Nursery Vouchers for pre school year - How much will i actually get?

[NotanOtter]

I know it is 2.5 hours a day 5 days a week but..have just had horrific bill from the nursery we have chosen. In small print at the bottom it says we will be reimbursed the voucher total at the end of each term.

Ok but how much in cash terms is that?

Anyone know?

[Ceebee74]

Not sure if it is the same everywhere but my nursery is 'giving' me £48.50 per week for 38 weeks of the year

[Ceebee74]

Oh forgot to mention that they have also put the daily fee up by £3.50 for pre-schoolers so are obviously giving with one hand and taking with the other - I am not happy

[SuperBunny]

Mine is about 150 every month. So nursery bill is still horrific

[CarGirl]

Which LEA are you in, because it's different for each LEA. Last year I think Surrey was £9.40 per 2.5 session

[NotanOtter]

Thanks everyone

we are in west yorkshire

i am hoping it is AT LEAST £150 - that sounds rubbish tbh!!

nursery direct debit it £467 a month mornings only...which is why we were horrified and starting checking the small print!

[CarGirl]

You know legally they're not allowed to make you pay up front for the sessions and then refund you? They have to give them free!

[EldonAve]

In London we get approx £500 per term

[NotanOtter]

depressing

it seems very unfair to me but hey ho
with my older children we lived near state nurseries so it was free

[EldonAve]

over £8 per hour does sound expensive

[ChookKeeper]

What CarGirl said . Also they can't charge a 'top up' fee for the 12.5 hrs (or 15 if you are in a pilot area).

So for example, I charge £9.50 for a session for the under 3s but get £7.40 from the local authority for the 3&4 year olds. It would be illegal for me to charge parents the additional £2.10. It HAS to be free at the point of delivery.

I would get on to your local authority to check this out. You should certainly not be paying up front for this provision and the setting needs to be made aware of this before they get into serious trouble and possibly lose their funding.

(Just in case anyone thinks I'm ripping off the fee payers, the amount is more because of higher staffing ratios required for the younger children.)

[ChookKeeper]

Just to clarify - a session = 2.5 hrs

[SuperBunny]

DS's nursery is 37 pounds per day. 8.50 or thereabouts from the government is nice but still leaves about 600 pounds for me to pay.

My nursery take the grant (~8.50 per day for 38 weeks) and then divide it up over the year so the amount I pay dfoesn't increase for the months that the gvt grant doesn't cover.

[plonker]

NAO - the amount the provider reduces fees varies from setting to setting.

The setting works out what their 2.5/3hr session is worth based on their nursery costs per day and then deducts that from your overall fees. The LA pays the same amount to each setting but because of differing overheads, the cost of the settings' 2.5hr session isn't the same at all settings.

Cargirl is absolutely correct though - I would be questioning the nurseries methods of reimbursement. The grant should be FREE at the point of delivery with you only paying for time at the nursery over and above the entitlement from the LA.

[SuperBunny]

Another thing to bear in mind is that if the session your DC attends is more than 2.5 hrs, then you have to pay for the extra.

[plonker]

x-post with chookkeeper

[CarGirl]

Because they can't charge a "top up" often they do make the hourly rate for 3 & 4 year olds artificially high in order to recoup their costs. Think how unfair it is on the parents who don't claim their full entitlement from the nursery!!!

You can claim for 2 sessions in one day though - would it be cheaper to use nursery for 3 days and alternative chilldcare for the other 2 days?

[SuperBunny]

Yes, you shouldn;t be paying for the sessions that the grant covers - the nursery deal with that.

[NotanOtter]

i see plonker

actually i think i may have misled you as it is a school nursery with payment over 9 months

[ChookKeeper]

That's true SuperBunny but you can't be forced to take any additional time. Say for example your local authority funded 12.5 hrs (it will be 15 hrs for all from Sept 2010) but the setting had 3 hour sessions. They could not insist on the child attending the whole 3 hours and paying for the additional 0.5 hr. Although IME most parents would have the extra time rather then pull their child our before the end of the session (hope that makes sense ).

[ChookKeeper]

NotanOtter - sorry I'm a bit confused - is it a private nursery or state?

[plonker]

So is your child only attending for 12.5hrs per week, or more?

I suppose it doesn't matter because either way they cannot charge you upfront for the entitlement. It has to be free at the point of delivery.

I'll try to find you a link ...

[CarGirl]

I am really really that a school nursery is doing this!!!!

They can charge you for "additional services" but as said above you can walk in after 2.5 hours, take your child out and they can do nothing about it.

I'd speak to the county council people find out how much the grant is per session and deduct it off the bill. I'd actually ring up all naive and ask them if you have to pay up front and drop the nursery school in it.

[NotanOtter]

i might do cargirl
my understanding is that the nursey charges more per hour than the government gives so it's a like it or lump it scenario

( interestingly i was talking to a bursar friend this morning who told me that a local private school had a parent REFUSING to pay over and above the voucher allowance and kicking up a stink. My friend said at her private school in leeds - if this happened she would simply refuse to participate in the voucher scheme altogether!)

[CarGirl]

The charitable preschool we used (and I was on the committee for!) always billed for the term in advance with the voucher entitlement deducted. We offered longer hours so were charging for additional services and had a termly provisions charge of £10 for snacks or something (again allowable under the scheme).

I can understand daycare nurseries etc operating this way but not a "nursery school"

[NotanOtter]

thanks i think i may ring lea tomorrow to clarify