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?

Yes, I think the 30 hpw free funded hours idea is misleading. We initially thought that would be across the whole year, 6 hours per day 9-3 Monday to Friday. Then discovered this was only for school term time only, so if spread across the whole year bar bank holidays, was something like 9.45 to 2.15pm if I remember correctly and any additional hours had to be paid for. With regard to the extras, lunch, snacks and consumables, not all nurseries charge for these. We were able to send in packed lunches, nappies and wipes and only charged for the daily snacks. The only real totally FREE childcare in our area is the 15hpw term time only state nursery for all over 3s, in the September after their 3rd birthday, which is great if they were born in August, but not if they were born in October! Yes full time nursery care is a massive cost to today's working parents, but most both have to work to afford the rent or mortgage.

If your DS is happy there and runs in without looking back I'd not be moving him. In 2 years he'll be starting school and you can save more money then. My DD planned her family so one DC only had 1 year of nursery left before she had second DC. That way she only ever had to pay one lot of nursery fees at any time. Now both boys are at school and they are saving g more money.

Goodness OP, back in 2016 I was paying £1200 pm for one child, with extra charges for activities and materials termly.
Hideous any parent faces these charges, but if you’re only being charged £350 I think you’re getting off quite lightly tbh!

When does he turn 3?
You can send him to a school-based "nursery/pre-school class" from then, and it's significantly cheaper/free. However, it does only run traditional school hours.

I thought they weren't allowed to charge but say that on here and you get mobbed.

I haven't fully read through the thread, but another thing to note is that you only get the full funded or subsidised 30 hours if you use 5 full days, otherwise it's pro rated.
My child is now 11 so it's a while back but she was in nursery 3.5 days per week so we only got 21 hours free, then had to pay for the additional hours to make up the full days 8 to 9 and 3 to 6:30, and pay for meals and snacks.
I just looked back and we were paying around £450 to £500 per month in 2019, 7 years ago, so I dread to think what it would be now.
Sounds like a bargain, considering the ratio is probably higher than pre school ratios.

The underfunding of free hours is no surprise. And introduced by the slippery snake Jeremy Hunt, alongside the unfunded cut in NI.

It has to be voluntary. But if enough parents don't pay then some nurserys would be making a loss and have to close. I don't think there's an issue with discussing it.

If he’s going for three full days - 10 hours of two days will be covered meaning you’re paying most of the last day. So some of that cost will be for a day of care.

The government funding covers education. Nurseries aren’t allowed to use funding to cover food, care and other extras. So if your child was doing a full day, for example, and you wanted to bring your own food rather than the nursery food you’d have to prepare three meals with adequate storage/cooling to last all day as not every setting has space to refrigerate packed lunches. You’d have to follow guidelines on how to prepare the fruit to meet current safety standards. You’d have to check all ingredients for allergens so you don’t bring in products that could harm another child. Not all setting have a way of heating up packed lunch foods
either so your child could eat end up with a limited variety of daily foods. It makes the food costs seem much more reasonable when you realise how much headspace it saves you each day.

Other things consumables may cover are all the extra provision and activities that go above standard provision. Your nursery may bring in pumpkins to carve, for example. This is an extra cost to the nursery so extra provision. Or if they do a nursery Christmas event - providing costumes and letting parents attend without having to pay for a ticket to cover the cost of things like biscuits and coffee and the extra staff cover.

My point is there are a lot of indirect things your fee covers as well as the things like wipes and nappy sacks and providing spare clothes for toiletting accidents.

Look at tax free childcare as this can help with the costs if you aren’t already getting it.

We're £86 per day 😵

Nurseries can charge for things like meals, consumables and additional activities, but these should be optional, and parents should be offered reasonable alternatives, such as providing their own meals or supplies. You shouldn’t have to pay for extras as a condition of accessing your funded hours. I’d ask the nursery for a breakdown of how your funded hours have been applied and what options you have to reduce the additional charges. You may be able to save a bit without having to move your little one, especially as he’s so happy and settled there. The local authority should be able to offer advice and look at whether the nursery’s charging arrangements are in line with the funding guidance.

Mine went to a school nursery that takes children from 2 years old and there was no extra cost apart from the school dinner but you can send a pack up. Obviously no nursery in holiday time. That was covered by a nearby preschool for about £45 a day.
Rural north of England

£105 a day at my son’s nursery. And that is very cheap compared to the other local nurseries.

No issue with discussing it. It's being jumped on for even daring to mention it I object too.

The 35 covers baking resources. Malleable experiences and holiday things party food entertainment things like that.

I can imagine!

Youre literally paying half of what you were. The hours are 30 term time. Sounds like you use a day nursery. So you'll be paying 1 whole day yourself as funded stretched is 21 hours a week.
Funding is there to cover staffing cost only. Literally nothing else. It doesnt cover what the nursery would charge to survive.
Legally you can opt out. Morally you shouldn't imo because nurseries aren't greedy, they make very little money on whe whole, compared to what they charge parents the government do not pay thr same hourly rate. They will and are shutting because of this. If you opt out your child misses out. They won't be included in the extra activities.
Hours are funded, exactly that, the government fund your hours, not the day itself.

Just finished last of preschool, £80 a day and £6.50 a day for food on a funded day. No option for taking in a packed lunch. Once had half a crumpet each for light tea. What i hated is the staff on the ground were great but seemed overwhelmed by ratio and not paid near enough.

Who owns and runs the nursery?
sounds like an interesting business model

If they are charging it for nappies then it should be spent on nappies. I'm not sure why anyone would want the nursery to provide them anyway. Surely everyone has their favourite brands? If you like pampers why would you want asda own that you know gives baby rash and pay extra for it? DS and a couple of others were in reusable nappies at the time. They were just bunged in a bag for me to sort

And if the child is a baby they aren't baking. I never knew of baking etc taking place in the baby room

This ☝️
For every 8 quid you pay in, the govt tops up with 2 quid.
Then you pay the nursery fees etc from this account.
We saved a small fortune using this 💯
@Yluna47

Typically they are only 9-3 but one of my children attends a school nursery which is open 8am until 5:30pm all year round except the Christmas Holidays. I appreciate this is unusual though!

It’s normal. The stretched hours only cover 22 hours a week as well. And the top up hours are normally charged hourly at quite a high rate our nursery charges £13 each hour extra. And then consumables, food (we also can’t supply our own food) and activities

@Yluna47 , did you ask them about taking in own food, wipes and nappies? If they say no, then ask them how they are complying with A.35 of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2/early-education-and-childcare-valid-from-1-april-2026 . You can report them to the local council that oversees them (so the one they are located in, not necessarily the same as where you live), as they will have a funding agreement with the council and not offering reasonable (ie free) alternative will be breaking that.

And then they may not be able to break even and may close.

Or if they have enough wealthy parents, they may cease to associate with the funded hours scheme.