Nursery cost with 30 hours free childcare

[Mimiandme]

Hi everyone, my daughter is 3 in November, at the moment we pay for all of her nursery cost but when she’s 30, I think (hope!) we get 30 hours a week free childcare, term time only. I’m fairly sure we can split those hours over the year so 22 hours per week.
My friend said that even with this 30 hours help, you still have to pay in addition to this, even if you do only say 22 hours? Is this right? I know food is additional but I wondered what else is? Any rough costingd would be great. Thank you :-)

My daughters childminder asked us to make up the amount the gov pay her to top her up to minimum wage. But it was optional.

When DS had hours funded, I had to pay lunch if he wanted hot food (he didn't) and supply nappies and wipes but that was it. Breakfast club also wasn't included in funding so cost for the session and the food but I don't know if that applies for you

Our LB only does 16 hours a week and we will still have to top up around £200 per month. We currently pay around £530/month but that includes food, nappies, everything.

We get our 30hrs from January, it basically reduces our bill by 1/3. I asked for an estimate from them.

We have to pay £13 a day for meals and consumables plus the additional hours not covered by the 22. Our normal daily rate is £55 and it’s about £39 after the funding is applied.

It depends on your nursery's hourly rate - say for example your nursery normally charges £10 an hour but the government only reimburse them £7 an hour, then you have to pay the difference for each hour, i.e. £3. You'd have to ask your nursery how much it would cost, they should be able to give you the breakdown. We have just received our first bill with the 30 free hours taken into account - my little one does 3 days all year round, so we now get 22 'free' hours per week, and our bill has dropped by nearly £300 a month

My LO has just finished nursery as going to school in September.
He had his 30 split over the year, so 22hours a week.
He was only in for those 22 hours....I haven't paid anything for the past year, his lunch was included.
Ordinarily it's about £46/day here for a full day at nursery with lunch, so I guess their fees are covered by the government scheme.

Your little one will be eligible from January. Our nursery charges about £15-20 for consumables so as a private day nursery we will get 2/3 days covered by the 30hrs and then pay the consumable fee for those two days. If that makes sense

You'll need to ask the individual nursery as they all do it slightly differently.
Our daughter went full time and we still got a bill for £950 a month so I was slightly bitter about the "free childcare" claim..!

Hi @Mimiandme Haven’t read all the replies but I’m sure they’re similar to mine: They aren’t “free” hours. They’re funded hours. I heard recently the wording is to be updated because it’s not clear. I think in the policy it says funded.. but anyway I digress.

im Sure you already know this, but the nursery only get c.£4.78 per hour per child - this is not enough to cover their running costs. It is funded “childCARE” You will be asked to make up the difference and they may itemise this by saying it’s to pay for nappies, food, staff lunches, any activities eg paints etc, or they may just be very candid and say it’s to cover the rest of childcare

The nursery won’t be charging you extra so they can take early retirement on the Costa del sol - they don’t want to close down hence Charging you more x

Sun cream nappies etc. Its probably best to just see it as a discount on your existing bill

Remember you can claim the 30 hours funded AND the tax-free childcare account the government offer (you put in £X and they top up 20%)

And I think it starts the term after they are 3

Can you?! You're a legend! Thanks!

Yes!! If you’re eligible for both.

It depends, DD's lovely nursery dose not change any extra, but it's a social enterprise. Many have to charge extra to balancethe books, either by overcharging for incidentals or make it very difficult to use just the funded hours.

Some have set sessions the funded hours can be used for (eg. 9-12 &/or 1-4) so you could theoretically just bring them for a 3h session, but if you need a full day's childcare, then you have to pay for any time before, after or between sessions, even if your usingless then 22h. Others might have a subsidiary for craft materials or activities like forest school or dance classes, which are 'optional' but are you really going to say your kid can't take part with their friends.

If your looking for her to start nursery try ringing round a few to find out how they work it, as it can vary a lot.

Thank you so so much!

Depends on area.
We've split my sons hours out across the year and don't pay a thing.
My friend still pays afew £100

It varies depending on the nursery, you'll have to ask them really.

I had to pay £7 an hour on top

You need to ask your setting if they spread funding....not all do. The funding rates are typically much lower than the normal charging rates and like everyone else costs have gone up so they may make an additional charge for things....but it has to be voluntary...you can opt out of lunchtimes by picking child up if sessions are am and pm with lunch break ....yes not always feasible but technically you can...so you need to ask for a fees breakdown. They are not allowed to say we have a funding shortfalls £ soyou must pay the difference but they can ask for a voluntary contribution.

We're only allowed to use a maximum of 6.5 free hours a day

They've told us we'd get funding for 22hrs. He goes 25, so we're expecting to pay full rate for the 3 weekly extra hours (at £10ph)