by: Maestro - 05-02-13 16:32
Before I have a tizz and ring the LA to de-register could someone explain to me why I am entitled to charge a parent say £40 a day 9am to 5pm without the NEF and with the NEF (3hrs free per day) £25 (40/8hrs x 5hrs chargeable), but if they fall out of these hours say 9-2 I can charge what I want per hour as its not the contractual day rate, although falls within the day session.
by: Joshua Jones
well you have lost me !!!!! Does your LA give you specified times for delivery of the free entitlement ???
by: whmon
I'm not sure I understand how say, 9-2 could fall out of the funded hours if the funded hours can be anywhere between 7 am and 7 pm?
by: bagpuss
All you have to do is create an hourly rate. Ours is £3.75. Yours can be whatever you feel is reasonable for you.
by: bagpuss
obviously 9-2 5 hours minus 3 hours is two hours chargeable. we do hours on a weekly basis though their hours minus 15 grant leaves chargeable hours.
by: Maestro
Well I though all the above but I was told...
If your hourly rate is based on a day rate of 9-5 then parents exceeding the fifteen hours per week are charged at that daily rate for the hours attended. Makes sense. Always understood that.
However if a parent attends 9-2 they dont fall to your day rate therefore any hours attended over 15 hours are charged at what ever the nursery rate is, which could be different to the day rate. It's up to me to decide. However I should set it competitively to the day rate...
The 7am-7pm is just the hours the 15hours can be used between with the usual no more than x per day, over x days etc...
by: Maureen Askew
I may have misunderstood but if your day rate is £40 for 9-5 day (8hrs@ £5pr hr) minus 3 Nef = 5 chargable hours = £25 over a 5days this would mean 40 hours - 15 free = 25 chargable @£5 = £125
so assuming your hourly rate is based on the unit of providing 1 hour of children for 1 child, and this works out at £5per hour. a child attending 9-2 = 5 hours a day -3 free hours = 2 chargable hours @£5 = £10 per day or £50 for a 5 day week.
I don't see why the LA would have a problem with this, seems logical to me.
by: Maestro
I have worked it out, it was just just hard to understand from one conversation.
Anything that deviates from your set attendance pattern can be charged at an hourly rate which you see feasible to running your nursery. If you have an attendance pattern of 9-5 then hours attended which are chargeable are calculated from this pattern. e.g. as Maureen has shown with the five day pattern.
For children attending on a 9-2 basis although this falls within the 9-5 hours it is not an attendance pattern which we advertise. Therefore falls into the category of standard nursery hours. BUT... If the child did not receive funding and you charged them the normal rate of 9-5 as per the day rate, hours are calculated per this amount as stated already. BUT... (again) you are entitled to work out the hourly rate at 5 hours into £40 so their hourly rate is actually £8! If hours of attendance changed though you would not charge more for say altering to 9-4 it would be calculated as it was on headcount day!
Multiple attendance patterns are acceptable when working the hourly rate but the nursery must provide this guidance to parents when marketing!
Clear as Mud!! :-) I'm in the Midlands BTW.