Free childcare at 3

[lotsofthingstolearn]

My DS will be 3 next year. Looking forward to the monthly nursery bill coming down

I've had conflicting information that this won't come down as much as I thought due to top ups and only being available for 38 weeks of the year.

Can anyone tell me what happens/ what to expect/ what's allowed etc

You are allowed 15 hrs free hours per week, term time only. This can be spread over 50 weeks. You should receive an invoice that shows the hours you are being charged for outside the free early years entitlement. The hours start the term after your child's third birthday. They are not allowed to ask for a top up, insist you pay for lunch etc. If you want free hours only they can specify sessions. If you are full day care this is slightly different, for example weekly hours attended might be 20hrs, so you should be charged for 5. Bear in mind that they might average this so you pay the same all year round rather than different amount during holidays and term time.

Hope this helps.

Your nursery manager should be happy to explain it all to you.

It will depend on the nursery as they all do it differently
In my nursery you can just take the 15 hours term time and pay nothing
Or you can have an all year round place and we deduct the funding from your monthly bill each month so your monthly payments are the same each month
Some parents do the 15 hours term time and add extra sessions on. These parents pay the same every month over 11 months
We don't charge exorbitant amounts for extra hours. Our hourly rate is the same whether its a funded hour or not