how much do nursery fees go down at 3yo?

[miranda2]

Hi, does anyone know how much nursery fees will go down by when ds turns 3? WE currently have him in for 4 days a week, costing £558 a month. Do I get the full 5x2.5 hours even though he's only in for 4 days not 5? if not, can i use 4 days worth at the nursery and the other one for a half-day at the local primary school nursery? (i don't want to just use them as i'd have problems picking up and taking to the private nursery for the other half day iyswim). Any advice gratefully received - dh (main earner) is VERY pissed off with his job at the moment, so I'm trying to work out if we could manage for a year without his income (but he'd be studying so we'd still have childcare costs...adn we were going to try for another this summer...)

When DS1 was at nursery, the cost went down from £16 per morning session to £11 per morning session.

You get 5 vouchers per week, with each voucher being worth something like £7.80. £7 something or other anyway. The vouchers come from your local education authority and you can't split them between nurseries, at least thats what Shropshire LEA told us.

My dd gets 12.5 hours free a week. This doesn't include lunch hours though. So at the mo i pay for one full day, two lunch hours and squash, swimming e.t.c. HTH

I'm in a similar situation because I work 3 full days. Was told I could include 5 sessions in this (ie 3 mornings, 2 afternoons).

My nursery manager told me that there are 3 11 week terms a year with grant of £416 per term being paid. My calculator says that this is a saving of £1248 per year.

Looking at dinosaur's post the value of the vouchers seems to vary according to which LEA you are with. If you ask at your nursery they can tell you the value of the vouchers they recieve.

I think there are 2 sides to this:

1. The fees usually go down when the child turns 3 anyway because the staff ratio doesn't need to be as high (1 staff member to 4 2-3 year olds I think; not sure for over 3's but it used to be 1:8), (so, just ask the nursery what their fees are) and

2. You also get the vouchers which can be used for morning or afternoon sessions as Bozza says, so you should be able to offset them against, say, 4 mornings and 1 afternoon.

BadHair Essex let you use them in 2 different places. However I am planning 3 days at nursery, using 4 vouchers and one session at pre-school.

Some nurserys do different things on the charges. One I spoke to took all 5 sessions and then averaged things out over the year so there was no variences on a month by month basis. The one I chose uses the vouchers, but it is on a week by week basis so you are charged more in holidays.

Thank you! Well over 1000 quid is well worth having - will factor that into my frenetic calculations. If i can use all 5 vouchers in the 4 days i'll do that, i was just thinking if i'm not allowed to i might as well have a couple of hours off on my day off!!

Miranda - its definitely worth having a word with your nursery manager because from what I can gather the exact arrangements vary from area to area.

My DS is due to start receiving the grant after Easter (was 3 in Feb) and I start maternity leave at Easter so good timing for us.

Where I work, you are entitled to 5x2.5 hr sessions per wk in term time. Each session is worth approx. £7. You can combine 2 vouchers in 1 day. You can use the vouchers in more than 1 setting. The nursery actually do all the calculations for you, as they receive the vouchers, not you. It is simply a reduction on your bill. All you have to do is agree the sessions and sign a form confirming your postcode.
HTH.

I don't think ds's nursery pass on the whole value of the voucher. I'm getting £300 per 10-week term (so paying more during school holidays). I don't mind any extra going to fund the nursery itself, if it's legit, but how do I find out what the whole entitlement is?

IN wiltshire youu have to wait until you are 4. halves then

Can only speak from experiance: My DD goes for 6 sessions to nursery a week ( 3 days). I get £132 per month re-paid back to me form the nursery - well worth having thank-you very much.

Can I ask a kind-of related question.

Is everyone entitled to these vouchers and what are they?

yeah, anyone's entitled to the vouchers, from the trem after your child is 3 (in most LEAS) and from term aftre they are 4 (everywhere).

Only catch is that the place you use them has to be signed up to LEA's EYCDP (most advertise that they are).