Not using my full 30 free hours, nursery pressuring me

[DaisyChainsForever]

DS (3) currently goes to nursery 8 hours a week. (2 half days) In January that will be increasing to 18 hours a week. (2 full days & a half day). Nursery are putting pressure on me to send him in for his 5 full days, ie using up my full 30 hours quota. Do they 'make' money from this? i can't see why else they would keep contacting me about it? (i've had repeated phone calls about it) i've already agreed that i will increase again at Easter, so don't know why they are so desperate for him to be there more.

Yes they want him to go so they can claim the money. Even if you agree to it you don’t have to send him and they can still claim. It’s up to you

Just because you are given 30 hours it doesn't mean that you have to send him in

@ Skyla2005, that’s not correct the nursery are not allowed to claim for the hours if the child does not attend. They will have to pay the money back to local authorities.

@Fandabydosey that's what i keep saying to them! i like having him at home some of the time. I only send him so he can learn to socialise, i'm lucky in that it's not a form of childcare for us.
@Skyla2005 if they choose to do that i'm not having any part of it.

If you take a place for 30 hrs and child doesn’t go because they are ill or they just don’t go then no they still get paid because they are taking up a place. Same with childminders

How are you entitled to 30 hours if you don’t need childcare? Are you working?

@Skyla2005

If you take a place for 30 hrs and child doesn’t go because they are ill or they just don’t go then no they still get paid because they are taking up a place. Same with childminders

For occasional absences like illness or holiday yes but not for repeated low attendance.

Yes both my partner and i work. We both work 12 hour shifts, him 4/5 a week, me 2 a week, days & nights.

We had similar. My Sone went in for 5 half days and they wanted him in for 5 full days. This included picking him up at 12.30 and then dropping him back at 1.30 for the afternoon session! I felt like I would be picking up and dropping all day so we refused.

That’s awful op. Not sure I’d be leaving my DS at a nursery like this

I'm in Scotland so get 30hrs free a week.
We use 12 but were encouraged to put on our form the 30hrs in case we we t to increase.
there s. o pressure or chat about needing to increase at all

@Skyla2005

Yes they want him to go so they can claim the money. Even if you agree to it you don’t have to send him and they can still claim. It’s up to you

That would be a fraudulent claim. You sign a parent form declaring your child will attend the hours claimed for. If the child regularly does not attend the nursery will have made a fraudulent claim and will have to repay anything overpaid.

[quote DaisyChainsForever]@Fandabydosey that's what i keep saying to them! i like having him at home some of the time. I only send him so he can learn to socialise, i'm lucky in that it's not a form of childcare for us.
@Skyla2005 if they choose to do that i'm not having any part of it.[/quote]
Ask directly and get the facts from the centre.
I think your hours used are perfect for a even balance.
Talk to the centre and stipulate that's all you require and no repeated asking.
I doubt a centre would claim on fraudulent hours if anything it's more likely they want the full 30 hours subsidy for the centre.

It depends, I can see how it's frustrating and annoying for you to be asked constantly, but similarly it could be taking the space of another child who would utilise all of the 30 hours, and they would then be able to claim for 30 hours; which is more money obviously. Just keep saying no if you really don't want them to be in more, they cannot force you.

It wouldn’t be a fraudulent claim because the place has been taken up so the nursery has to be paid not their fault if the child keeps being ill or off

@Skyla2005

The nursery have to keep attendance details and need to inform their LA if attendance falls below a certain level if they don't and they are audited they will be in major trouble.

It could be that they are struggling to fill spaces and stay open or that they have demand for full days your child is taking a half day on so effectively costing them money. With funding normally being paid at a lower rate being full is important. And as you've said you will increase at Easter they now can't fill that time.

They are due to put in the funding head count about now for next term so need to know what hours are going to be claimed for, what sessions will be used etc. They can’t put in a funding claim for hours that won’t be used on a regular basis as they may be asked to pay it back. Do you need 30 rather than just the standard 15 next term? Does your child have any development/social needs that they might benefit from by doing more sessions? Just trying to think of other reasons they might consider it beneficial for him to do more sessions if he’s getting funding anyway.