2k invoice for nursery pls help!

[extraordinarymachine26]

We were eligible for Tax free and 30 free hours. DC just turned 3.
I was made redundant this Mar, DP quit his job this August (so now none of us are in paid employment).

AFAIK there is a grace period for the 30 free hours, we were paying normal rate until this wk (Oct) nursery said the code doesn't work anymore and now they have send us a £2,300 bill for this month (3 days per week PLUS the shortfall for Sep now that apparently we didn't have funding then).

Am I right in there being a grace period for these 30 free hours or will we just have to suck up and pay the below and probably take DC out of nursery ASAP as this is in no way affordable for 2 unemployed ppl!

We are not entitled to UC but DP is on New style JSA (and looking for work but unlikely to find something till 2027 given the current market).

Anyone with any advice would be welcome!

You had your toddler at nursery 3 days a week whilst both parents aren't working?

Why wouldn't you have them at home? I mean I can understand 2 mornings a week but 30hours?! Do you even like your child?

In the 60 s and seventies nurseries were used almost exclusively by working parents. I know, I was one! And they were very much seen as childcare rather than educational establishments, with unfortunately facilities,staffing and provision to match, but they did offer extended hours to suit working parents and took children from an early age. Most day nurseries were run by local authorities rather than being privately owned and payments were subsidised. Private nurseries existed but were less common.

Many schools had nursery classes, usually morning or afternoon sessions, tied to school hours rather than working hours and not offering full time placements , these were regarded as providing a more social/ educational input. There were also nursery schools, which were not attached to primary or infant schools, and again these were more likely to only offer part time places. Most children attending would be offered a place in the year prior to reception , in those days reception entry would be offered to “rising fives” ie reception entry in the term they turned five.

Altogether very different attitudes towards early childhood education and childcare.

Unfortunately your grace period ran out the end of August. So you are liable for September and October fees. Nurseries also usually require at least one months notice to leave or change hours.

I don't think there is any fault on the nursery's part. They won't know your financial/work situation. It is made clear when applying for funded hours what the restrictions are to receiving such hours and there are reminders from HMRC. All parents really should be on top of this.

A meeting with the nursery is good. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and agree to a reduction in hours. I would not advise taking your child out completely as spaces in decent nurseries are really hard to come by now everyone is entitled to funded hours.

As for your partner, he has seriously messed up quitting whilst you are out of work. What was he thinking?! If you don't actually live together you would be better off applying for the funded hours as a single person rather than couple. Then next time he decides to quit his job on a whim it won't completely screw up your childcare entitlement.

Is that for benefit reasons?
Either way he sounds a deadbeat if he's quit his job while his partner and child don't have an income and he doesn't live with the family he created.

There are loads of seasonal jobs he could get right now - if he wanted to.

Why can’t you get UC?

I'm not sure why you left your child in nursery so long after you were made redundant! Without sounding harsh, why should tax payers fund childcare for 2 parents not doing any work and fully able to care for their child. Of course there's a grace period but for 2 non working people to expect the state to pick up their childcare bill is a bit entitled. The 30 hours is fairly new and was to support both parents working (particularly women wanting to return from mat leave), and help people feel that a 2nd parent at work wasn't financially pointless due to childcare costs. It's not just a freebie. I do think people forget that the money for these benefits comes directly from hard working people like nurses and teachers etc, everyone is so stretched thin, it's a bit of a joke to assume someone else will pick up your childcare bill whilst you both don't work or care for your child.

It is what it is now, I'd pay the bill, whip him out now to avoid further cost and book a place for the term after they turn 3 to get the 15 hours which is universal regardless of your work because it prepares little ones for school. Talk to citizens advice to make sure you get any support you're due as I imagine that's a horrid bill to get out of the blue.

You both need ro be working for 30hr free hr funding (or 1 in single parent household).
The grace period is usually 3 months so your very lucky to have had until now if left job in march.

Yes nursery is expensive but I suggest you both apply for a lot of jobs. There is no reason you wont get one before 2027 if genuinely try. I guess if you dont want to work / want time out or whatever reason thats fine and different matter if can self support financially but in case you dont need childcare and if want it for time off etc when not working then its only right to pay for it. Most of us only get it to "cover" working hours (tbh it covers half of our full time hours when stretched so no free childcare time).

I guess as a family its time to consider what suits you all... getting new jobs or sahm/sahd and taking child out of nursery. Hope you work out a suitable solution for you all

That's not what the comment said though, was it?

I totally agree but the problem is how would nursery even know? They can't randomly ask people "are you still employed this month" without sounding deranged. If she'd asked them, then they'd have been able to tell her or signpost her to the right website for info, but they can't randomly guess and the kids are too young to say on the off chance that mummy isn't working.

But she doesn't?
She thought there was a grace period and is either mistaken or has miscalculated that period.

I think what the poster means is that she assumed that because one parent is working she could have 30 free hours. Which of course makes no sense… why would you assume families with at least one sahp has access to a benefit for working families

No, it's not true.

The comment said that if OP was home she should look after her own children but plenty of stay-at-home parents use childcare. I'm at home full time and my DS makes full use of his 15 free hours. MN is very sneery at any family that choose not to enroll their child in any form of childcare, actually.

Sure, there are now two of them at home but between OP's course, applying for work, and attending interviews, I'm sure those hours in nursery are helpful! And not to mention that if the child loses his space it will be a massive problem when OP and her partner are offered new jobs!

Maybe OP doesn't actually need all the hours the child has been attending any more but that doesn't mean it's as cut and dry as "DC should be home full time now".

And regardless of all of that, OP was actually asking about when they stop being eligible for funding, not whether her child should stop attending nursery altogether.

Husband sounds like a shirker. The "unlikely to find something till 2027" comment is pure nonsense. Plenty of employers take people on specifically at this time of year.

If your partner doesn't live with you, a lot of things change e.g. benefits, entitlements, etc. Check with official sources, not Mumsnet. I could be wrong, but from what I remember, you would be counted as a single parent (lone adult in the household) and can get the 30 free hours of childcare if JUST YOU are working, because you are a single parent (the grace period is up to 3 months). You should also get JSA, Universal Credit and Council Tax Reduction while job hunting (but you might not get these if you're doing a course - and they can't be backdated).

Both parents need to be in employment for 30 free hours so your grace period ended a long long time ago.

I’m really surprised this post is still here tbh. Get your child out of the nursery to allow them to give the space to someone who needs it because they are actually working and offer them a payment plan for your arrears. I don’t know what sort of shenanigans are going on between you and your sort of partner but no doubt the rest of us are paying for it.

OP unless you have savings over 16k then you should be entitled to universal credit.

I don’t understand how you “didn’t realise”. Every 6 months you are required to reconfirm you eligibility and so you either did so knowing you didn’t qualify, or you didn’t which triggered the code not to be renewed.
im sorry but I don’t understand how this can accidentally happen, unless you paid no attention to the reconfirmation.
It sounds like you’re very lucky to not be paying back more and there is still a risk HMRC could come after you for it.

Did you miss the bit where she said she’s on a course until December ?

My husband was made redundant last October (and luckily found a job straight away so we were super fortunate) but in my mad panic / spiral, I did look into this. It seemed the grace period was until you next 'confirmed' your status. Basically you didn't need to tell them about a change but when it came to the next quarter, you would have to answer the questions openly and honestly and therefore declare you aren't working. As I understand it though, because your employment ended in march you wouldn't have been eligible from a maximum 3 months after that because it's based on both parents each working and earning enough to meet the minimum. Tax free childcare is different I think. You will still be eligible for the 15 hours free though - this is for all 3 and 4 year olds.

No you don't need to apply for 15hrs just need to fill in the funding form the nursery gives you each term, as 15hrs is universal to all 3yr old

It sounds like you’re very lucky to not be paying back more and there is still a risk HMRC could come after you for it.

I don’t think that’s the case. Op was eligible whilst she was employed in March and then went into her grace period. The childcare payment is based on terms (probably OP stretches it year round but the payments up to 31 August would all belong to the summer term).

So she was no longer eligible after 1 Sep BUT has not received any payments from 1 Sep (hence nursery is in shortfall).

So there is nothing for her to repay to “public funds” (as an aside, I don’t think childcare payments come via HMRC but from local authorities)

It's every 3 months which means she has confirmed at least twice since then. Also the original post before she edited said she was made redundant last year...

He is not her husband.
He does not live with them.
He's a boyfriend, it seems. She says he's not a partner.

Surely this is something you should have researched when you were made redundant... The conditions for 30 free hours etc are very clear when you apply, so obviously while hindsight is a beautiful thing, have you not looked what would have happened when you lost your job? It's been 6 months. If the situation was tough and neither you work, and if you cant afford it, surely at some point it would have occurred to you to take the child out of nursery?