Question
Q – “When it comes to the 3 year old funding of 15 hours in England, do private nurseries have the ability to place restrictions on this? For example, for each 5 hour session- a child will get 2.5 hours?”
Answers –
A – “You need to know what the ruling is from the authority who provide your funding. Here I’m Gloucestershire you are allowed to use up to 10 hours per 1 day…and up to 15houes funding per week. The only thing you can stipulate is whether you allow funding to be stretched over the year instead of term time only”
A – “We are open 8-6 but only allow funding to be taken during our core hours of 8.30-4.30. We allow a maximum claim of 6 hours a day ( 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon) parents then pay for the hours not included within that time.”
A – “Depends on how the nursery wants to do it.. only restrictions are no more than 10 hours in any one day and no more than 15 hours a week. No more than 570 hours over 38 weeks. . Or if it’s stretched funding, 570 hours over the amount of weeks the nursery is open each year.”
A – “I don’t think so, if it’s a private nursery you normally pay monthly anyway so they would just take your allocated hours off and you pay the difference”
A – “Most local authorities have their own funding agreements so a nursery can be as flexible or not in accordance with the LEA’s agreements”
A – “Our council dictate to how parents can use it, currently between 7am and 7pm”
A – “Every nursery will have different entitlement policy’s – ask to see it- it will outline exactly how your setting provides it and what options you have – so for example at my nurseries you can do all year round and spread the funding, term time only, term time only and fully funded so you pay nothing or sessions made up of hours if we have the capacity to offer it”
A – “You’ll need to contact your local authority with whom you are contracted to deliver funded places.”
A – “Don’t think so but entitled to 3 hours a day”
A – “It’s not down to the nursery, it’s down to their council’s rules, but nurseries do tend to flout the rules for some reason and think it’s perfectly acceptable.”