30 free funded hours

[lovecoffee1]

Hi mums/dads,

I’m so confused and wondering if someone can help. So we are eligible for the 30 funded hours so that’s 22hours stretched over 52 weeks to include the school holidays however I have just been told I can only use 5.5 hours a day and since I only work part time I will only use 16.5 hours a week and not all of the 22 hours. The nursery has told me I can either leave them or use them elsewhere. I have never heard of this and am shocked they are allowed to cap the hours to 5.5 hrs a day as I feel this is discriminating part time working mums. I have spoken to head office and they basically told me it’s been like that for a really long time and those are the rules and there’s no negotiation. What are your thought on this? Are you in the same situation? Are nursery even allowed to do this?

Choose a different nursery if you’re unhappy with their terms.

Also see the Facebook group Champagne Nurseries on Lemonade Funding www.facebook.com/groups/ChampagneNurseries/?ref=share

And this article today www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58242686.amp?fbclid=IwAR13jWqLdDeBUnBiOkyLYhIrxS_uvNDJGnxpdOgCt06YeEFtf7Ex7Dij6PU

Then write to your mp and complain about the crappy funding instead of complaining about the nursery.

Every nursery applies the hours differently. They are allowed to cap them however they want.

Find a nursery that doesn't cap them.

I looked into how nurseries did the 30hours before choosing my dds nursery

Of course they can. It's a private business they can accept payment on whatever terms they choose. The nursery make no profit on funded hours from the government.

The funded hours are really intended to cover 'pre-school' type hours I.e. a normal school day 5 days a week.

In the past when I was part time I used mine to fund 3 full days at pre-school and anything left over went to the childminder to bridge the gap between school hours and my working hours.

If you choose a school nursery then it is 30 hours a week, term time only. Your nursery has flexed this to allow all year around; they have to make their business work. If you don't like it then move elsewhere. Or use the full hours and spend that time doing something (eg for yourself or cleaning the house so you can spend more quality time with your child whe you're with them).

Thanks for all your input. The thing is I have no issue with paying the extra for the underfunding as I fully understand the funding is not enough to cover the cost of running the nursery however I see no benefit to the nursery for capping the hours at 5.5 hrs .

It's bollocks, but yes they can. I don't feel it's nurseries fault though, they are not well funded by the government for the hours. Every nursery around here caps the hours. Free is far from free.

I think when we had to do the paper work I had to put 570 and 570 hours which meant funded and extra funded and it was something like 5.5 and 5.5. So maybe they’re doing that

I wish I was organised like you and looked into it! Problem is there isn’t a lot of choice in my area. Private nursery are in high demand. I knew nurseries charge extras for food, nappies ect but just never heard of capping hours . Guess I should have done my research 🤦‍♀️

Yeah similar happened to us. I was annoyed as when I registered they indicated they accepted the full 30 and didn’t mention caps etc…think it was a bit misleading. They also whack on a load of extra money so even subsidised days are costly….because of where we live the rates are already extortionate.

How many hours a week do you work? You cannot claim more than the number of hours you work, they don't take the stretched hours into account

@gogohm

How many hours a week do you work? You cannot claim more than the number of hours you work, they don't take the stretched hours into account

Yes you can - you only need to work 16 hours a week to get 30 hours childcare.

I work 27 hours a week

Pumpkinvines Yes same , my nursery already increased the daily rate by quite a bit £80 per day to £91.47 which I fully understand as I wouldn’t want them to cut corners due to the underfunded scheme. However I just didn’t understand the cap as I can’t see how this benefits the nursery.

But obviously hugely benefit me

If you work 27 hours how come you will only use 16.5?

£91 a day! I thought our's was quite expensive (£61)

You are surely in the London area?!

Because the nursery capped my funding at 5.5 hrs a day and as I’m only working 3 days a week so my daughter goes to nursery 3 days a week . I only get to use 16.5 hrs a week

Ah ok so you work 27 hrs over 3 days.

I'd look for a local childminder who accepts the funding. They could do the remaining hours on each of those days

it’s probably 24 hours a week if you take away the hour lunch.

The capping is rubbish! Would there be any benefit in you working over 4 days instead of 3? Like others have said, look into a wrap around childminder or will have to try and find alternative nursery/ suck it up and keep her there

I doubt very much that any childminder would be in a position to offer the top up of the funded hours for a couple of reasons but mainly because the funding rate is so underfunded it really wouldn't be worth their time added to the fact of taking a space for such minimal hours.
I offer funded hours and have spread the 30 funded hours for one of my family's and I've also capped it at 4.5hrs set Mon- Fri as this particular family's hours, days and times change each month and funded hours cannot be banked. I totally get how frustrating it is for families who think they'll be getting 30 free hours but that's down to how it's advertised. If your not you should sign up to the childcare tax free scheme as that will help reduce the amount you pay.

Ours cap hours too. You can only use them between 9-3. Each one just chooses the way that they want to do it. It means that it’s not really free hours, just subsidised. I get it from the nurseries point of view tho.

OP if you cant access any alternative on the 3 days you need and end up paying the top up, would you consider adding a 4th day of 5.5 (free) hours? That way you are using the allowance and could use that time for yourself each week

My daughter does 24 hours a week over 3 days. Our nursery has let me use the hours and only charges for 2 hours a week (52 weeks stretched).

It’s not a blanket policy for all nurseries. If this one isn’t working for you, you may need to look elsewhere.