When to apply for funded nursery hours?
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If your baby is going to be attending all year round then I think in September you’ll still be paying even though you’re not using the hours. When my first got 15 free hours, he only attended one day (10 hours) and our bill was still £60-£70 a month x
you should apply for your account now so you get tax free childcare. You will save 20%. If you ask nursery they will send you a contribution charge list...things like meals aren't included for free x
We don't get our hours till September either and we've already applied and been given a code to use for then xx
I don’t get my hours until September but I’ve applied already and been given the code, it just won’t work until she’s eligible. I also set up my tax free account at the same time to get it all sorted early
@Laura sorry to jump on but how did you receive your code? I’m due to go back to work on 19th May but it’s showing as pending and haven’t been able to set up my account x
You receive it on the portal in the messages section. I believe if you are due to go back to work after 1st may you'll get the hours from September. If you haven't heard anything in a week call them up to chase xx
Funded hours are only for term time (38 weeks) so if your nursery is open all year round they usually stretch the 38 weeks of funding across the year (51 in my case as they only close for 1 week at Christmas). Which means there will be a charge. Theres also charges for consumables (food, nappies, suncream etc) as the funding doesn’t cover that either. Your nursery should be able to provide you this info though
@Laura thank you! X
Not an obvious question poppet, it’s all confusing!!:’) I believe babies needed to be 9 months before the 30th March to qualify for the 15 free hours from April. Any baby turning 9 months after 30th March isn’t eligible for free hours until September where it increases to 30 free hours! So in August you’re generated a code by gov.uk (apply on line now and then just refresh it at the time that’s what I have done) and that’s the code you give your nursery. In September, if baby is only using 20 hours then yes you won’t pay a penny (unless your nursery have fees for consumables) but if you wanted you could put baby into nursery for 30 hours a week and not pay a penny! Anything over 30 hours you would pay for! I hope that all makes sense!!☺️