Full-time working parents with child having funded 15 hrs per week - does childcare work out just as expensive as before they were having the free 15 hours?

[Schnitzel]

Hello,
I'm really struggling to get my head round something. When you have a child who is having their funded 15 hours a week, how do you manage for the unfunded remaining hours? (both financially and logistically). I.e. who looks after them during this time? Who drops them off, picks them up etc. Do you end up spending the same amount of money on childcare as before the free 15 hrs?

The two people I know (both working full-time) with children currently having their 15 funded hours both use childminders. The parents drop them off at the childminders' at 8am in the morning. The childminder then does the school drop off for 9am and pick up at lunchtime, look after them for the rest of the afternoon before the parents picking them up at 6pm - meaning although they are receiving 15 free hours a week, the parents are still having to pay for a FULL day at the childminder's (the childminder still charges for the full day as the part-time child prevents them from taking on a full-time child).

I scared myself silly thinking about the financial implications of this the other day. I would be grateful to hear about how other people manage this.

Many thanks!

DS goes to nursery, has done since he was 1, 3 days a weeks while I am at work. Bill was about £410/month.
He got his 15 hours funding in January this year. Nursery knock off the equivalent of 15 hours a week from the bill, and add £1/day for lunch, so bill is now about £250.

Private nursery
They take the 15 hours off the final bill

Thanks for your replies.

My child is currently still at home with me (I am a single parent) but I am looking for full-time work and hope to be working before he is old enough to receive the funded hours.

So (still being confused) because I will need childcare from 8am to 6pm is my only hope that I can send him to a private nursery that can also provide the Early Years education? (as opposed to, say, a nursery attached to a school that starts at 9am and finishes way before I finish work?) There is a really good school nursery nearby that I had my eye on applying for him to go to - but it's just thinking about the practicalities of getting him there at 9am and picking him up if I'm working full time (and what the cost would be of paying someone to do that!).

You could put him in to the nursery and use the free hours then and then find a childminder for out of nursery hours?

We use a private nursery for the full 8 - 6, two days a week. They just take the funded hours off the bill.

The nursery we use also just takes the 15 hrs off the bill. We cannot wait for the bill to come down (currently £443 a month) so we can try for DC2!

I also use a private nursery - DS2 goes 4 days a week (8 till 5.30ish) and it cost me approx £117 per week before he was 3.

When he turned 3, it now costs £85 per week for the 39 weeks of term-time and then I pay £117per week in the school holidays. The other thing you need to consider is that if you do use a nursery attached to a school whilst you are working full-time, you would then need to find childcare for the school holidays so it is really not an ideal solution.

Make sure you ask that they will take the 15 hrs off though as my DS nursery wasn't part of the scheme and neither are many of the private nurseries in my area. I'm on mat leave now so no longer paying for childcare but had to pay full bill even though my DS is over 3.

Or a childminder who provides EYE

my DD starts her free hours in september. Her day nursery will just deduct the cost of the 15hrs from my bill to make it cheaper. I think using a nursery school/preschool only works if you are a sahm as if you need wrap round childminder they'll charge for the ful day (and preschools are only open a few weeks a year and usualy have riduculous session times like 930 til 1230 which is impossible for a working parent)

sleeplessinderbyshire - not all nurseries are like that. i can use the 15 hours funding, as well as put ds1 in for 2 days 8am - 6pm (they just take 15 hours off the bill). they're open 50 weeks a year (apart from 2 weeks at christmas).

op - it's also worth considering that you only get 15 free hours during term time, so your bills during the school holidays will not include the 15 free hours.

sorry sleepless - i mis-read your post.
op - i'd contact the nursery if i were you and find out their terms. our nursery has very close links to the school, but is open outside of school hours / terms.

I drop DD1 at nursery, CM picks up and does the rest of the day.

I get a discount because of the fact that they have her for less time.

Thank you all! Things are a lot clearer in my head now as to what I should do.

If you can find an accredited childminder, they can also offer the 15 hours free.

Thank you Phunkiephedora.

A childminder who does drop-offs at the school where the nursery is might have your child and take them to nursery and pick up later as part of the service...but you would probably have to pay them as if they were with childminder all day, and use your education funding for the school nursery.

DS went to a private day nursery for the 15 hours. 15 hours bought him 3 mornings from 7:30-12:30, with breakfast and lunch included in that. If I'd needed childcare for the full days I would have been able to use the 15 hours to pay for 1.5 days and just top up. It was a great nursery and they also took and picked up from the local school nursery, but then you had to use your nursery hours for the school nursery and pay full rate to the day nursery if you see what I mean?

This accredited childminder refuses to charge top-up fees for the free 15 hours like the preschools and nurseries locally, so works out cheaper than any of them...