Child minder fees

My LO will be starting with a childminder mid January for 2 days per week. Apparently childminders work slightly differently to nursery’s in regards to the government funding only covering 36 months of the year (so term time only) This means we are required to pay an additional £90 per month to cover the rest of the weeks. Before I sign the paper work and make the first month’s payment I just want to make sure that this is the way it works with childminders and whether nursery’s would be the same too?

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My childminder only works term time When looking at nursery it was an extra £200 a month for us as it was all year so funding spread through year so £90 seems reasonable

That isn't different, nurseries also only have the funded hours across term time weeks. They usually stretch those 15 hours across the full year to be just over 11 hours a week. I think childminders are a little more flexible, some spread the 15 funded hours across 52 weeks but other apply it to term time weeks ony so you end up paying more the months with a half term or summer break in them.

Ah I see. So it’s normal then to pay extra. It’s all very confusing 🤯 The extra payment is required on 1st of each month. My LO will start mid January but the paperwork says I’m required to pay the £96 on 1st Jan. Shouldn’t I pay for half of this month though as she’s not there a full month?

Basically you only get 15 hours funding for term time only So if you want to spread it across the whole year you have to pay effectively per week / month for the above hours.

Ask for clarity on the January payment

We are term time only at nursery - it's approx 10 per week for food (15 funded hours) and if she is in nursery 2 days instead of the 1.5 it would be a further 30 ish for that half day

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