Guest Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 what do we do if parent is one who wants the free entitlement over 2 days im totally confused and you would need lunch break so would that be given in addition
AnonyMouse_1469 Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 you can include lunch time as part of the child's hours and the parent can claim up to ten hours in one day
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 Welcome to the forum, lesley 123! Has your group set out an agreement with parents showing when the 'free entitlement' can be taken? We're not full day care, so our parents can only access their entitlement in 5 three hour sessions, so we charge for lunch clubs. Good luck - it is very confusing isn't it? Maz
Guest Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 I think it might depend where you are. In this neck of the woods parents can access a maximum of 6 hours in 1 day
AnonyMouse_19762 Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 (edited) Good answers from narnia and Maz..........you could contact your LA for clarification...... Oh and hi and a warm welcome to the forum! Ooops crossed posts there with janny 'Great minds think alike'! Edited September 18, 2010 by sunnyday
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 Hi, all counties seem to be different, as my county has set a maximum of 10 hours per day, minimum of 2.5 hours
Guest Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 My chair of the committee has just had to sign the provider agreements for the NEG. It seems you are only considered 'flexible' if you allow parents to access their child's funding over three days as an option. We were going to allow parents to choose from 5 x 3hour morning sessions 5X 3 hour pm sessions or a mixture of both and charge for the extra 1/2 hour lunch period. Now we have changed our mind and will allow parents to access the funding over 3 days. This will be 13 hours (2 days) and a further 2 hours if required another day. The reason we have decided to do this is I understand it when the SFF comes in (April 2011) we won't get the tick in the box for the flexible supplement otherwise and may lose further grant funding.
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 This will be 13 hours (2 days) and a further 2 hours if required another day. The reason we have decided to do this is I understand it when the SFF comes in (April 2011) we won't get the tick in the box for the flexible supplement otherwise and may lose further grant funding. This is a tricky balancing act isn't it? In my case the proposed SFF didn't cover my fees, even with an uplift for flexibility. So I had to weigh up the extra fees I could charge for lunch club against the loss of income when children accessed their 'free' entitlement, and the effect of extending this loss by allowing parents to take their entitlement more flexibly. Once I realised our LA's SFF wasn't going ahead in April, these losses would only be increased and so I stuck to the three hour sessions. I'll wait until the next round of consultations and see how things lie then. I've just looked at our new terms and conditions for PVIs and it says the maximum is ten hours, minimum is 2.5 hours. Settings who are open for more than 38 weeks a year can stretch the entitlement over the entire year which will make it easier for parents to budget. It all makes me want to curl up in the book corner and have a little sleep! Maz
AnonyMouse_8282 Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 It all makes me want to curl up in the book corner and have a little sleep! Maz :wacko: me too!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AnonyMouse_11396 Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 Can i come to. Nightmare indeed. It is 6hrs maximum allowed in each day in our area. We charge for our lunch club as an additional service. Hope your able to sort it out.
Guest Posted September 18, 2010 Posted September 18, 2010 I wish it was 6 hours in our area, then we could have stuck with charging for lunch. As it stands by being flexible we will lose £2 on the lunch club by allowing parents to have it as part of their child's funded hours . I don't understand why everyone has different conditions to abide to. It makes it very confusing for the parents who move areas. Not to mention the invoices !
Guest Posted September 19, 2010 Posted September 19, 2010 Here our latesest problem to solve. One of our children also attends a year round nursery. The parent wanted to claim 3 hours with us and the other 12 at nursery. However she has been told that nursery are putting in the full claim and spreading it over the year leaving us to bill her for the hours attended. Can the nursery over ride the parents wishes in this way? How do we mesh year round with termly to ensure she has the full claim as she wants it?
AnonyMouse_9650 Posted September 19, 2010 Posted September 19, 2010 Do your parents sign a parent declaration form in your area? In our area parents sign a declaration form that stipulates how many hours they are claiming at each setting - I don't think that I would then be able to override that. If another setting then tried it on I think I would have words with my LA.
AnonyMouse_11396 Posted September 19, 2010 Posted September 19, 2010 Hi as far as i'm led to believe it is not a providers place to tell a parent/carer how they are going to choose to spend the allocation of their funded hours for their child. However parents/carers fill in the declaration form and sign and then any additional services above this are then chargeable.We have had parents in the past that have always paid at our setting and used their funding at nursery as it was dearer. If in doubt check with your local funding department ours have always been very good at sorting out any queries.
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted September 19, 2010 Posted September 19, 2010 Here's a conundrum - if County stipulate 'term' start and end points for the entitlement, ie 1st September, 1st January, 1st April, what will happen this year when 1st April falls before the Easter break? If parents are entitled to the free sessions will we all be billing the County for that week before Easter - or will they have their cake and eat it?
Guest Posted September 19, 2010 Posted September 19, 2010 In our area certainly we will be billing the LA for the weeks prior to Easter as we always have done. It only gets confusing with those parents who become eligible for funding from April 1st as we have to remember to bill them only to March 31st and then explain it to them. Also with regard to the second setting deciding where parents should allocate the funding - I would take this up without the LA as it is the parents decision not the providers. It may be they think it will work out cheaper for the parent but frankly it isn't their decision.
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted September 19, 2010 Posted September 19, 2010 (edited) Here's a conundrum - if County stipulate 'term' start and end points for the entitlement, ie 1st September, 1st January, 1st April, what will happen this year when 1st April falls before the Easter break? If parents are entitled to the free sessions will we all be billing the County for that week before Easter - or will they have their cake and eat it? In our area when Easter falls before the 1st April the funding for the following terms covered the days... so spring term funding lasted until 31st March.. and Summer terms started 1st April.. so some children had 3 or 4 days funding before the break and the rest after.. the problem came with children starting after Easter who were funded... as they had to start for 3 days and then have a 2 week break! It was that or lose 3 days funding. Inge Edited September 19, 2010 by Inge
AnonyMouse_12805 Posted September 20, 2010 Posted September 20, 2010 But surely spread over a year it wouldn't matter, when the term started or finished you still get a full 38 weeks ? Aah I suppose it would then depend if the child was with you for the full year.
Guest Posted September 25, 2010 Posted September 25, 2010 As full day care, we've gone for 3 hour sessions, so a maximum of 6 hours per day for those attending all day. Parents then pay for before, lunch time and after, with option of paying for lunch or providing packed lunch (never had option for packed lunch before). Can't afford for parents to use 10 hours in a day as wouldn't be covering costs! Also means we meet the requirements for no sessions shorter than 2 1/2 hours and parents being able to use funding over a minimum of 3 days. We are also sticking to term time only for funded sessions. Our local authority set the maximum weeks in each term for funding, so we don't have a problem mentioned in a previous post with when 1st April falls in relation to the Easter holidays.
AnonyMouse_2418 Posted September 25, 2010 Posted September 25, 2010 Didn't think you could do that Grumpymum as in theory if you have a child staying for two 'back to back ' sessions in a day you weren't allowed to charge for things like lunch etc as it falls as part of the entitlement. We are a full day care setting and we have the minimum of 3 day spread rule maximum of ten hours or minimum of two in any day, and have never charged for lunch ( our children have been back to backing for a few years now as we offer a cooked meal and were able to do this ) Back to the orginal post - the setting cannot do that - it's the parents choice to state how the NEG is divided as long as it's a maximum of 2 settings even if one is a full daycare setting thats tough really on them ( and I am a full daycare setting and wouldn't dream of doing that to any of my parents.
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