Length post is length, apologies.
Just a bit of background before I jump in on some of the comments that have been made.
The government funded “free” childcare is very much a misguided scheme which the government are pushing with poor information being given to parents about what how it actually works, what is and isn’t permitted and who has to offer it and who doesn’t.
Firstly no child care provider is forced to offer funded spaces. They do so of their own choice. Many believe that not offering funded hours would be bad for business, however this is where a lack of information about how the scheme works, leads to a lack of understanding why some providers won’t offer the funded hours at all.
The government pay the local authorities (LA’s), the LA then determine the hourly rate they will pay the child care provider. For example a child care provider chargers £5 per hour normally, that providers LA only funds £4 per hour, according to the guidelines of the scheme, top ups for the specific hour are not permitted so now the child care provider is making a £1 loss on the funded hours. If the child care provider minds 3 children per day all using their 15 hours “free” funding they are at a loss of £45 per week by accepting the scheme or £180 per month. In an already lower end paying profession that’s quite a hit.
Top up fees are not allowed, but fees for additional elements of care are. IE lunch fee, snack fee, activity fees, and this is fully acceptable! Why should anyone have to take a pay cut because the government said so? The element that is free to parents is the care of the child, this is where the government have royally screwed up with the whole scheme and been very misleading with it. It should be “Funded” hours, not “Free” hours.
Acceptance of the scheme by the childcare provider is not mandatory, the government cannot enforce a pay cut on child care providers just because they are falsely pushing a misguided scheme.
The funded hours schemes are not limited to Nurseries, child minders are also able to offer the funded hours spots.
Now to address some comments.
My assumption would be that those not offering it can expect a mass exodus and to go out of business .
Your assumption would be incorrect. Just because a provider doesn’t sign up to a scheme does not mean that they are going to lose business on mass. If you think the scheme is complicated for the parents, then think how complicated it is for the child care provider.
With this happening the number of child care spots country wide is actually reducing because of this scheme! There is already a shortage of child care in many areas.
As an aside the “Free scheme” and looming increase to 30 hours is actually pushing child care providers to just give up entirely purely because of how difficult it is for them to try and manage, explain to parents, and workout how they can recuperate the loss of income that the scheme is generating.
As the others have said, nurseries can't charge a top for the difference between their normal hourly rate and the funded rate. So for say 25 hours, you just get 15 free and then pay the normal hourly rate for the other 10
15 hours free is 15 hours free regardless of whether the nursery charge £5 or £50 per hour, obviously if you want say 20 hours then you'd have to pay for the 5 hours on top.
By not allowing topups, ci_newman means the nursery aren't allowed to charge you any shortfall between what those 15 hours would cost and what the govt. actually pay them
What you will find is the child care providers who do offer the funded hours will be very smart about they way they address the shortfall that the funded hours create, and so they should be. Top ups on the direct fee are not allowed, but limitation of times that funded hours can be used, along with wrap around hours, lunch fees, and activity charges are to be expected. 15 hours free should not go hand in hand with “child care provider should be out of pocket”. This is exactly why it should be “funded” not “free” in how it is being advertised by the government.
What I don't understand here is, that the child care provider needs to sign up to the scheme. This is my issue. At the moment, our eldest has turned 3 and the 15 free hours (which is only applicable to certain hours of the day) is due to kick in at the change of term time (April). Now the provider is at the moment, trying to figure out if they should move to the new number of hours or not. At this point, my child is settled and has established a good friend base, so pulling her out of that proivder to another, is a no go.
Headline token policy.
You may not have had the information I have laid out above when making your comment, so hopefully my information goes some way to helping you understand exactly why a child care provider might not sign up to the scheme at all. Would you sign up to a pay cut?
Any questions then fire them over. I am quite aware of the scheme, its purpose, its impact on the child care industry, and how poorly it is being managed by the government at the detriment to many child care providers reputations purely over the poor use of the word “free”.
