Funded hours and added extras

[Louise2021]

Can anyone offer any advice/their experience..

when applying for our children’s nursery it was privately owned however before our start date it was taken over by a chain of nurseries, we was initially told that not much would change etc etc however a lot has changed. Mostly surrounding cost. We have two children who attend 2 days per week, which is 21 hrs per week, we stretch the funding so should be entitled to 22hrs per week per child however the nursery are now saying that they can only claim 20 hours per child if we are using only the funded hours, so basically they’re taking 2 hours away from us because we aren’t paying for any extra days. I have a friend who uses the same nursery and she gets the full 22hrs because she pays for an extra day. It just doesn’t make sense to me, won’t the nursery just claim the full amount of hours that the children are entitled to? So although we are using the funded hours only we are still having to pay £220 a month for them to attend which includes having the pay for the extra 8 hours which they say the funding doesn’t cover, they also charge for food, nappies, wipes, suncream and activities. The deduction on hours has only come into affect since September and we was given no prior notice about it, previous to this we was allowed the full 22 hours. I just can’t understand it, does anyone else’s nursery do this?

thanks

You'll be told it's the only way the nursery can afford to run as the govt recompense is so poor but agree it sounds questionable. Could you ask for a meeting and a copy of their paperwork regarding it?

My understanding is that nurseries can claim a max of 10 funded hours per day.

See, for example:

Some childcare providers offer 15 or 30 hours a week for 38 weeks a year. The hours may be at set times and sessions.
Some offer a stretched option with fewer less hours a week over more weeks of the year. (For example, 22.8 hours a week for 50 weeks).
Limits:

• Not before 6am or after 8pm
• Maximum 10 hours per day
• Maximum 570 hours a year (for 15-hour offer)
• Maximum 1,140 per year (for 30-hour offer)
• No more than two sites per day

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/children/support-and-advice/families/childcare/help-with-childcare-costs/using-hours

My nursery is a chain and that how it’s managed. 10h per day is funded, I pay extra on top as we use stretch funding, plus the daily charge for meals etc… it might be different to the nursery in its previous iteration but it sounds pretty standard from my experience.

Agree with PP that settings can only claim 10 funded hours per day so you are being charged for the 2 extra hours each week.

Yes, 20 hours is the most you can claim on full two days. We allow our parents doing full days the opportunity to drop half hour - they either drop off half hour late or pick up half hour early so they fit into the ten hours on our standard 7.30-6 day (10.5 hours). The government is tightening up the way nurseries can claim funding so a lot of the extras and consumables etc will be because they now have to list every cost that isn't directly education/care related. So all snacks and meals and extras can't be included in the funding the government supplies.

The nursery aren't allowed to access more than 10hrs per day. Therefore they are correct in that they can only claim 20hrs per week. The funded hours do NOT cover consumables, food/snacks and anything over and above the hours themselves. They can quite rightly charge for anything they offer over and above the EYFS

"food, nappies, wipes and suncream" can't you provide your own? If you want nursery to provide those then of course you will need to pay consumables aren't funded.

Activities being an extra cost, same if you want your child to participate in the extras then you will need to pay for it.

The previous nursery owners/managers were applying the funding incorrectly. Settings are only able to claim 10 hours per day.

The setting should give you the option to either pay to have nappies, wipes, sun cream etc provided, or be able to provide your own.