Nursery funding - help

[Yscavuzzo80]

Hello,
My son turned 3 on March 7th and goes to a nursery school full time. I always understood that he'd be entitled to the free funding as of April 1st. However yesterday I was told by the nursery owner that he's entitled to the 15 hour per week free funding during term time as of April 1st but, as he attends full time, the free funding of 11.18 hrs per week (pro rata for the 51 weeks pa the nursery is open) will be available as of May 1st. When I asked the reasons behind this I got the following reply:

Quote

free hours funding is complicated and I'm happy to talk it through with you but essentially the 'stretch' offer is over 51 weeks of the year and equates to £11.18 hours per week , as you say.
Because the year starts (usually) on the first Monday in September the funding has to stretch as far as the end of the previous week.
Dylan starts using the free hours in the summer term which county funds for 13 weeks. The funding therefore covers 11.18 hours for 13/38*51 weeks i.e. 17.4 weeks.
If we count back from the week before school starts we calculate that the funding stretches back as far as the middle of the first week in May. We are including the other couple of days as a goodwill gesture, to round off the month.
I will check the maths again tomorrow.
Let me know if I've made a mistake or if you'd like further clarity on anything else.

Unquote

I've searched for the logic behind this in the internet with no success and, at the same time, I don't quite understand the explanation!

Does any of you get this? Thanks for your help!

The nursery has to stretch your hours of 195 for the term plus the summer holidays

is the nursery closed at anytime, like Christmas? the funding should cover every week from the term he is 3 except for one week normally Christmas week. generally at 11 hours a week. We are putting our estimates in now for next term the term date stated on the LA website so your stretched funding should start at 11 hours from the start of the published term date.

I think they're over-complicating it. Funding starts term after they're 3, so 17/18/19 April-ish depending when yours go back to school. If they're term time only they get 15 funded hours a week from then, if they're full-time and use stretch funding they get 11.something hours from then.

They have over complicated it but that's so they so miss out. The summer term including the holidays is the longest one so they would be providing 1st April- 31st August (5 months) for only a third of the years finding. It works out 11 hours per week of you start at 1st September - 31st August but not if you start chopping it up.

*don't miss out

Surely the whole point of the stretch funding is that is holidays are irrelavent? It's split over 51 weeks of the year so it all evens out in the end.

Irrelevant to the parent maybe, boy to the setting who has to make up the shortfall. They cannot claim for more hours than the set amount for that term so every week above that is coming out of the settings pocket.

I see what they are saying, he is funded for one term this academic year so 1/3rd of the 570 hours of annual funding making that 190 hours total. To make that cover until the next academic year it either needs to pay for fewer hours per week this year (then increase next year) or more simply start a few weeks later. They have chosen the second option.

There is no spare money in early years for the nursery to be able to afford to cover the extra costs themselves so they have to do it this way.

I take funding, I do mine term time so each child gets it for 38 weeks
If they wanted it all year they'd get less hours per week funded.
However it would start the term after they are 3 and run until school

Barking mad!
Would be much simpler if they gave you 15hrs per week for 38 weeks of the year. They could split the 38 weeks by 3 to give each term's allowance.

Simpler is to stick to the way the council do it here. They pay 15hrs for each week of their school term. Far more simple to work out than pro rata ovr 51 weeks.

The basis for this calculation also assumes that in the summer before your son starts school you will use the nursery right up to the end of August. Many families don't.

Hullabaloo - that would work if the OP's ds were getting EEE funding for all 3 terms, but he isn't. Then you could divide the 38 weeks money, between the 50 - 52 weeks he attends Nursery.

Because his funding doesn't kick in until the Summer Term, he Nursery will only get 15hrs x 13 weeks (195 hours) paid to them by the council. If she wants him there until the start of the next term, that would add possibly another 7 weeks on so would bring it down to around 8.8 hours a week that is funded by the council.

Thanks every so much for your feedback, everybody!
I got a letter from nursery school saying my son would be entitled to 15 hours per week as of April 1st, so always thought this would be the first day of the funding. Now I understand the logic behind this... maybe I was too anxious to start getting government help! LOL
Nursery school bill is massive for us and, on top of this, the setting has announced fees increase as of April 1st. Roll on September 2018, when Dylan starts reception! :D

The funding should start from the first of April regardless if they are offering free early education over 38 weeks or 51 weeks. Otherwise you wouldn't receive the 570 hours per rolling year you are entitled to. If they refuse to start offering you the hours from next week speak to your local authorities early years team