Fees?

[somewhereinlondon]

Can someone help with the fees reduction you get once a child turns 3?

Is this a set amount? or a percentage of what you pay?

Just working out if I want 3 or 4 days and the discount might influence our decision?

Thanks in advance.

tbh it won't make much difference to you fi you are looking at full days, ewoither way you'll pay on top. Funding is for 12 , or in some areas already 15 hours, per week, termtime only (so roughly 39 weeks pa) usually across up to 5 "sessions" (am/pm) per week although the rules can vary from one authority to another. Applies from the term after the 3rd birthday ( cut off dates usually Sept 1st, Jan 1st or April 1st)

In our case, and we are a sessional nursery school ie mornings for three hours, the funding received takes the fees down to approx half. That is this current year.

In our council, I get 5 'sessions' a week - this would be like 5 mornings or afternoons at a council nursery. I can use two sessions in one day at my private nursery, so my ds who is in for 2.5 days gets all 5 sessions. each session is worth £5 off the fees. Think the amount is set by the indiv. council, but doesn't kick in until first term after their 3rd birthday. Our nursery gives it as discounted fees, others I know give you cashback 3 times a year. Also, our actual nursery fees went down when ds turned 3 as the ratios change quite significantly. HTH.

You need to find out what your LA pays per hour for the funded places, LA's vary, if you stick a post on the childminder thread, with a vagueish area one of the CM's might be able to tell you roughly what the hourly rate is and how many hours you can get 12.5 or 15.

The funding won't start until the term after the childs 3rd birthday (although some areas offer 10hrs per week funding when a child is over 2 from this Sept) so you may still get something.

As a general rule nurseries will prepare your invoice then deduct any funding, you pay the difference. But funding only covers 38wks of the year, so you may find that your bill goes up occasionally, some nurseries will work it out over the year though so you pay the same each month.

If it helps its about £3.46 per hour in my area, but no where near somewhereinlondon.

Thanks for your replies but now more confused than ever. Will post on the CM one and find out.
The nursery is a morning one only and private, so I will also ask them, just thought it was a quick yes/no question MN could answer.
Thanks again

I don't think it makes much difference . Funding will cover the cost up to 5 sessions of 3 hrs (may still be 2.5 in your area until Septmeber, check your LA website) so you may get all 3 or 4 completely free or may have to pay to top up if he spends a longer time there each morning (ie it includes lunch) but you should have the option to do only funded hours. Mind you , whether the policy will still be available at all rather depends on the election.

It isn't a yes/no question unfortunately

The council pay 12.5 (or 15) hours at a set rate that rate is variable (was £3.38 in our area)

That can be used towards 5 x 2.5 (or 3) hour sessions; normally these can be used over 2.5 days - but some councils allow them to be clustered in to 1 or 2 days

You get the bill and the (variable) amount is taken off - but the holidays make it more complicated - eg you will get no discount in August as it is not school time

The NEG is actually quite easy to calculate. It is not based on a contribution from your LA or requiring a 'top-up'. It also cannot vary from LA to LA as it is a government scheme and cannot be dictated by the LA.

For example (based on a nursery that offers the pilot 15 flexible hours) let?s say that you DD is there for 10 hours a week and they claim for 10 hours a week (you can check what is being claimed by calling your FIS).

Let?s also say that they are open for 51 weeks per year, and that they claim NEG for the maximum 38 weeks.

In this example, 51 weeks - 38 NEG weeks = 13 non NEG or non funded weeks. So if your monthly bill is say £200 or £50 per week. You would do the following £50 x 13 non NEG weeks = £650 spread over 12 months to keep the amounts regular is £54.17 per month.