Universal Credit and childcare fees - care package costs

[GingeyC]

I have been claiming Universal Credit for my childcare costs since my now 4 year old started nursery over 3 years ago. He is now also getting the funded 30 hours - which are split equally over the year as the funded hours are term time only. I think the way the nursery have broken down the invoices may have changed slightly, and it now specifies the cost of hours and the cost of the care package - food, nappies etc. Which is not optional. This is not a nursery that lets you provide your own food. I have now been told by UC that i can only claim for the non funded hours - not the care package. Which means i am hgoing from having the full invoice approved (over £500) to only being able to claim for less than £300 of it, of which they will only pay up to 85%. Meaning i suddenly have to find an extra £300 a month. Has anyone had issues with this before, appealed this as those costs are essential and not optional? I was due to pay my fees on 1st of this month. And was only made aware that my costs were rejected, 2 days before payment was due, despite me uploading all my proof 3 weeks previous. I literally do not have the money to pay the fees now. Or i do, and I have a negative bank account and 3 kids to feed a house to heat etc, with no money at all for 27 days!
I have made a complaint to UC, and asked for a manager to call me, but I don't think that will get me very far! The complaint was more about the attitude of the staff and the time frame they have processed my costs in.
Thank you for reading this far and for any advice!

Yes it's correct so appealing won't work. UC doesnt pay for food and nappies, they pay for the unreimbursed childcare hours only.

Nothing to appeal to argue against. UC do not pay for food and consumables if invoiced separately. They only pay for child care costs

Yeah sorry they don't pay for it when invoiced as consumables.
I did ask about it as I wasn't aware of the change and they said to get nursery to give you a letter stating food etc isn't optional.

You can’t do anything. It’s an issue with the funded hours. They aren’t funded enough, so nursery need to charge you for the remaining hours and then also add a change for consumables/activities etc.

Legally, those charges need to be voluntary but a lot of nurseries will just take your place away if you don’t agree to pay them. But UV won’t pay them, unless the nursery invoices it all as one.

Yes unfortunately this is a known issue.

The consumables charges legally must be optional and have to be itemised on the invoice. Even if in practice the nursery expects you to pay, they can't force you to - so UC won't pay as it's your choice.

Can you ask your nursery to change the invoice so it’s all included together?

I thought about this, it will cost me £10 a month if they can - but id happily pay that. The invoices up until quite recently didn't break it all down in so much detail. I don't want to commit fraud, but I also don't want to have to remove my son from nursery and give up my job!
My issue this month is that I wasn't informed until AFTER they were due to pay me, so i haven't had any time to budget for this huge change. I was simply told i should be thankful they wouldn't chase me for the years worth of overpayments - which makes me think that even with a change of wording on the invoice. It will be an issue.

Did you manage to get that letter - and did it help? 🙂

I asked nursery but they said packed lunch was optional so they were unable to.
I didn't actually believe them until I seen a child walk in with a packed lunch though 🤣

You were lucky to have got that for as long as you did to be honest

Another thought - if you are not now getting the full UC entitlement, just check that it still makes financial sense to claim UC over tax free childcare. The govt have the calculator on their website. Are you claiming the 30 hours? I would start with the nursery first and see if you can get them to amend the invoice.

can you elaborate on that?

Why? When not using funded hours, the nursery’s charge per hour covers everything; they don’t split it. It’s all under “childcare cost.” There is no consumable charge.

The consumable charge only comes in when funded hours are used. UC are talking nonsense when saying they could go after overpayments because there are no overpayments - the invoice from the nursery shows that. It was a single figure childcare charge. UC can’t just make up their own invoice and make up a consumable charge because the nursery changed the way they invoice for the current year.

I do get and use the 30 funded hours.
So my invoice breaks down the cost of funded hours and non funded hours, and the "care package" for both funded and non funded weeks. Everything is then added together and split equally over 12 months.
It used to just be split into funded and non funded weeks, and didn't specify care package. Which is probably why it wasn't noticed, or rejected. That or the rules have changed very suddenly. It is all very stressful and confusing, and made worse by the huge delay they keep having in replying and verifying costs in the first place.😲

Unfortunately the nursery is not allowed to do that any more - all the additional charges must be itemised separately now.

This has hit a lot of parents on UC. We legally have to itemise the invoice now to show meals and consumables on funded hours. The government will only pay for 'education'. Unfortunately, many nurseries use meal times as part of their education and prefer children to sit together with a hot meal so don't really want lunch boxes. It is also safer to know which allergens are in the environment too. For parents having to supply three main meals on a full day would be tricky, especially if nurseries have no storage space in fridges or ability to heat individual foods.

That said, we did write a letter for one of our parents stating that we offer meals as part of our educational package and discourage packed lunches and I believe they got it accepted.

I have to minus off the consumables charge when I submit to uc. Say my invoice is 500, I have to minus off the 50 I pay for consumables then submit that invoice with £450 figure to uc.

If you are using funded hours, settings must offer an option not to pay for snacks, meals or nappies (ie to provide your own). It’s very clear in the statutory guidance.

How long have you had to do that for?

@Dreamgirl97 I previously paid for my daughter but got uc 85% back but she had no funded hours. Once she turned 2 and got the 15hr entitlement, it came into place. Whilst I had no funded hours, I could submit the whole invoice as I didnt have a consumables charge. My little girls nursery however has a consumable charge when using funded hours. So like I said previously, although my invoice and bank receipt might show 500, I have to deduct the consumables charge as uc wont pay towards these.

But the box that says “how much did you pay” should instead say “how much should we pay” it’s very confusing putting the deducted amount in the “how much did you pay” box

Not much help but child care providers are not allowed to enforce consumables charges they have to allow you to provide nappies, food etc. so you could contact your local authority and complain. But asking them to put the consumables under the child care fee is reasonable