early years fund/grant - do you have to pay extra?

[LAURACOLLEY]

for those who recieve the early years fund / grant for their children - how hard was it to find a nursery / center / school nursery (foundation) place with vacancy's?

also are you having to pay still for extra nursery hours?

I only want the 12.5 hours a week for 38 weeks a year, as I will be studying (postgrad) and can not get any funding for this, including any childcare funding.

The nursery we are looking at has 8 - 12 and 1 - 6 sessions and all day monday to friday, but I only want 2.5 hours a day.

This I can not find in any of our local nurseries and I am being asked to make up the remaining cost of the session.

I only want 8 - 10:30 free. After that my partner and my mum will be taking care of my child.

Can I demand that I have a session for my child for 12.5 hours a week free only without having to pay for childcare I don't want or need

• or -

should I accept that I will have to get a loan out (commercial loan as will not be entitled to student funding as will be at postgrad level) to cover the cost of the childcare for the remaining 1.5 hours 10:30 - 12 per day for childcare I do not want or need?

I will not be classed as working from tax credits so can not get any help from them.

has anyone else had similar problems?

think it is very unlikely that you will be able to split the sessions to just do 8-10.30. has the place where you are studying do a preschool - our uni has - and they tend to be a bit more flexible. good luck!

the campus I would be at does not have a nursery. If I took my son to the other campus we would not be able to pay for any childcare. just to get the 12.5 hours a week. it would also mean a good 2 hour bus journey for my mum to pick him up

not ideal. how about a local childminder - if they are registered you can use vouchers. They are fairly easy to find round here by putting card in PO window etc.

well I might as well let my mum look after my son all day then. She was going to look after my son for most of the day anyway. i thought that because of the 12.5 hours a week free he might as well go into nursery for a bit each week just for this just to keep him interacting with other children as he goes there full time now for free as I am a undergraduate at the moment.