Claiming 15 / 30 hour free childcare

[jayman21]

Hello All,
I want to find out if parents can claim back directly from the UK government (local council) if the child care provider does not take part in the scheme?

my niece is 3yrs old and just got enrolled into a fee paying private school school (reception). But the school does not take part in the scheme hence the free hours child care does not apply with the school.

In this case, despite the parents paying normally for the child's fee the claim direct from the UK government (local council) the free hours child care?

Secondly with the new bill to increase free child care from 15 to 30 hours, is this now applicable in the London areas?
Thank you

No the money goes directly to the childcare provider.
The 30 hours does not yet apply to London, but will be rolled out Nationally some time this year. It is only 30 hours for term time.

Unfortunately, unless your chosen nursery provider is registered with the local authority as a provider of free childcare hours, you are not able to benefit from the "free hours" scheme. It is the provider who claims the funding for the free hours, not the parent.

Incidentally, the funding that providers are paid is nowhere near enough to cover their fees!

The 30 hours will be available in all areas in England from September this year. But that is not to say that all nurseries will be offering it. I suspect that many will not be offering it, in order to avoid bankrupting their business!

No, you cannot claim it directly.

Some childcare providers are taking part in the scheme, but a great many are not because the rates the government is willing to pay for those hours are way below the actual cost of providing the service.

The scheme is only operating in some boroughs of London at the moment.

Interesting that this was on the news this morning. Many local authorities think they won't have enough places to offer everyone 30 hours, because nurseries don't want to commit financial suicude register to offer it.

And there was a thread on mums net asking mums whether they would welcome the 30 hours. At the time many of us predicted that most places would not offer this.

My MIL has a chip cars business, and already operates at a loss for the children who have the 15 hours, because the council don't pay her the full rate. she cannot afford to offer the 30 and none of the local child minders will either.

childcare even! Bloody autocorrect!

I'm wondering whether it might be cancelled at the last minute - or perhaps the eligibility criteria will be changed, to reduce the demand for places. At the moment, in its current incarnation, I can't see it getting off the ground.

Will the 30 hours be for everyone or just households where all parents work?

Just in working households.

This is the eligibility info we were given in our nursery (Surrey). The nursery is still undecided whether they will participate or not.

Eligibility Criteria
The extended free childcare entitlement will be available to parents/carers of three and four year olds if:
 Each parent, or sole parent of a one parent family, must be working a minimum of 16 hours per week.
 You need to be earning the national minimum wage (for under 25 year olds) or the national living wage (if over 25 year olds), but less than £100,000 per person, per year.
OR
 Both parents are employed but one or both parents is temporarily away from the workplace on parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave or statutory sick pay, or
 One parent is employed & the other parent has substantial caring responsibilities based on specific benefits received for caring, or
 One parent is employed & one parent is disabled or incapacitated based on receipt of specific benefits.

Parents/carers wishing to access the additional 15 hours from September 2017, will be required to complete a self-declaration form, confirming they meet the national and local eligibility criteria. You will then receive a letter from the Local Authority either confirming that you are eligible for the extended entitlement or requesting that you submit relevant evidence in order for the LA to check your eligibility. If the checks confirm that you are eligible you will receive a letter containing a voucher- code which you will be required to give to your provider, as evidence that you are eligible for the extended free childcare entitlement.

In case it wasn't that clear. Above relates to additional 15 hrs (making 30 hrs in total). The first 15 hrs stay as they currently are (no eligibility checks).

I was wondering what a chip car was!

is any one interested in talking to me about this for an exhibition I am doing? It is a remake of an exhibition made in 1978 called Who's Holding the Baby? looking at how women balance work and childcare.