UNFAIR FREE ENTITLEMENT TO EARLY EDUCATION FOR 3 YEARS OLD BORN AFTER APRIL

[moemazen]

My daughter is turning 3 on the 4th April and some of her peers will receive the free entitlement from April as they were born before the 31st March, which is 4 days difference.

It does not seem fair that my daughter gets the entitlement from September, 6 MONTHS LESS than someone born only 4 days apart???

Have I missed something? Have I not understood the policy?

When I called Barnet council they said that that is the way it is and they were just following a policy created by Ed Balls and I should contact him to complain.

It just infuriates me that I cannot appeal to Barnet council and have to send an email to Ed Balls ([email protected]) who may not even read it, it seems that he created the policy. I will contact him but wanted to check if other parents also feel the same way.

Is anyone else on the same situation?

I was calculating how much this would cost our family and it turns out it is nearly £1000 for the 6 months we would miss out as my girl goes to nursery full time, outrageous!

The nursery my child goes to has been very helpful and they said the Early Years team at Barnet have not been very helpful, I felt like the lady was just giving me a COMPUTER SAYS NO kind of answer.

[NK5BM3]

You do realise it's not free money? My dd was born in sept, we had to wait till January. Apart from the fact that I have to pay full time nursery care for an entire year more compared to all her friends who are born in aug etc, I worry that she'll be bored a at nursery (without her old friends and because she'd be in the pre-school room for 2 years).

We've calculated that we would have paid £100,000 just in nursery fees for 2 kids by the time they get to school. They both went to nursery from 6 months. First one went to school at 4.5, second one will go just 3 weeks short of 5.

[Groovee]

When my dd went to nursery March to August birthdays could get the funding in August. Sept to Dec, could get it in January and Jan/Feb Birthdays in April (or after the Easter Holidays).

Some children get 2 full years, others get 1 year 3 months. It's just the luck of the draw when it comes to children and their birth dates but there has to be a cut off somewhere.

[halfdrunktea]

Apple85 DS's nursery is the same but you have to pay until the term after their third birthday.

[apple85]

In my Dd's nursery they let them start the day after they turn 3 whether they can claim the funding or not. It's a school nursery and I guess they absorb the cost. They do it in quite a few schools where I live. Maybe they do this I'm other areas?

[mygrandchildrenrock]

Children starting just after their birthday could be very difficult for nurseries/pre-schools etc. to manage in terms of staffing. If we know we have a certain number of children starting at the beginning of each term we staff accordingly. For a nursery school the ratio is 1:13 and if children are coming in throughout the year we wouldn't be able to afford the extra staff until another 13 children were in, if that makes sense.

[Lucked]

People are asking what they want the government to do.

The answer is the entitlement could start the day after their third birthday even if only for part of a term. I am in Scotland and my council do this although they are funding this themselves above the government funding and each council is different. I actually think it is better for three year olds to be starting at nursery at different times of the year rather than a big intake at the start of terms.

For us, my sons birthday is the day before a term starts anyway so it is no different to the government entitlement..

[bonboncat]

My daughter also misses out her birthday is on the 1st of April, I am fuming, we struggled with the cost of pre school for one day.
She is so ready to go more days but we really can't afford it, and initially obviously didn't worry about it as we thought she would be funded, we are so upset.
Will quite happily write to who ever we need to and try to appeal this,
Also fuming mother!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Moemazon - I understand you feel this is unfair - but what, in actual, practical terms, do you want the Government to do about it?

If they shift the cut-off point to the 5th of April, so you get the extra term's money, what about the people whose children were born on the 6th? If they shift it to the 7th, what about children born on the 8th?

Whatever date you pick, there are going to be children who miss out by one week, or one day or one hour or even one minute - that is just a fact of life.

So what date will YOU choose, that will be fair to everyone?

[booksshoescats]

My daughter was born at 00.07 on 1 April. I feel your pain, but I guess they have to cut off somewhere.

[halfdrunktea]

I suppose there have to be cut-off points somewhere, although I agree it is a bit annoying. My daughter was born at 00:15 on 1 January, so if she'd been born 16 minutes earlier we would have got the nursery funding from the spring term. As it is we'll get it from the summer term.

[HavannaSlife]

Mine was due to start this term but we cant get him in anywhere until sept. Its really hard to get a place now they are funding for some dc from 2.

We have ds4 on the waiting list as we are going to pay for a couple of sessions a week when he turns 2 (in feb 2015) but we cant get him in until sept 15!

[louisejxxx]

OP: As others have said, unfortunately there has to be a cut off point somewhere. Can you imagine the chaos it would cause in the pre-schools that are attached to schools if they had new starters coming every other day on the day that they turned 3? It would be madness for the poor workers!

Unfortunately somebody is always going to be affected....I am one of them too, as my boy was 2nd July...so had to wait till September for his funding (although granted a large portion of that was school holidays so he wouldn't have got it anyway). My dd is 8th Jan, so will have to wait till April for hers as well. That's just life I'm afraid.

Whatever alternative you suggested there would still have to be a cut off point...but by the sounds of it, as long as the change made things better for you, then you wouldn't be too bothered about that? You seem fairly quick to say that the system is unfair, but haven't really suggested any alternatives other than "2 years pre-school for everyone"

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

Thats very odd. It even says on the gov thingy up to and including term the child turns 5.

And they do not have the legal right to force anybody to start education early

[mygrandchildrenrock]

I think that depends, Needs, on your Local Authority. I work in a Nursery School and we can't keep children during what would be their reception year, without getting special permission from the LA and an educational psychologist. If we did, we wouldn't get any funding for the child, regardless of when their birthdate is.

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

This is confusing me, because you are entitled to the funding until your child starts school or up to and including the term they turn 5. Your child does not have to switch to compulsory education until the term after they turn 5.

It's personal choice to send them before then if you didn't you could use it for longer than someone who sends a child to school at 4

[MiniSoksMakeHardWork]

There has to be a date. My dts birthday is the 2nd April. They miss out by 2 days, because they use a date, not the arbitrary 'first term after their third birthday. This would usually mean they could get funding from Easter depending on when it fell. And this is why they have this date. Otherwise it would be so changeable according to when term fell there would always be people grumbling that they missed out this year when they wouldn't have done the previous year.

My younger two were May birthdays so I've had to suck it up for all of mine.

[mygrandchildrenrock]

As other posters have said, the 15 hrs entitlement is about early education, not childcare.
Some early years settings can do a 'stretched offer' which means they offer less than 15 free hrs per week but for more than 38 weeks of the year. Nursery schools and pre-schools that are only open during term time obviously can't do this and offer 15 hrs per week during term time.

No setting is allowed to charge parents a 'top up' fee for the 15 hrs regardless of how much/little the Local Authority pays for the place.

As someone else has said, the cut off dates in England are 31 March, August and December, regardless of when term actually starts.
Some children get 5 terms, some 4 and others 3. When the policy first started all children were entitled to 3 terms, although many Local Authorities were quick to pay for more. Some LA took a lot longer, hence the poster who said they only had 3 terms regardless of when it started.

[TeacupDrama]

however she is missing 1 term not six months they do not go back to pre-school until about 22nd april and break up about 27th july they have a week off in may and 6-7 weeeks july/august so she is missing 12 weeks not 6 months but there has to be a cut off somewhere you have jsut missed one which is a bit sad but whatever the date was there would always be someone who missed it by a day

it just seems with the rules in England that no-one actually gets two years because if born on 1st september can't start until jan so you get 5 terms, if born 31st august you only get 3 terms so they sell it as 2 years to sound good but rules mean you can't actually get it

[KuppiKahvia]

You are being ridiculous. Every child gets pre-school education from the term after they turn 3. Some children get this as 5 terms of 15 hours, others 4 and others 3. Those who have less than 5 get to full time school earlier and therefore get more care rather than less.

A parent with an autumn born child will pay more in childcare as they don't have full time childcare until they are almost 5 as opposed to 4.5 or even 4.
Autumn born children's parents have paid for exactly the same number of terms as you before they get to their free entitlement.

As others have said this is national policy, there has to be a cut off date somewhere.

The person who said this must be a nightmare for staffing the setting was spot on. Numbers build throughout the year as children become entitled to free hours and drop off the cliff in September.

[drivenfromdistraction]

You can use it even after they're at school. Everyone gets the same amount of entitlement, it's just that some children will start school during it.

[ceeveebee]

It's not true that it stops the term after DC turns 4, it continues until school

And my nursery (SW London) doesn't cap the grant to the rate that it gets from the council, in fact I get the entire 15 hours free at nearly £10 an hour for 39 weeks of the year so it is worth over £5k per year to me.

Unfortunately there has to be a cut off date and its a but unlucky that you are just a few days over but as a pp has said, overall the childcare costs from birth to school are lower for spring/summer baby than for a winter baby so its not really unfair

[Ledkr]

The trust fund payments ended a few days after I'd had dd2.