Nursery funding

[Nursery64]

I like to think I have a brain cell or two but nursery funding eligibility is very much confusing me and I need to confirm nursery place/days soon.

DS born November 2023
Will be 9 months August 2024
Both me and DH earn under £100k

So I believe we are eligible for 15 funded hours from September 2024 i.e term after DS turns 9 months
And then we will be eligible for 30 funded hours from September 2025 as the scheme for 1 year olds doesn't start until then.

Anyone who knows more about this than me thinks this looks correct?

(And we also want to begin thinking about baby number 2 and how budgets would look - I'm thinking any baby born and subsequently turning 9 months before Dec 2025 would qualify for 30 funded hours Jan 2026?)

And then on top of funding you can get the tax free childcare allowance?

I would have a chat with your chosen nursery about costs. The funded hours don’t cover costs so proportionally is less of a discount than you’d expect as nurseries start charging for everything else. Outings, lunches etc.

Not all nurseries can afford to offer the free hours so I’d be contacting the nurseries directly to see what’s on offer not listening to the government.
The government were told it wasn’t financially viable but they don’t care. Unless you need to really use it you just hear the headlines.

Yes, you're correct on what they'd be entitled to and when, and on the tax free childcare.

But I agree with PPs you need to check with the individual nursery. And I doubt it will take as much off your bill as you might hope. It won't save us much.

Agree with the previous posters that you will need to ask for cost breakdowns of individual nurseries. Also keep in mind that nurseries have recently raised prices (sometimes significantly - ours is 15%) to cover the cost of the funded hours for 2 yos starting in April. It's likely they will increase their fees every time more funded hours come into play as they will have to continue to subsidise the government funding. So it's worth thinking about increases into your maths.

I wouldn't bet future children on funding. It's a vote winner and I imagine it will significantly decrease once they've had a general election.

Do not base your decision on the 2nd child on the childcare offer - it may very well not happen.

You are in theory correct however as PP have said, each nursery has some flexibility in when and how they can offer these hours. They may have core hours and then you pay for lunch and hours outside the core hours.

A lot of nurseries in my area are stopping doing the baby room and turning into preschools. This is because they cannot get the staff and they need fewer per preschooler than per baby.

They also are reducing their hours and no longer offering breakfast. Eg 8:30-3 is quite common from the mums I've spoken too. It's also happening at short notice so I'm dealing with a LOT of flexible working requests.

They also are reducing their hours and no longer offering breakfast. Eg 8:30-3 is quite common from the mums I've spoken too. It's also happening at short notice so I'm dealing with a LOT of flexible working requests

This has also been my experience. In addition to this I also know of 2 nurseries locally who have closed down in the last few months, with very little warning. It's just not sustainable to run a nursery these days, and many are struggling with staffing, rising costs and the extra financial strain from the new funding.

Just to give you some hope OP- my daughter is 13 months, we've just had our confirmation from nursery that we will be doing the 15 free hours with no 'top ups' needed. If you use the hours all year round it works out as 11 hours a week. As we only use nursery 2 days a week, the 11 hours will cover a whole day, reducing our childcare costs by 50%. This will be a huge saving for us.

Do anyone know, can you use the tax free childcare for the hours not covered by the funding? I can't remember from my older DD.

My typos have really bugged me-

*they will be doing the hours

*does anyone know

Yes you can use tax free childcare for your remaining fees, even if they're already reduced by the free hours.

At the moment nurseries have been given no solid info about the 9mth old funding in September so they don't know what is happening themselves yet.

The two year funding has certain criteria attached such as both parents in a two parent family have to be working and earning over a certain amount. The three year old 15hr is offered to all children regardless of income. We are guessing that the baby funding will be similar to the 2yo.