Funding

The are 2 types of 2 year funding , working families and eligible 2 year old

Working family 2 Year old funding (From April 2024)

Some working families will be eligible for 570 hours per academic year from the term after their 2^nd birthday. This increases to 1140 hours per academic year in September 2025

Eligible 2 year olds Funding

Some children who parents are on low incomes might be eligible for 570 hours per academic year from the term after their second birthday. Parents must apply online for a place with Bristol City Council www.bristol.gov.uk/freeplacefortwos or BANES  Council https://parent.bathnes.gov.uk/web/portal/pages/home/earlyyears and be checked for eligibility before a free place can be offered.

2 Year Funding Delivery
As a setting that is open all year round (AYR), we deliver the 570 hours as 11 hours of Free Entitlement per week over 52 weeks of the year. A full Nursery academic year (1^stSeptember – 31^stAugust) will be:

• 11 hours per week for 52 weeks of the year (570 hours maximum).

There are 2 types of 3 & 4 year funding available:

Over 3 year old (universal funding)

All children are entitled to 570 hours per academic year from the term after their 3^rd birthday

Over 3 year old (extended funding)

Working families are entitled to 1140 hours per academic year from the term after their 3^rd birthday.

Some working families may be entitled to the extended funding commonly known as “30 hours free childcare”, which is actually 1140 funded hours per year, from the term after their child’s third birthday.

As a setting that is open all year round (AYR), we deliver the 1140 hours as 22 hours of Free Entitlement per week over 52 weeks of the year. A full Nursery academic year (1^stSeptember – 31^stAugust) will be:

• 22 hours per week for 52 weeks of the year. (1140 hours maximum)

If you would like to apply for the extended funding you co do so on the following link. You will need to apply after your child is 3 years old and before the start of the term before their funding starts. Once applied you will received an 11 digit code from HMRC which you will need to renew every 3 months.

https://childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk/par/app/applynow

Funding Delivery:

Under 2, 2 Year Funding and Universal Over 3 year Funding Delivery

As a setting that is open all year round (AYR), we deliver the 570 hours as 11 hours of Free Entitlement per week over 52 weeks of the year. A full Nursery academic year (1^st September – 31^st August) will be:

• 11 hours per week for 52 weeks of the year. (570 hours total)

Over 3 year Extended Funding

Some working families may be entitled to the extended funding commonly known as “30 hours free childcare”, which is actually 1140 funded hours per year, from the term after their child’s third birthday.

Over 3 year Extended Funding Delivery

As a setting that is open all year round (AYR), we deliver the 1140 hours as 22 hours of Free Entitlement per week over 52 weeks of the year. A full Nursery academic year (1^st September – 31^st August) will be:

• 22 hours per week for 52 weeks of the year. (1140 hours total)

Working families will need to apply for the 9 months – 2 year funding and the extended 3 & 4 year funding. You can do so on the following link: (you will need to apply before of the start of term they become eligible in.) Once applied you will receive an 11 digit code from HMRC which you will need to renew every 3 months to remain eligible for the funding throughout the year.

https://childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk/par/app/applynow

Funding Delivery continued

We have two ways in which you can use your funding with us at Orchard Lea:

• An EYPP (Early Years Pupil Premium) & Eligible 2 Year free Place.
  1. EYPP funding (11 hours per week)

A purely funded place will consist of 1x 3 hour afternoon (14:00 – 17:00) & 2x 4 hour half day sessions. A maximum of 1 morning sessions are available per week subject to availability. I.E: 1 morning (08:30 – 12:30), 2x afternoons. Please note a 3 hour half day session is only available to children assessing a purely funded place and is not a regular session.

• 9 month – 4 year funded place – an hourly sustainability charge of £1.75, plus meals.

You can utilise your child’s funded hours (11 or 22 hours per week) as you wish across all or part of their sessions they attend. Any funded hours are subject to an hourly sustainability charge of £1.75 per hour. If children attend during lunch (12:30 – 13:30) there will be a separate meal charge of £3.25 for lunch.  If children attend after 17:30pm there will be a separate meal charge of £3.00 for tea.

Costs

If you are utilising 11 hours per week funding with us, you will be charged £19.25 per week plus any meals (£3.25 for lunch, £3.00 for tea)

If you are eligible and utilising 22 hours per week funding with us, you will be charged £38.50 per week plus meals (£3.25 for lunch, £3.00 for tea)

For hours over the 11 funded (where you are not eligible for the extended funding) or 22 funded per week. The regular session costs will apply.

Part funded sessions.

Where a session is not fully funded and only a proportion of the hours are covered by the funding. The regular cost of the session will be broken down into an hourly rate. You will be charged the hourly sustainability of £1.75 per hour. Then any unfunded hours will be charged at the hourly rate for that session. E.G

4 hours am session regular cost is £32.00 without utilising any funded hours. If 3 out of the 4 hours are funded, you will be charged 3x £1.75 hourly sustainability charge. Plus £8.00 for the remaining unfunded hour. £13.25 total.

Sustainability Charges

If your child is claiming funding during any of their sessions, there will be an hourly sustainability charge of £1.75. This is due to the rate we receive from the local Authority, which is only intended to cover the fixed costs involved with providing basic care. The sustainability charge covers items such as (but not limited to) snacks, suncream, forest school contributions, mini bus running costs, seasonal arts & craft resources (Easter, Christmas, Mother & Father days), brought in extracurricular activities (Diddi dance & press pause yoga), all trips (excluding admission charges).  Maintaining a 1:4 staff:child ratio within our 2 year old (Butterfly group), nursery administrative costs.

For parents who are unable to support the nursery by contributing with sustainability charges, (and do not qualify for EYPP or eligible 2 year funding) we offer a limited number for free sessions on a Monday and Friday afternoon (14:00 – 17:00). These free sessions are subject to availability, please contact us to discuss.

The following will apply to all funding delivery:

• The following will apply to all funding types and delivery:

  • All Bank Holidays are non chargeable.
  • Where possible funding will not be allocate on Mondays or Friday to avoid hours lost when nursery is closed to bank holidays.
  • Funding will be allocated during the Christmas week.
  • Funding cannot be claimed during the lunch hour of 12:30 – 13:30 if parents are not willing to pay the meal cost.
  • Funding can only be claimed during the hours of (08:00am – 18:00pm)
  • Any hours that are funded will be subject to a sustainability charge of £1.75 per hour, unless your child is eligible for EYPP (Early Years Pupil premium) or Eligible 2 year funding
  • Meals are not included as part of the funded hours.
  • Any discounts are only applicable to hours purchased not hours attended. Only hours purchased will count towards discount eligibility.
  • Funding can be split between settings e.g. pre-schools, nurseries, childminders and other day care settings.
  • We will claim funding during any notice periods, including cancellation of a place within one month from the start of a term.
  • Extended funding will be applied to your child’s booking and invoices after a valid code from HMRC is provided.
  • Parents are responsible for renewing their extended funding code every 3 months.
  • Extended funding codes are checked for validity every term as part of the headcount submission to the local authority.
  • If parents fail to renew their code intime for the start of a new term, or if their working circumstances change, they will lose their child’s eligibility from the start term.
  • If children become ineligible for extended funding, the extended funding will be removed, and any invoices created will be adjusted to reflect the ineligibility of the child.
  • Any changes to funding hours can only be applied from the start of a term of each term (September, January, April).
  • Funding will not be allocated to your child’s account without a signed completed funding form.
  • Parents will need to sign a supplement each term to confirm that their child is attending with Orchard Lea, failure to do so will mean withdraw of any funded hours, and full fees become chargeable.
  • A completed funding form is required as part of the registration process to secure your child’s place and confirmed start date with us.
  • Funded children will be entitled to introductory “settling in” sessions. Introductory sessions will start from the date when we receive the funding, not prior to when we receive the funding. The first 2 weeks of funding will be used to ensure your child is settled into nursery. Their regular sessions will begin after the 2 week introductory period.
  • For places that utilise the extended funding (22 hours per week), as a proportion or total amount of a child’s total number of hours attended, a deposit will be required, as long with a completed funding form to secure your child’s place. The deposit will be returned once your child starts attending their regular sessions, if your child’s booking is purely funded, if there is any additional fees on top of the 22 hours, the deposit will he held and used towards fees.
  • If your child becomes eligible for funding mid way though the academic year i.e. Spring term (January) Summer term (April) the number of hours we deliver may vary slightly as a result of how many hours the local authority provide funding for during the term. We will inform you of this in the information letter that we send out prior to claiming funding.

  Invoices & Fees

  The monthly invoices will show the total number of funded hours that have been claimed for your child during the month. There will be no monetary value assigned to the funded hours on the invoices as these are classed a funded hours and as such have no monetary value.

  The invoice will only show costs of sessions after the funded hours and been applied and any sustainabilitycharges have been added any plus meal cost.

  If you are unsure of costs, or how your invoice has been calculated with respect to funding, please contact us and we will provide you with a comprehensive breakdown of fees.

  If your child attends any of our nurseries and we claim funded hours from a Local Authority, you agree to the terms of delivery set out in this Funding Policy.