Nursery hours from September

[Kayla84]

I've received the eligibility code for my baby to be able to get the free hours from September. However the nurseries I've been contacting are saying that not only do they have to stretch the 36 weeks "free hours" over 52 weeks (I knew that part), they only accept a couple of free hours per day and need to charge parents the rest in order to cover the actual costs of running a nursery.
Can anyone explain how these hours can effectively be used then ?!

Send your child to nursery full time. Pay the rest of the cost.

I’m a childminder - that means I teach exactly the same learning as a nursery . EYFS . Curriculum bespoke to each child’s learning needs. I am degree educated , over 30 years of childcare experience. Regular training to keep updated . I have maximum 3 children at a time . We go out to parks, NT , farms , woodland trails . Car seats extended rear facing only .
I offer funding in 7.5 hour sessions , so parents can do two days of 7.5 hours and only extra cost is food (or option for parents to provide ). Food is home cooked hot meal and healthy snacks . I don’t have any vacancy but there are other childminders just like me .
So don’t be limited to a nursery .

Well, they are there to cover childcare for working parents, so whether in theory you get 3 hours "free" off each day's bill, or 10 hours off one day and 5 hours off another day, or 3 lots of 5 hours "free" a week, you still need to pay for the other hours and still get 15 for free. Does it matter how they describe it ?