Funded hours - how does it work at your nursery?

[GinnyBee]

Hi, I'm trying to have a look at our finances for next year but I have no clue how the funded hours thing works. I've asked the manager of the nursery my son goes to but they haven't yet received the rates they'll be getting for the new provision of 15 hours for 2-year-olds starting in April. So I was wondering how it works in other nurseries. Do you pay the difference between govt funding and what they would normally charge for the session? Does anyone know the current rates for funded places? I know estimating anything based on this isn't going to be super accurate but I'm hoping it'll give me a bit of a guide for what I might expect. We're so stretched financially until his free hours kick in that I need something to look forward to!

Yeah we pay the difference, as it’s only the actual childcare element that’s free. Our nursery includes nappies (and bags/wipes/cream), sun cream, 3 meals and milk as well as extra stuff such as Forrest school and art teacher etc in the cost so we pay for that portion.

i can’t remember the exact amount that is funded so not helpful there I’m afraid, plus the amount changes each month depending on the number of days etc

For the 30 funded hours for 3 and 4 years old we pay a meal fee for breakfast, lunch and tea (snacks are free) and then a £1.50 per hour consumables fee. Still much cheaper per month that without the funding

I never paid anything extra with my daughter. Free hours were exactly that! There's no way I'd pay £1.50
Extra an hour for consumables!! My current nursery has free hours and then you pay on top for lunch. Which is fair enough. If they said an extra £5 a day for consumables then fair enough. But not hourly!

Hope you don't vote Tory then.

They aren't "free hours" though. They are funded hours, which in many many areas are funded massively below the actual costs that nurseries need to be sustainable. Maybe you are in a local authority that pays a decent rate but that doesn't apply to most people now.

OP, for full time our bill about halved (so pre funded hours, it was £1600 a month, post funded hours, ive been told to expect to pay around £850 a month).

Do you pay the difference between govt funding and what they would normally charge for the session?

Technically, they are not allowed to charge a top up fee. They cannot say "we get £x per hour funding so you need to pay £y per hour to make up the difference".

They can charge for anything extra though, such as food, nappies etc. and I imagine plenty of places will charge a premium on those things to get back some of the money. We pay for food and I'm guessing we pay more than it costs them. I don't mind, they don't get enough funding for the hours.

We're so stretched financially until his free hours kick in

They aren’t free hours, they are partially funded hours.

I think there are going to be a swathe of people who have listened to the government ‘promises’ who think they are going to get a massive saving in their childcare next year. There simply aren’t enough childcare places at the moment, let alone with any changes promising free childcare for younger children-lots of providers will either go under completely or decide to only offer places to people paying the full rates.

We have our hours across 12 months rather than term time only, so we get about 22 hours a week funded. For funded days we pay for meals, about 1.50 per meal I think, and then we pay full price for the non funded hours. Dd is in full time 5 days a week, and before tax free childcare our bill is about 750 a month. Tax free childcare pays 20% of that.

We have 30 hours free for our 3 year old. We would usually pay 68 pounds per day but it works out at 40 pounds per day with the free hours. We have him in nursery 51 weeks per year so the free hours are split over that time. They charge for all meals on top and an additional fee for extras which includes french/PE/art.

The places are funded - partially- but not free. If your nursery does not charge a top up, they will be running at a loss as the costs for each place are higher than the government contribution.

You are probably at risk of the nursery closing down - along with many others.

@Parker231 our nursery is the same as that poster's. I assume they make back the money through charging more for meals than it costs them, plus charging a premium on the non-funded hours (those in excess of the 30 hours, plus the children under 3). That part will of course get a lot more difficult if they decide to offer the proposed funded hours from 9 months.
Since an hourly top up fee is specifically not allowed, I'm sure plenty of nurseries don't charge it. I know some do though.

Going off how it was for the 30 hours they charged a top up per hour plus they had a minimum of 3 days a week attendance, ie you couldn't just send them in for 2 days for the 'free' hours.

Is this a school nursery? As this is how it is at our school. Private nurseries however cannot get away without charging extra - they'll be closing down.

Yes private nursery. I never paid any extra for my daughter. Only for meals. No I don't vote Tory!
Sorry, "funded" hours!! Not free. I'm talking about the funded hours for 3 year olds.

Also, if I'd have had the funded hours for my child when they were two, I'd much rather pay a top up and have the ratios better than them change it and not charge me.

Thanks everyone. Seems to be a fair bit of variation in how nurseries deal with the funded places. I certainly don’t expect fully free childcare (and it’s only 15 hours per week anyway for under 3s) but any saving will be a massive help to us. I don’t even mind if they charge extra for food and whatever to claw back some of the losses as I understand the government rates are nowhere near what it actually costs to provide the service.

Unfortunately, I think this will make lots of providers fold completely, so there will be even fewer places. That might well mean you don’t save any money at all, as you won’t manage to get a childcare place at all unless you are prepared to pay full whack.

My funded hours are split across 52 weeks. And then divided by 12.
it was calculated as hours for year- minus funded hours the. Divided by 12.
I currently pay £535 per month for a full time place. Full time would be between £800-900. (community nursery)

If it was just the funded hours they have set sessions morning or am and parents are expected to pay £1.50 towards snacks for the week. If a child is on 30 hours and attends say 10-6 during the day they would need to pay £5 for the hour between the morning and pm sessions.

Don’t go for a big chain of nurseries- these are more likely to charge the premium