30 hours free, but I cant find any nursery offering that. I dont understand

[kingat]

Hi,

This maybe a stupid question, but I am so lost, hoping some could help me figure out what to do. So the government is offering 30 hours free nursery for 3year olds, but every single nursery I am looking at only offers 15hrs as they used to do, I suppose they have no money, but so what is the point? Am I missing something? has anyone managed yo get 30hrs funded? Also, have I got it right that the nurseries attached to schools only offer morning OR afternoon sessions, in private ones you need to pay for the additional hours?

School nurseries and private nurseries can offer the hours however they choose to, or not at all. If you live in an area with high childcare costs then the government funding might be too low to make it worth it for nurseries.
Have you tried childminders? They can choose to offer the full 30, or some will let you use 15 and 15 at nursery.

The government only pays childcare provider £4.10 per hour for the funded hours. Hardly any nurseries or childminders can make it work on so little, so they have to charge a top up.

Also, the 30 hours per week is term-time only. So, if it’s stretched across the whole year, it’s actually only 4.2 hours a day.

Unfortunately the government have not double the amount of nursery places, so very few are actually available.

And yes most nursery attached to school do not offer the 30 hours as they do not have anyone to cover the lunchtime/period between sessions.

I've just read than you can split the funding between providers, so maybe I should look into nursery + childminder

Still don't see why is the government advertising 30 hrs free nursery though

They have been challenged on calling it 'free' rather than 'funded'. It was an easy vote winner that the government never intended to properly finance.

The government haven't paid for it. You might find a childminder who can do all 30 hours and just charge you for additional hours / services. Also remember it's 30 hours term time only, or some offer less hours over the whole year.

I managed to get 30 hours funded at a nursery for my first. Not sure I will be offered it for my seconds but here's hoping.

I suspect that the vast majority of nurseries simply cannot afford to offer the 30 "free" hours, so they have not signed up to it. This is because the funding offered by the local authorities is too low to be a viable option.

When setting their fees, nurseries have to take several things into account, but obviously critical to their planning is that the nursery will make enough profit to remain in business. Just suppose that, taking everything into account, it costs the nursery £5. 50 per hour to look after a child. If someone books, say 30 hours of childcare a week, for which the nursery charges £6 per hour, the parent would pay £180 and the nursery will receive £180, which covers their costs with a little to spare. But if that same parent books the same 30 hours under the "free" scheme, then the parent would pay nothing and the nursery would receive whatever was the funded rate at the time. It's currently about £4.50 so in this example they would receive £135, which is less than it costs them to provide the care, so they make a loss. That's unsustainable, so they can do one of 3 things: charge top ups; charge non-eligible parents more or simply not sign up to the scheme in the first place.

I currently use the 30 free hours.

School nurseries, nursery schools, and local authority nurseries usually offer them. You may find a private nursery or a childminder that offers them as well.

It is usual to pay for a meal charge.

The government have totally misled the funded hours. 30 hours is offered term time only - 38 weeks per year OR 22 hours per week- 50 weeks a year.
School nurseries which offer Am or Pm sessions may not be able to accommodate the 30 hours due to space. If using this route you will only get funding for 38 weeks per year!!

Day nurseries and childminders can offer the 30 hours funded how ever they want. Whether it be 3 10 hour days or 10 3hour sessions with additional charges such as lunch time.

The funding rate to offer the "free" hours does not cover the overheads leading them to charge top up fees. 30 hours funded is still better than 15.
Each and every setting offer it differently. Do the research on your area and do what works best for you. You can use your funding over 2 different providers per day but a maximum of 10 providers.

Hope this helps 🙂

I use 12 at a local term time only preschool (2 full days 9-3 free except £2.50 for lunch) and 12 at a private nursery (2 full days 8-6 with wraparound fees)

It's not the full 30 hours obviously but it works out much cheaper than paying the wrap-around fees for 4 days.