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.

[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?

[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!

[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..

[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.

[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?

[halfdrunktea]

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

[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.

[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.