Nursery says the extras aren’t included in the funded hours but I never realised it would cost this much

[Yluna47]

My ds is 2 and has been at nursery since January. He goes 3 days a week while im at work and generally he loves it there, runs in without looking back at me most mornings so no issues with the actual nursery.

He’s eligible for the funded hours now and I thought it would make a decent difference to what we pay but honestly im a bit shocked by the latest invoice. I know its not completely free and I wasn’t expecting to pay nothing but I thought we’d be saving more than we are.

Before the funding we were paying around £610 a month for the 3 days. Now its just over £360. Which is obviously a saving but when I looked at the breakdown there’s £250 for the extra hours, £55 for meals and snacks, £35 consumables and £20 activities. I thought some of this would be included in the funded hours but apparently not.

The meals one is annoying because you have to pay it, they don’t let you send food from home. The consumables is apparently things like wipes, nappies, suncream and craft stuff. He’s potty training so doesn’t use many nappies now and I do wonder what we’re paying for some months, but I know they still have things to buy for all the children. The activities charge is for things like music sessions and other things they do during the week.

I did read the paperwork when he started but if im honest I didn’t properly understand all the funding stuff. It said there would be additional charges and I signed it, so I know I can’t really say I wasn’t told anything. I just didn’t realise it would still be this much once the funding kicked in. I think I assumed the funded hours would come off the bill and then we’d pay for whatever hours were left, but it seems to work differently.

My partner thinks we should just leave it alone because ds is settled there and we both work, so what else are we supposed to do. He’s not wrong really. I don’t want to move him somewhere else just to save money when he’s happy and knows everyone. But £360 a month is still a lot for us and I was hoping we’d be able to put some of that money away instead.

I’ve asked another mum at nursery what she pays and she said hers was cheaper but her child only goes two days and I don’t know if she’s getting the same hours as us. I don’t really want to start asking everyone what they’re paying because it feels a bit nosy.

Are these charges normal? I know nursery staff need paying and the funding doesn’t cover everything but I can’t get my head around the fact its advertised as funded hours and there’s still so much to pay. Can you ask to opt out of the extras or would they just tell you to find another nursery? Has anyone actually managed to get their bill reduced without changing childcare completely?

oh really, I will have another look then thanks. they said we have to pay it and cant send his own food in but maybe ive misunderstood something. will check gov.uk properly and ask them about it on monday

Are you stretching your hours over the full year? I assume so by you mentioning the extra hours. In which case the funded hours are really only 22hrs per week. If you wanted to make a big saving, then you could drop him down to 2days or do term time only - you'd save a lot but you would have to sort out childcare for the holidays elsewhere. I take the view the extra costs are worth being able to leave that issue (which gets worse!) for after school starts.

DD2 does 4days and after funded hours, we pay £850 a month. So £350 for 3days doesnt sound unreasonable to me.

yeah its stretched over the year, I didnt realise that made such a difference to how many hours are actually covered. I dont think we could manage term time only with work anyway and dont really want to drop a day as he loves going. £850 is a lot though! I suppose its just getting my head round what the funding actually covers cos I thought it would take more off than it has.

Yes the funded hours are only term time. They average it out over the year so you’re paying the same each month.
Your other option would be to send him to a school pre-school but then he’d only be in childcare 9-3 max and only term time.

oh right that makes sense, I think I had it in my head the hours were just taken off each month rather than spread out like that. preschool wouldnt really work with our jobs unfortunately, neither of us could finish at 3 and the holidays would be a nightmare to sort out. suppose its one of those things you dont really think about properly until you’re dealing with the actual bill 😅

The media and politicians calling it free /funded hours have given parents the wrong impression of the scheme. They should call it subsidised hours to be more accurate so parents know to expect a percentage discount rather than zero.

Do you claim tax free childcare? That will cut your monthly £360 bill to £288. And honestly £600 to £288 is a pretty big saving!

My son goes 4 days a week to a school nursery, I pay £300 a term (not month, per month it works out as less than £100 as it’s £900 a year) because he’s there for 34 hours instead of the funded 30. You will find school nurseries (that aren’t trying to turn a profit and are term time only) are much cheaper. Totally up to you whether you want to look elsewhere but if I were you I would look at a school nursery, especially if it’s in the school you intend him to go to for reception. If you need year round care though you will have to pay for anything above 22.5 hours a week (which is what the 30 hours actually is your son is not term time only).

Same. I was working as a teacher at the time and all of my wages went for childcare fees. Brutal.

Don't worry, im sure lots have made the same mistake. We definitely had the same shock with DD1 and she was before the hours were extended to 9month old. We were paying in full until 3y and then we're expecting a huge drop that never came 😭 By the time DD2 came along, we were more clued in!

If you like the nursery OP please don't push back on these costs. The nurseries have been very open and vocal about how the 'free' funded hours are impossible to make work with the requirements around safe staffing levels. You know it's not really about wipes or food but what they need to balance their books in the only way they are allowed.

Many nurseries have closed since this government initiative, and your nursery is likely finding it hard too. How would you feel if the nursery ultimately closed? Because it feels like a risk to try and nickel and dime them on this. If that's what they say it needs to cost in top up fees, that's likely what they need it to cost.

Excellent post.

£360 for three days for a whole month?

Before the earlier funding came in I knew people paying about £70 a day!

Be grateful. We only got 15 hrs. These days it's 30. You're lucky!

I don't think that's fair. I too got 15hrs, but I didn't have any additional costs to pay, and I sent in a packed lunch. Don't tell OP she's lucky when she's clearly shocked at the cost of the additional charges, that the nursery were not fully transparent about when she signed on the dotted line.

Of course they want you to pay, but legally they can't insist. Food charges, consumables and extras like additional classes and activities have to be voluntary.

And nursery chains are making millions of profit...

The thing is in a couple of years he will be term time only at school so what’s your plan then? With my twins - you can only imagine the cost and no funded hours until age 3 at that time - I only did term time only childcare and me and their dad bought annual leave from our employers and took it in turns to take holiday outside of term time. Means no holidays together but honestly if you want to bring the cost down you do have to make sacrifices….

Now I send mine to a preschool at the primary school they will be attending, where you get the option to send them pack ups. But obviously it’s school hours. So I have no bill.

My friend currently uses a nursery and she gets a bill. She opted out of the consumables like nappies and wipes and sends her own and is much cheaper. Apparently these must be voluntary so you should be able to opt out and provide your own. She also was paying for the extra activities till she actually started looking at what extra activities the children were doing. She opted out because in one month the only extra activities her child went on was a walk to the local park which cost nothing. So I would look into it all

If you break this down into what you pay weekly, it averages out at £28.80 a day for snacks, 2 course lunch (most nurseries offer main and pudding), nappies, craft items, drinks and a music session. I’ve based the on the assumption it’s all year round care. Please feel free to adjust if this is not the case.

As an ex-nursery leader, there are many, many hidden costs that parents expect and are entitled to, that the funding just doesn’t cover. It goes absolutely nowhere near what staff expect to be paid, let alone covering rent on a building, utilities and continual professional development through training (paediatric first aid tracing at a minimum) the people who take care of your DS. If you’re looking to reduce costs, pop him into a state run nursery (most primary schools have these now) and juggle round term times and half days 😉

Once at school wrap around care and holiday clubs are very very expensive and time restricted. You may want to start putting money aside now.

I hope you have good availability in your area. There are very very limited options in our are for holiday clubs. Many are only 3 days a week 9-2 or 4hrs mornings OR afternoons. It has been a nightmare juggling working part time/using leave to cover holidays but now mine are old enough that they can entertain themselves before/after clubs while I work from home. I also work part time which helps and can swap days during the week to the days/times the clubs are on but I'm still responsible for getting them to and from clubs which I have to flexi out for and make up for later.

Its really a postcode lottery for holiday childcare and most people I know rely heavily on grandparents/family but its just not an option for everyone.

Mine is adjusting to 34hours, spread across 5 days, will be £56 per week after funded hours. Includes 5 lunches, 1 tea, 5 snacks. We provide nappies and wipes but she’s potty trained so just the occasional
wipes pack. She’s also moving to term time only so hours aren’t spread across the full year.
she was previously going 5 days a week 45 hours a week, full year and it was costing £232 per week.
our nursery is a not for profit nursery and lets you build your hours to suit you.

To be honest, it’s a good deal. Why should you get free childcare ? It’s heavily subsidised.

I can tell you quite honestly I’d be more wary of a setting that didn’t charge top-ups in some way. My nursery was wonderful, always over ratio, good quality food etc. They couldn’t have offered the service they did on the rate provided by the government and that was when there was only funded hours for 3 plus. Now that the funded hours have extended, I don’t know how they are balancing the books.

When my kids were at nursery it was normal to sent in your own nappies and wipes. When did it change to the nursery providing them at higher charges.?