Government grant

[edmozley]

Hello Everyone

Our son attends a nursery 2 mornings a week. Each session is 5.5 hours (i.e. 11 hours per week or 44 hours for May). The cost for this is £408 i.e. £9.27 per hour.

I was told today that after the government grant (our son turned 3 in March) the cost has come down from £408 to £278 i.e. £130.

£130 divided by £9.27 is 14 hours per month paid for by the grant i.e. 3.5 hours per week.

The nursery is open 51 weeks a year and if we are entitled to 570 hours that works out at 11 hours per week of free childcare paid for by the grant.

Can anyone think of any reason why we are only getting 3.5 hours per week when we should be getting 11? Normally I would expect this sort of thing to be covered in a T+C's document somewhere but I cannot find the info anywhere in the welcome pack or their website.

Any insights gratefully received!

Thanks very much

Ed

I think you're entitled to 15 hours free nursery a week when your child turns 2.

They will be able to specify which hours they offer free e.g. They could be offering 3 hours a day so only part of the 5.5hour session would be funded.

They should offer 15 hours free but they can specify which 15 hours it is e.g. Ours offered it as 5 x mornings or 5 x afternoons.

It will be because, as pixie says, they can specify the hours they take as funded. They may, for example, say that the funded hours can only be taken from 8-9.30 and 2-3.30 each day, so you are only attending for 2 of those sessions a week. They should be able to explain to you how exactly it is calculated, but it will be along those lines.

Thanks for this.

starodyssey2015 - alas we didn't qualify!

dementedpixie/PatriciaHolm - the whole thing sounds a bit of a racket to me. On the one hand the government is able to make a big song and dance about the support they are giving parents but in reality there must be millions of parents who aren't getting their full entitlement.

If our son is there from 07:30-13:00 and they are saying that only 1.75 hours of that is funded that seems morally dubious to me.

I've just applied a bit of algebra and I can see what they've done.

1 full week = 35 hours
Son attends 11 hours
11/35 = 0.31
0.31 x 5.5 = 1.70 which is close enough to 1.75 allowing for rounding errors etc.

Should the government change their website so instead of...

"All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 hours of free early education or childcare per year."

... it should say

"All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 hours of free early education or childcare per year subject to the terms and conditions of the childcare provider who reserve the write to withold the entitlement if your child is not in full time attendance."

Thanks again - really helpful... once you explained it I was able to deduce their calculations! :)

Some nurseries - against the rules - simply deduct the funding they get from your bill. They might get about £3.50 per hour. So you can see why they would do this if they normally charge £9 per hour.

Ask them how they have calculated it.

If you're after free hours for 3/4 year olds its best you opt for state nurseries who can afford to offer it, being govt funded themselves.

If you choose to go to a non state nursery then you have to follow their procedure ... Similar to your choice of state vs public school... Your choice as a parent.

Private nurseries are not obligated to offer any funded hours at all, and their overheads are much higher than state nurseries and for every funded hour they do provide THEY are subsidising your child themselves (the govt. pay providers ALOT less than the fee they need to stay open) - there is no 'racket' on their part (quite the opposite!), they're ensuring they can pay their staff and other overheads.

A friend had to pull out of offering funded hours as she literally couldn't pay her staff. And she said that instead of being paid at the beginning of the month (her children who paid fees paid then), she was paid (the small amount) by her council in arrears. Hence her cash flow problem and need to pull out.

Instead of speculating and making unfair assumptions ... Just ASK your private nursery how they work their funded hours. And if you don't agree with it then enrol your child at a state nursery.

The hourly rate might also be higher if you have less paid for hours.

Note that the 15 free hours a week only apply during term time. So maybe your nursery has taken this into account when calculating your total (ie divided the hours evenly across all weeks in the year)