Local council said no free child care til sept?

[GreenGoth89]

My DSS moved in with us 3 months ago and we've been told by the LA that he can't go into nursery for his 15 hrs a week until September (he's 3 1/2). Can they do this? We're struggling a little bit because I have a chronic long term health problem and my partner is looking after me and my son. My mum is around most of the time but not all the time and can only do so much, but he also needs the time with kids. All the parent & toddler groups have closed down for the summer and we have no money to pay for it ourselves. Are there any other options? We're 60 miles away from DP's family and DSS's mother's family so can't get help from them.

When mine were little it was term time only, had that changed?

The 15hours funded is only for 39weeks a year (term time) so would be September.
Some nurseries will pro rata it though

Yes normally the hours run from September, January or April , depending on when the birthday falls, and apply termtime only ie. 39 weeks per year. A private daycare setting may give the equivalent discount over 12 months but your dss won't have been on the roll in time to be eligible over the summer, so effective only from September. If you are struggling do you have a social worker who could perhaps find a temporary childminder?

Free hours are term time only as far as I know.

The funding for this term has finished and doesn't start again until September 1st
Its too late to start a new claim, you will have to wait until September
Some children will be funded over the summer but they will already be registered and be claiming 11 hours over 52 weeks instead of 15 over 38

i haven't got a social worker so thats a no go :(

Thats what they said insancerre but they said i couldn't register him for the summer :/ I guess we'll just have to keep going as we are until September.

Health Visitor?

Have you actually got a nursery place for September? Private nurseries tend to charge extra and can be difficult to get places for just the 15 hours so you'll need to get a school nursery place. Round here all places are allocated in January. You need to ask for a list of where has spare places.

I agree if you don't have a space already organised for September, it's unlikely you'll get one now. Our local ones are all booked up many months in advance and offers and starting dates are confirmed in the summer term.

We also still don't have a HV either - my doctors wouldn't register them because they didn't have utility bills or something with DSS's name and address on it...so we had to find them another and DP forgot to take ID with him when he took the forms in so thats hopefully happening tomorrow, but we've asked the previous HV to refer him to our nearest one but that also seems to be taking its time.

We haven't got one confirmed but we did call a place thats expanding over the summer so they had spaces last week, hopefully they still do! The council doesn't have a list so I've been calling around to see where still had space. Theres a private nursery that will take him but only for 11hrs because their cost is £6.50 an hr and they'll only get 4.75 per hr otherwise we have to pay the difference for anything over that.

As Insancerre said earlier, if you find a nursery which will take him over the summer, you are only entitled to 11 hours per week, year round. If you have a term time only place then you are entitled to up to 15 hours per week.

we found a nursery but the local council won't fund it until September even though theres the space. :(

I'm afraid that I suspected that might be the case. The next round of funding is available at the start of the Autumn term. Once he's registered, if it's a private nursery, you may be able to access 11 hours per week all year, rather than 15 hours, term time only.

The think that's right unfortunately. The council won't fund until September because that's when the next funding block starts. I would make sure he's registered at your chosen nursery for September. Once he's attending, you may be able to negotiate 11 hours for 52 weeks rather than 15 for 39. Not all nurseries will do this though so it's worth finding out in advance if your will.

The final head count for funded children is done and dusted. There is a procedure to follow if you're wanting to claim NEG govt funded hours. I won't say 'free' hours as they aren't free - nurseries and preschools heavily subsidise funded children. They can't change the rules on family circumstance.