30 hour funding - never went through, not told for 6 months £2500 arrears built

[Rainbowloverparentx]

Nursery 30hr funding issues with nursery provider.

Hi, I have a 4 year old in a nursery setting.

To note, I have mental health difficulties, awaiting an assessment for ADHD and Autism (I'm 26 F) and a phyiscal disability.

She's been there since she was 2.5, I was eligible for the 2 year funding due to low income.

I got back into work and had to up my child's hours.

I fell into some arrears and was notified of the 30hrs for working parents. First off, I wasn't eligible, then I went onto a full time contract and applied and was eligible.

I attended the nursery to drop my daughter off and they said I needed to sign a form and then they'd be able to access the funding.

I applied in August 2023 and signed this prior to September they told me they needed it done for then for the new term.

No one told me I needed to supply a code for them to access it. Yes, I probably should of looked more but my head just was scrambled then.

They nursery has 3 or 4 other settings, 1 was recently closed by Ofsted due to being inadequate. Our nursery manger left in August.

I had no invoice from August-Jan.

Months go by and fast forward to late December, I get a call which I miss and an email stating I'm in substantial arrears.

I reply stating I will be able to make a payment at the end of December, still, no one made me aware of a total amount outstanding.

I then was subject to an assault at work, where I required medical attention and substantial after effects from the injury. I had time off work and therefore was unable to pay.

She makes contact again and tells me she needs my child's 30hr code, as she hasn't got it and therefore from September to January. I actually did not have any additional funding and therefore my arrears accrued over £2,500.

I have signed another confirmation since then as its every 3 months and not once, did anyone ask me for the code.

I did not even know I needed a code, I should of read all the information better but I have now been made aware it is the nursery at fault.

As they have a something called a 'headcount' to check the register and who requires the funding prior to it being put in.

This means, someone could of and should of made contact with me during August/September to make me aware they needed the code.

No one ever did.

No invoices, no communication for months, which therefore I was under the assumption no further bill was needed to be paid.

I still have no figure, I just expressed my frustration to which she just apologised for and then I set up a repayment plan for what I could afford as I was threatened with them reducing my daughters hours and therefore I'd be unable to work, unable to make any further payments and just be totally screwed.

I'm wondering, am I really the one at fault here?
Is there anything I can do about this?
Is it worth consulting a solicitor or something regarding this?

Thanks, a very stressed and anxious parent.

I'm very confused by some.conflivting statements.

You say you applied and was then eligible.

But that no one told you that you needed a code.

If you had applied and found you were eligible then they gave you a code to show your eligibility??

I applied online via a portal, I was told I was eligible but I don't remember reading about a code. I do understand that I should of read the information more thoroughly, but I am also confused as to how no one had bought it up for 5 months.

There's clearly been a check prior to this terms funding going through and it's been flagged, I don't understand how it was not flagged last time as there was 6 weeks before the actual cut off.

So you never gave them a funding code? For the 2 year old funded hours, or for the 30 hours the term after your child turned 3?

The forms are pretty clear about what information needs to be given and this should have been flagged by the nursery at headcount. If they don't have your funding information they can't claim, it sounds like they claimed anyway and are now in a place where they need to prove eligibility or pay back the funding.

It's not just the nursery, you claimed 2 year old funding - did you not think that 3 year old funding might also require some paperwork?

You can argue it with them of course. But you have had several months of free childcare. I'm not sure how you stand legally. They should have brought it up with you, you should be aware of how and why you're getting funded childcare, and what supplementary payments the nursery may require on top of that.

No, I never supplied a funding code. I was not aware, wrongfully from the information from the nursery etc. I understand the issue lays with me for the most part.

But I agree that it appears, I signed the documentation at the door, just the funding form and that's all that was mentioned to me. I was aware of needing to reconfirm it which I had done but there was not code on the reconfirmation and no one asked the first time so I just did not know.

I was paying the top up alongside the small arrears. I was made aware of the top up when I communicated with the manager, so I knew what I needed to pay additionally each month alongside clearing the arrears.

So, I haven't had free childcare, I paid my top up.

I had no invoice to make me aware prior to this date or a breakdown in what I use in funding etc.

I assumed I had completed all the relevant paperwork. As I had no invoice I was under the assumption I was paying all the required fees and top up.

I feel if they had completed this task 4/5 months earlier I would have been aware and been able to make the relevant top up until the funding went back through.

I'm a first time parent, this stuff is complex, I understand from most of these comments that the fault and issue lies with me but some have noted the nursery holds some fault for lack of communication and invoices.

You both (yourself and the Nursery) should've done X Y Z ...

Ultimately in the long run; you owe this money.
Posting the same post on several Topics won't change that.

Set up an agreed payment plan, learn your lesson, get on with it.

Is it not possible for you to obtain the code from September (and subsequently) and give it to the nursery? Sounds like they just need to prove it was all done correctly as proved by the code. Have you checked your messages in the tax free childcare website? My kids are at school now but I can scroll back in messages a couple of years and find their code in a message from each time I reconfirmed it. If you can’t find it try contacting tax free childcare to get to the bottom of it. Surely if you were genuinely eligible at that point then the nursery will get paid by the gov.

Ah, yet another with no helpful advice and a spiteful tone.

Thanks!

Yeah, I did provide the code I had then received I'm September once I was asked I found it, she stated it worked and will go through from Jan.

It's been reconfirmed in Nov so I'm hoping I can communicate this to the relevant department and hopefully they can back date to at least Nov if not from August.

I think from reading here, it's likely they have put her through on the systems and have had repercussions from this.

OP might be able to prove the code was given (although she admits it wasnt) but the nursery still won't get paid for last term. There are strict deadlines to meet and back pay isn't possible.

@Rainbowloverparentx

But it's true.
I saw your post last night about your child's father asking a solicitor etc - what do you want people to say that they haven't already?
It's a shit situation for you as a family, and the Nursery should've done their appropriate checks - they didn't. So no, it's not entirely your fault, but in the long run of it all - what other option is there other than pay it?

Fair enough… good luck OP, maybe they will be able to come up with a payment plan for the rest of the fees, spread over the rest of the months your child is at nursery to make it a bit more palatable.
agree that nursery probably should not have put it through without a code and I’m sure they’ll have learned their lesson but I think as you realise, arguing over it will be counter productive if they end up asking you to find a new nursery with only a short time until your child starts school.

If I'm honest all I wanted or want is an acknowledgement from the nursery that they hold some responsibility regarding the process and an explanation of how it happened.

No one made me aware of any further queries I could look into, even if they may not fully work.

No idea of how much even owed but just threatened and pretty much forced to reduce my child's hours.

Do you think that's fair and I have no reason to be upset or wanting to understand further if there's more to this?

Or I just suck it up and allow this to happen to however many others?

Is there no possibility they put her through wrongfully on their headcount and then the council noticed?

There's a lot of conflicting evidence and information here is all.

I don't want to argue about it, I hate confrontation hence why when told it was my fault I sucked it up!

But my ex came back to me with information that it may not be entirely my fault and I'm just trying to understand it further to go to the with a factual letter.

They've already made me reduce her hours without knowing a price owed so yes they will likely remove her if I say anything further regarding it. Which I think is really unprofessionally done.

@Rainbowloverparentx

"If I'm honest all I wanted or want is an acknowledgement from the nursery that they hold some responsibility regarding the process and an explanation of how it happened."

And morally you should have one.
But all the head staff at this Nursery only see it as a business; with an error in the paperwork that they're desperately trying to rectify quickly.
I'm not saying it's right at all, but I'd be very surprised if you get any kind of explanation for how this happened.
Learn your lesson for the future.
Cross every T and dot every I

So funding for each term works in two stages. I will explain my LA....

Stage 1 - settings enter their estimates. This is a very simple form where you submit how many children you will be claiming for in the upcoming term. It's usually done before the end of the previous term.

Stage 2- actuals. Settings enter all the children's details who are claiming. You need codes, national insurance numbers, parents dates of birth addresses etc. They can also add new starters who joined after stage one, and take off leavers etc. This is done about 3 weeks in to the term. Some LAs call it headcount day.

For this spring term we have just done step 2. I think this is where they have realised they don't have your code.

Nurseries don’t have to submit childcare codes until halfway through the term when the returns for ‘actuals’ are due. That’s when problems would be flagged up if a provider didn’t run a code through the system to check its eligibility prior to this.

OP, are you saying that you didn’t have a code and so couldn’t produce it when the nursery tried to submit the ‘actuals’ halfway through the term? Or did you actually apply for the code after the cutoff date, making it ineligible to be used during the term in question, but not mention this to the nursery, hoping they wouldn’t find out? That’s the mostly likely scenario, as it happens all the time.

It sounds to me that the nursery took you at face value and trusted that your code was valid, when it fact it wasn’t. I struggle to believe you didn’t know it, as the dates are clearly stated in all correspondence, so it’s on you to pay for the childcare you have used, isn’t it? Quite frankly, if you knew your code was ineligible and that you otherwise couldn’t afford to pay, you should have removed your child from the nursery in September.