Free childcare hours - can I store them up?

[MissPollysTrolleyed]

My son is only 2 so I haven't figured out how these work yet but am going on maternity leave and taking him out of nursery soon so want to book him back in when I return to work. He'll be 3.3 at that stage so will I lose the 15 free hours a week if I don't put him back in for at least 15 hours from when he turns 3 or can I credit them against nursery fees when he goes back full-time?

Sorry if it's a stupid question (or does not make sense!).

No you can't save them up I'm afraid. I don't know how the free hours work in a private setting as my ds didn't get them as where I am they're only available in welsh speaking nurseries but I do know you only get the free hours during term time too.

Your nursery will be able to give you more advice :)

Thank you. I guess I'll talk to them about reserving a slot for him from when he turns 3 as I don't want to miss a single free hour!

Just to add that you get free hours from the term after the third birthday so in my case although ds turned three in April he does not get free hours until September when the new term starts.

Also, you'll see from previous threads that the "free" hours are not necessarily completely free as they should be (it depends how the nursery works) so make sure you check the details.