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.

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)

These 22 hours will be allocated as follows:

• A purely funded place will consist of 4x 4.5 hour & 1x 4 hour half day sessions. A maximum of 2 morning sessions are available per week. I.E. 2 mornings (08:00 – 12:30) and 3 afternoons (13:30 – 18:00 excluding Tea). Sessions are subject to availability on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

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

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

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

A purely funded place will consist of 1x 3 hour & 2x 4 hour half day sessions. A maximum of 1 morning sessions are available per week subject to availability. I.E: 1 morning (09:00 – 12:00) and 2 afternoons (13:30 – 17:30). Please note a 3 hour half day session is only available to children assessing a purely funded place  and is not a regular session. Sessions are subject to availability on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

1. Extended funded (22 hours per week)

A purely funded place will consist of 4x 4.5 hour  & 1x 4 hour half day sessions. A maximum of 2 morning sessions are available per week. I.E. 2 mornings (08:00 – 12:30) and 3 afternoons (13:30 – 18:00 excluding Tea).

• 3 & 4 Year Old funded place – an hourly consumable charge of £1.25, 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 consumable charge of £1.50 per hour. If children attend during lunch (12:30 – 13:30) there will be a separate meal charge of £3.00 for lunch.  If they attend after 17:30 there will be a separate meal charge of £2.75 for tea.

Costs

If you are utilising 11 hours per week funding with us, you will be charged £16.50 per week plus any meals (£3 for lunch, £2.75 for tea)

If you are eligible and utilising 22 hours per week funding with us, you will be charged £33.00 per week plus meals (£3 for lunch, £2.75 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 cost 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 consumable of £1.50 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 £28.90 without utilising any funded hours. If 3 out of the 4 hours are funded, you will be charged 3x £1.50 hourly consumable charge. Plus £7.23 for the remaining unfunded hour. £11.73 total.

Consumable Charges

If your child is claiming funding during any of their sessions, there will be an hourly consumable charge of £1.50. 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 consumable charge covers items such as (but not limited to) snacks and drinks, arts and craft resources (paper, card, paint, glue, glitter, clay, pencils, sand, playdough etc) sun lotion, online learning journals, extracurricular activities (Diddi dance & press pause yoga), all trips (excluding admission charges) cleaning products and utility cost etc.

The following will apply to both the Universal and Extended funding delivery:

• Children will be entitled to 2 weeks no charge holiday, pro rata if part time, however we will claim funding for the sessions they do not attend/ are on holiday. (funding will be used as a retainer to keep your child’s place open when they do not attend nursery)
• Funding will be allocated on Bank Holidays.
• Funding will be allocated during the Christmas week.
• A Minimum delivery of 2 hours per session applies.
• 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 (08:00 – 18:00)
• Funded hours cannot be adjusted mid term, the number of hours claimed can only be changed at the start of each term.
• Any hours that funded will be subject to a consumable charge of £1.50 per hour.
• 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 holiday periods, none attendance periods and notice periods, including cancellation of a place within one month from the start of a term.
• Any changes to funding hours can only be applied from the start of a term.
• 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 to secure your child’s place and confirmed start date with us.
• Funded children will be entitled to introductory “settling in” sessions. For children who are purely funded and accessing a free place – 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 childs 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 the balance due after the funded hours have been applied.

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.