pre-school funding - how nuch is it and how is it worked out?

[MatBackFack]

My 3 year old goes to a day nursery 2 days a week. I am concerned I am not benefitting from the full amount of funding. Whenever I ask them they are really vague and I cant get a straight answer. I know you are entitled to 5 sessions but as he only goes 2 full days is he only getting 2? Does that mean I migh be better off sendinghim 3 days which I am considering? Also the amount keeps changing. He goes 2 full days which is £416.50 per month. this is what he had taken off, does it look right?

Jan-Apri - £97.90
May-Aug - £106.80
Sept- - £128.80

Why does the amount keep changing?

Does anyone know how it is worked out?

I was chatting about this with my County Council yesterday - April birthdays really seem to miss out. There are now 6 official school terms so I was arguing the they should use them in the grant calc. The publicity here is really misleading. I am a Treasurer of a pre small pre school and 3 of our children are April birthdays.
Cut offs are 31st Aug, 31st Dec and 31st March with no plans to cut them apparently.

£3.47 is not a national rate

I get £3.32 - which is pitiful imo as I change £3.50 for childminding but have to supply these 2.5 hrs at 3.32 - when in fact they cost me more to provide

KatyMac would your parent not make a voluntary contribution to make up the difference? I've been happy to do so for my cm and you can imagine here in Surrey where I know of several cms charging £6 per hour that the discrepency between the rates is huge!

no

I have someone who wants to come for 5x2.5 sessions so it's for free

If she has to pay, she will go somewhere else (it's hard to decide to accept a child on that basis - she blocks a full space & costs me money )

Argh - that's frustrating, laws of supply & demand I guess! Will she not do it in 2.5 days to make it easier for you?

Nope

& is it discrimination to refuse a child who can't (or won't) afford any but the free sessions? It's very tricky

no I know you're not allowed to refuse, however you can state that you only offer EYFS sessions on x, y & z days - but of course if you don't have a waiting list some income is better than none.

I think I might charge 45p a session for supplies...is that mean?

They want afternoons 1-3:30 so if I can organise 5 mornings I'll be OK (I have 2 already - so just 3 to go)

Our pre-school charges £12 per term, perhaps find out what your local pre-schools charge and make your comparable?

Hi could someone please explain in simple terms how the pre-school funding works.My daughter has been in private nursery from the age of 2,she turned three in october 2010.She would start pre-school nursery in the january and was offered a place at this private nursery with 12.5 hrs per week being government funded.Since January til June she has gone 5 days a week 5hrs per session,£3 per hour.To me this works out at half the week would be covered by government £37.50 per wk I calculated. Even at 10wks paid only this works out at £375 pre-school funding by my calculations. I have had to pay upfront since January and was told I would recieve reimbursement at the end of term. I have just this week recieved a cheque for £269.21. Does this make sense.?

eva - if she goes 5 x 5 hrs you should get 3 hrs free each time. So you should be paying for 2.5 hours at their usual rate, ie £3ph, £7.50 per session for you to pay.

You should get the hours free, not the value of the funding taken off the bill, IYKWIM? The free hours only applies 38 weeks a year though for term times

Sorry i meant 2.5 hrs free each time, according to your info - I had thought the free hours were now 3 hour sessions though, I got 3 hour sessions last term.

Thats what I thought should happen originally but I was told by the nursery that they can only claim the funding at certain times of the year so basically they gave me verbal I.O.U and told me I had to pay upfront and be reimbursed at a later date. I understand that its only 38 wks per year that is funded so I basically worked it out like this : we are half way through the year so 38wks divided by 2=19wks....12.5 funded hrs per week@£3 per hour=£37.50..therefore 19weeks @ £37.50=712.50. Is it not as simple as this????

11 free hours a week to spread a years worth of free hours over 52 weeks. It may not be open 52 weeks a year though.

And they may have to claim for it a term at a time, I'm not sure. There is only one term left between now and Christmas. Do you have a local Family Information Service? They are pretty helpful with this kind of thing.

Or maybe start a new thread for experts to flock to - this one is an antique

You get 15 hours free
Our pre school claims funds termly
As some terms are longer / shorter than others money owing over 15 hours will also differ

where we are you can get 3hrly sessions but now we can't let parents take more than 6hrs per day. So in other words if parents want their child to stay for lunch club (1hr), they have to pay £3, but their morning and afternoon sessions are free. Shoots us a bit too as what preschools get is way below what it actually costs. Add to this we are not allowed to charge top ups etc. So we can charge for lunch club (because that is above the 6hrs), but we cannot charge any extras for sundries (i.e food, stationary, building costs etc). We used to be able to charge a small registration fee but cannot under new ruling.

Parents at out setting can have a lunch club included in their funded sessions if it is with one 3hr session (i.e they can stay for morning session plus lunch, or afternoon session plus lunch).

So funding is horribly low, costs parents more, and means the pay in that sector is low (when you figure that min wage is £5.93, a Cm charging £3.50 per session is not really raking it in, even if they can take on a few more children). Other countries have it better when it is all linked into education more effectively. Because right now the uk is stuck in a catch 22. Parents cannot afford to pay more, but the staff working in these places also need a liveable income.

Sorry rant over