Nursery asking for £2hr contribution for funded child which doesn't include food

[Ivybaker123]

Hi,

I'm looking to send my son to nursery in September when he will get funding, the nursery is based in my daughters school so it would be ideal for him to go there as it would make my life easier as I don't drive, I can drop them off and pick them up together instead of travelling else where.

My issue is even though he will get funding their asking for a £2hr contribution and to either take them in a packed lunch or pay more for a hot meal. This seems alot to me seeing as he's suppose to have free funding. My daughter went to a different nursery and they only charged £5 a day including there lunch. Does anyone else get charged this much at their child's nursery?

The 15 hrs have to be free. That’s education not childcare and all 3 year olds are entitled to those 15hrs without any cost.

The rest of the 30hrs nurseries are probably technically not supposed to charge a top up but it will happen because the hours aren’t funded properly.

The government should fund it properly, but that’s not an excuse for nurseries to deny education entitlement to children from poor families who can’t afford to pay.

This is normal. It happens as they need to fund someone to watch over the children when they are eating, it isn't done for free!!!!

My son's nursery which is attached to my daughter's school charge £1 a session for snacks, so a full day (9-3) will be classed as two sessions. I also pay an additional £3 to drop my son in at 8.30 when my daughter needs to be in school

Yep. Another person to say it seems normal. We pay about £7 per funded day for our 3 year old. Without this, nurseries wouldn't be able to keep going or provide adequate care.

Hi OP.

Maybe the fault here isn't the nursery but the government who thinks that they should - I don't know - pay their staff below minimum wage or run at a loss. Perhaps your energies are best directed towards a campaign to force the government to increase the rates they pay to make this policy affordable.

The government have really done one with the branding of “free” hours when they aren’t so that parents direct their anger at the settings, not the government who do not fund hours adequately. For many areas of the country someone working in childcare can just about hit minimum wage whilst staying in ratio BUT what about all the other costs? It’s impossible.

Then situations like this come up where parents begrudge £2 an hour to look after the most important people in their lives (their children) and most are even getting 20% off the £2PH or have other contribution towards it via child benefit/ UC etc etc. This is why people are leaving childcare jobs in droves and settings are shutting.

I've seen you say many times that most/many childminders don't charge top ups. This isn't true in my area, everyone does. Please be careful not to generalise across the country as parents may end up disappointed.

My DD's nursery is within a school, and they also operate the school's after school care provision. They still charge top ups.

Yep. The (Ofsted outstanding) pre-school I used to work at is closing because they can't recruit anybody, my friend's work (nursery) struggle massively with recruitment too. Childminders also leaving the job. The sector is on its knees so when I see someone who is getting free education for two of their children (a privilege denied to many many children across the world) complain about paying £2 it does surprise me. The setting may not be there in 6 months I don't think people realise that.

Nurseries are not allow

Nurseries are not allowed to charge for mandatory extras. The can charge for lunch but must give options of pack lunch. They can ask for a contribution to crafting but must offer option to provide yourself. £2 a hour extra is high so £12 more a day for a standard 6 hour

If you don’t pay the additional funding amount you risk losing your place/nursery closing down. The government funding doesn’t cover anything like the amount needed.

Being on many national forums where poles are done the majority are still saying they won't charge a top up or set sessional hours you must be unlucky. But with extended funding to 2 year olds I'm sure it will change next year

Here's another thread on the topic. You might find it interesting @Ivybaker123. I was shocked at how little the government are actually paying. PPs are right, it shouldn't be called "free".

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/childcare/4807732-how-much-does-your-nursery-charge-for-funded-hours-top-up?page=1

Nurseries and parents need to stand together to fight for proper funding for nurseries. Both parties are being wronged by the campaign saying it is free. The suspicion is that the government want to pull all nursery care away from private provision and into the school system by forcing places to close. I believe school nurseries do receive better funding than private and charity provision and childminders.

We do offer completely free provision 9-12 each day, five days a week, which gives the obligatory 15hrs, but for parents who need more flexible hours or full days there is a small charge for admin/consumables/meals
etc.

They’ll have to build a shed load of school nurseries if that’s the plan-I can’t think of the nearest one to here! There are a few right in the centre of our city but as you say, only do 9-12 or 12.30-3.30 so aren’t much good for working parents.

OP

If the nursery has 2 sessions a day (eg 9-12 and 1-4) then they may be charging you for lunch hour supervision

If childminders aren't charging top ups then more fool them! The amount they get for funded hours does vary across authorities, but there's a shortage of childminders nationally and they could happily charge a small top up and still have mindees. If they're happy to be mugged off up to them!