Limited funded sessions

Limited funded sessions

by: Tish501 - 21-05-12 08:22

Hi al...am thinking for the new Autumn  term about limiting our funded sessions....as we are turning away full-time children as full with the funded children....are any of you doing that and if so what ratio of funded to non-funded have you worked out ? We are registered for 23.....will roll of 73......38--- 3/4 yr olds funded and 5 --2 yr old.....nearly half of our children are funded......only 1 is a full time child...any ideas....Thanks   have a good week...

by: Carol Cooper

I would never turn away a full-time child, ie paying 52 weeks of the year, I would explain to the term-time only parents that you are full and the place is no longer available. Obviously you have to offer the place for that term.

by: Tish501

My sentiments exactly.....thanks x

by: Loulucas

Most defiantly you can not run a viable business without limiting it. I keep 4 spaces in the morning and afternoon for funded only children. As the can only attend 8-11 or 3-6 and then if I have more full time children needing spaces as the last person mentioned. I would then explain to the funded only parents that next term there are not any spaces.

by: Maureen Askew

All childcare providers should have an admittance criteria, as a business your priority has to be parents wanting full day care, or half days, and your policy should reflect this,  it's perfectly acceptable to limit the number of free hours only sessions, but do keep in mind your optimum operating level isn't necessarily the same as your  number of FTE registered places

by: x-mardimoo-x

Hi Maureen, Just a quick question to pick your brain(I'm assuming your in the know from your posts about the rules) Do you have to offer funded only sessions?? I worked at a few nurseries and they didn't they just reduced the fees by the funded amount term time only but one did offer funded sessions only but for the amount of places that were being taken up it was a massive loss as you can imagine as the grant nowhere near meets the actual fee price. The manager was i felt uncertain about what the rules were and the paperwork is just diabolical to make sense of.....

Would be greatful for advice. Thanks Mardimoo

by: Maureen Askew

Hi Mardimoo

This might be a bit long winded but

Any setting  registered with the local authority on their register of eligible providers, are agreeing to  provide parents with up to  570 of flexible free entitlement hours, settings cannot insist a parents access more hours in order to access the free entitlement. This is why having a clear admission policy is essential, which  means you can fill your places  according to your policy, i.e. with parents wanting full or part time places and offer any remaining sessions to parents only wanting to access the free hours.  Providers can allocate a limited number of free places in line with ratios; 1-8;  to help minimise any financial impact. The single funding formula for 3 and 4 years old has, in most local authorities has been worked out using this ratio.

Providing Flexible free places doesn’t mean you have to provide every parent with the hours they want. It means you need to be able to provide a range of options and these can fit with your business model. For example offering 3 x 5 hours can fill the majority of childcare hours of a 10 hour X 5 day week day. For example if you offer 8 free places over 5 X10 hour days, this gives you 400 hours of childcare. Divide this by 15 and this gives you 26 free childcare places. Obviously offering everyone Mon, Tues, Weds, 8am -1pm or 1-6, won’t work, you need to work out the best mix of days and sessions to ensure all available places are filled effectively. This might be Mon, Tues, Thurs, or Tues, Thurs, Fri etc. Once you have worked out the best mix, you can offer the options to parents and once a particular mix is full, parents would have to accept another available mix or go elsewhere.

It’s not as complex as it sounds honestly.

When offering the 15 hours over 2 days comes into force the same principle can be applied.

The majority of parents only wanting the 15 hours probably also want to access during term time, but the 15 hours can be allocated over more weeks, particularly useful if parents are working and accessing more than just the free entitlement.   

Can I also clarify the FFE has no monetary value to parents, parents are only entitled to free hours of childcare, settings cannot reduce fees by the funded amount, and then charge parents the difference. The funded hours have to be completely free. Providers are under no obligation to tell parents the level of funding they receive for the free hours.

Invoices for fees should clearly show the number of free hours taken during the invoice period and the number of to be paid for childcare hours, thus avoiding any confusion.

I hope this helps, please contact me directly if the above isn’t clear.

Maureen Askew 07791552767 

by: x-mardimoo-x

Thats great thanks for that. It boils down in the end that private settings will always make a loss when offering the free places as the grant nowhere near covers fees and especially as its term time only funding so for 12 weeks of the year you get nothing. I struggle to see how businesses make up these losses elsewhere if they can.....