Free entiltlement - the not so FREE part!

[tryingtobemarrypoppins2]

Assuming your nursery is term time only, if you normally pay for an extra hour either side of the free sessions, can I expect that I will only have to pay this term time only too and not all year round?

Yes, you should only pay when the preschool is open, certainly I wouldn't expect to pay anything during the school holidays.

yes, you would only have to pay when it is open

Many thanks for that.
One nursery I have considered has said we will be billed in advance as the nursery grant is paid in arrears which means that the first term is always the most expensive. They will allow parents to pay in instalments but this doesn't sound right to me??

Loopy - I think different LAs may pay differently, I know that mine pay at the start of each term based on the previous term's headcount and then make an adjustment after a few weeks when they have processed the headcount forms.

The nursery therefore gets the funding at the start of each term and, as long as the numbers stay about the same, shouldn't be out of pocket.

I know from talking to friends that each nursery seems to have its own way of billing though, at mine they work out the funding for the year and deduct it in equal monthly amounts. This makes it much easier to budget for the parents but its a large nursery and can probably afford to smooth it out like this, smaller ones may need you to pay out front first.