Fee structure change

[LokiCokey]

After advice please... our nursery (which I love and don't want to leave) are changing their fee structure so that the funding is stretched all year rather than being term time only. Whilst I appreciate why they are doing this as both myself and DH teach this is of no benefit to us and will see us lose out on 3 hours of funding per week.

Can we refuse and ask for our 15 hours in term time? What happens if we don't use our hours in the holidays? Do we have to? As I don't want to spend extra on the wraparound care when I don't need to...

You can ask but they don't have to. Childcare settings are allowed to set their own rules when deciding how to deliver funded hours.

I suspect nurseries will bend the rules as much as they can to maximise their fees. I hsd it with a Cm with my free hours. Charged every extra ie food they could and said my child would miss out if not paid. I couldn’t send the food in though as included at a basic rate.

No if they draw up a new contract then you cannot refuse. It's worth asking but I guess it would be answered with a no. You used to get term time only places but now they want children who will pay for fifty one weeks a year. It's a shame for teachers.

Thanks, I thought that might be the case... can I send him for just the "free" hours in the holidays? I simply can't afford to pay for childcare I don't need!

Every nursery has a different policy around payments and hours. It's definitely worth meeting the manager and exploring what can be negotiated.

I doubt they'd let you send him full time in term time and just for the free hours in the holidays, if that's what you mean?

@DancingPhantomsOnTheTerrace essentially yes that is what I mean, and it's what I'm worried about!

They will need to fill there spaces all year round, staff won't want to be paid less in the holidays if some children are off.

You only get 38 weeks funding a year so you would need to pay for the additional weeks/hours. The whole thing is a Swizz!

It may be that the majority of the children are on stretched funding so it is easier to implement a blanket stretched policy.

38 weeks is based around school terms as originally the funding was intended for the education part, not for childcare. Now they are offering it for babies upwards where it is obvious that parents are using it so they can work rather than preschool education the government should really look at this again so the system is fit for the purpose it is being used for.

I still think it would be far easier for everyone if parents were given a set amount for each child, perhaps weekly like childbenefit but towards childcare or for a parent to be able to stay home more if they preferred.

To a degree but there is statutory guidance on how it should be applied, it’s just that many nurseries ignore it until challenged.

OP, first port of call would be to speak to the nursery about your options. Second would be to speak to the early years funding team at the local authority who should be able to advise too. And the third is to embrace the all year round childcare and take some time for yourself in the holidays in future!

Thanks all, it looks like the nursery are prepared to be quite flexible as we've been with them a long time which is good news