, the moral is, ask your council directly!

Just to confuse things, for those of us in Scotland, we get funding for our children the term after they're 3, for as many children as they can afford, so if your child is born late in the year, they may not get funded. That's how it works in Aberdeenshire, anyway.