Fees

[AnonyMouse_75]

We're sessional preschool in the west mids

 

We've just put fees up 50p per session from £6 to £6.50, 9 til 12

 

And we provide an additional lunch club for £2, 12 -12.45 parents provide their own lunch

 

We always put fees up a little each year it stops nasty shock rises in the future

[AnonyMouse_11396]

Hi Alison just out of interest what is your funding per session as a comparison. We are going up tp £11.00 per session for non-funded children, which is just under the funding allocation per session for our area.

It just seems a low figure and wonder how you survive.

[AnonyMouse_75]

We're a church playgroup

 

at the moment we are lucky to have a low rent bill but with heating costs rising that's not going to be for much longer

 

Low wages some voluntary hours and fundraising keep costs down

Being the cheapest preschool in town does mean our numbers are reasonable

Local nef is £3.43 per hour

[Guest]

Berkshire Pre-school charging

£16.50 a session of 3 hours for unfunded children.

 

The two year old's have a higher adult ratio, so we can justify the cost.

 

75% of our children receive the free entitlement of 15 hours , so they don't pay at all.

[Guest]

Hi All

 

We are a committee run pre-school in Buckinghamshire and charge £3.72/hour

 

Debster

[AnonyMouse_1999]

SazzJ how do you get around the clause about your funded children not subsidising the non-funded children ? We have to be careful that the funding stays in line with fees so that it isn't being used to support the children who pay, and we can be stopped from having NEG funded children if this is found to be the case !

 

 

As for the fees thing - non funded £4 an hour , funded £3.83 an hour

 

Sorry I don't understand! We have always charged as low as is feasible, SInce the funding came in the funded rate has always been more than what we charge non-funded children - not our fault the government choose to pay more than we charge. I think it would be grossly unfair to put our fees up to be in line with funding. How could we possibly tell parents instead of paying £7:50 a session they have to pay £9:30 a session because that's the government rate? I don't get it sorry All the income from fees whether from Government or parents goes into 'one pot' and all the children benefit.

 

Maybe if we had reduced the rate for non funded children we could be seen to be subsidising them with government funding but we haven't altered our rates for those who pay. Maybe I am missing the point or just being thick!?

[AnonyMouse_2418]

Our LA argue that if the funding is being used to support non funded children significantly then this goes against the idea of NEG funding being 'free' childcare at the point of delivery. I suppose they work on the assumption that parents who choose to send children to a setting for more than the 15 hours, or before they are funded must have the finances available to pay for this,either by tax credits, or they work generally or have disposable income, so why should they pay less than the funded rate and be subsidised ?

[AnonyMouse_1999]

Our LA argue that if the funding is being used to support non funded children significantly then this goes against the idea of NEG funding being 'free' childcare at the point of delivery. I suppose they work on the assumption that parents who choose to send children to a setting for more than the 15 hours, or before they are funded must have the finances available to pay for this,either by tax credits, or they work generally or have disposable income, so why should they pay less than the funded rate and be subsidised ?

 

Ah! thank you I see what you mean.

I am not sure where the idea of subsidising come from though. Our parents who pay do so at a rate set by us and it's a rate they can afford but I don't see why we should up our rates to the level of government funding.

I think its a tricky area. My boss set up her business and decided her rates per session. The government pop along with their funding which just happens to be more than she charges. I suppose the opposing argument is why should parents who pay for extra sessions or before their child is 3 be charged a rate set by the government and not what my boss feel a fair price. Even if subsidising is an issue how does this prevent childcare being free at the point of delivery for funded children.

 

I am not sure of the answer! Our funded children bring an income of £2 per session more than the non funded children so are we supposed to add up all those £2's and only use that money for funded children - I think that's leaning towards discriminatory practice. I know that if we put our rates up to be in line with funding we would lose current children and future places wouldn't be filled at anything like the rate they are now.

 

How do settings manage where there rates are higher than the funding rate when no top up charges are allowed I wonder?

[Guest]

I have had huge sustainabitlity problems in the past couple of years when the funded hours were 80p per hour below what my non funded children were paying. This represents a huge amount of money when 75% + of my children are funded. There seemed to be no way out as soon as it was decided that we could not charge top up (which, by the way, parents were always happy to pay as they realised that my costs were higher than what county were paying me, a very transparent way of making ends meet) Instead we, in Somerset, are faced with a system which allows us to charge for 'additional services' which we clearly have to justify to parents. I spend a lot of time explaining to parents what this charge covers and, yes, it is in the information pack, induction procedure and policies, as this charge is flexible I can adjust it to make ends meet without necessarily increasing hourly rates.

My fees are £4.00 per hour by the way and in the current economic climate I cannot see me raising them anytime soon.

[AnonyMouse_75]

a local group to me used the "extra services" clause to charge top up fees they also ask all parents to bring fruit in so they dont have to pay for snack

 

most school nurseries charge for snack

 

we've not yet had an issue regarding nef funding being higher than our session fees all you have to do is demonstrate that if all children paid your session fees then it would be enough to run the sessions, provided that the non funded children are not paying less because of any profits made from NEF

 

any extra tends to be used for equipment and or staff training.

[Guest]

£3.75 per hour Essex plus £2 extra for lunch