Government payment to nursery for funded hours

[forwardsandbackwardsandup]

Our nursery has changed owners and the fees are sky rocketing. I have found what I think is the answer online, but hoped a nursery worker might be able to confirm. How much can the nursery claim from the government for the funded hours? We're in Scotland and I found info saying £5.79 per hour and £3 for lunch for our local authority. They are charging us £50 per day for 10hrs, so does that mean they can only claim £50? Or that they're getting £60.90 (£57.90+£3)?

I've read threads saying that govt contributions don't cover their costs, but in this case it seems they do? Appreciate it might be different in different parts of the country. They are wanting to add on fees of £3 per session (each half day) for funded sessions only to cover resources. Trying to work out if they really need this to cover costs or whether they're money grabbing chancers!

See, this is what I mean about the figures not adding up. You do the maths. In a nursery with 20 children, the funding for the lunches would be £3 x 20 = £60 per day or £300 a week. Yes, you could feed 20 kids on that. But food doesn’t make itself - it has to be prepped, cooked, served, and then the kitchen has to be cleaned. You need a cook to work for four hours at least. If you can get one to do it for £15 an hour (unlikely), your £60 might just cover it (not taking into account on costs, of course), but who will buy the food? The nursery owner who is raking it in? Apparently so, but how can this be justified?

Let’s say there are 10 x 3 and 4 year olds and 10 x 2 year olds. The parents of the 2 year olds must have CHOICE, so they MUST BE ALLOWED to bring a packed lunch (government rules = do it or lose your funding). So now you have £30 per day to pay for a cook, who still has to work four hours (and realistically won’t work for less than £18 an hour) plus buy the food (which is the cheapest part of the deal). It isn’t possible.

In a school with 200 kids, the numbers would work. You would be bringing in £600 a day, which would be more than enough to pay for two or three kitchen staff and the food. But in a nursery where parents must have CHOICE, and where they are led to believe that child benefits should not be used to feed their kids (but that someone else can do it), the numbers don’t work. And this is what the government does not seem to understand.

@User8646382 I hear ya! We've never been given the option of a packed lunch. There are around 40 kids in our nursery, I think probably 20 in preschool and the rest under 3. The nursery cook is lovely and has been brilliant with my child's milk allergy. I'm not sure how many hours she works but I can't see her being paid anywhere near £18 an hour. More likely minimum wage, or living wage if she's lucky.

95% of total funding to be passed on to settings does not mean equally to each setting per child the LA weights the funding for things like SEND, poverty, type of setting schools get more. Even one private nursery can get a different rate to another.

This is why industry bodies are pushing for it to be called funded not free as it will s settings are subsidising your free hours. The government knows the word free makes them look better.

The problem is the industry bodies are as good as useless and are only in it for themselves. It’s not like having the backing of a union.

If every nursery in the UK downed tools and refused to admit funded kids until the government agreed to change the wording from free to funded, things would soon change. The government is spineless - it gives in to everyone. It only bullies nurseries because it can.

The only way people will work for minimum wage is if they are claiming benefits and need to work for 15 hours a week. That way, they don’t get their benefits stopped. Nurseries in London are filled with such employees - it’s only way half of them can afford to work.

It’s possible you could find such a cook, I suppose, but unlikely. I’ve interviewed cooks who have demanded ridiculous amounts of money over the years. One of them memorably told me she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than 30k, term time only.

The only way people will work for minimum wage is if they are claiming benefits and need to work for 15 hours a week.

That's a big assumption to make! I have worked for minimum wage in the past. Nothing to do with benefit entitlement, but because the job allowed me to work school hours. There was no wraparound care at my child's school at the time so it was my only option.

@nofilteronme - I can only speak about the reality of the situation in London. I have no idea about other parts of the UK.