Fees and funding
This Fee policy aims to give clarity to parents to ensure they understand the ‘contract’ they enter into when they join our preschool. Parents will be asked at the outset how they intend to pay for their child’s sessions and asked to complete an online Fees and Funding Agreement before they start with us. They should go to the Childcare Choices website to find out what help they can get with childcare costs. Please also see our Times & fees page. Parents are sent out an Update form each term which also asks them to state how they will pay for their upcoming sessions.
Placement fee
This fee secures your child’s offered place at our setting and should be paid to secure your child’s place once offered. Part refundable (£25) at completion of enrolment paperwork at settling in.
The rest of this fee covers:
· guaranteed minimum number of sessions from the date offered
· administration to this point
· FREE weekly settling in Stay & Play sessions (Tuesdays 9:15-10:30 term time only)
· monthly newsletter (emailed out)
· invitation to a variety of in-house events
· staff support with .e.g. funding applications, wellbeing and advice
If you receive 2 year funding (this does not include the new 2 year funding for working parents) for your child the placement fee is reduced to £50. A funding code or letter must be shown or the appropriate benefit claim evidenced. All parents eligible for this 2 year funding will receive a FREE set of waterproofs for their child.
All parents eligible for EYPP or in receipt of Disability Living Allowance will also be entitled to the reduced placement fee of £50 and will receive a FREE set of waterproofs for their child, we require a copy of your DLA letter or evidence of your EYPP eligibility.
Enrolment fee
This fee goes towards covering administrative costs to include:
· Meeting with a manager to complete all paperwork
· Meeting with your child’s key worker
· Parent settling in goody bag
· All About Me form
· Registration name card for your child
· Allocated belongings box
· FREE preschool polo shirt
If you receive 2 year funding (this does not include the new 2 year funding for working parents) for your child the Enrolment fee is reduced to £35. A funding code or letter must be shown or the appropriate benefit claim evidenced. All parents eligible for 2 year funding will receive a FREE set of waterproofs for their child.
All parents eligible for EYPP or in receipt of Disability Living Allowance will also be entitled to the reduced rate of enrolment fee of £35 and will receive a FREE set of waterproofs for their child, we require a copy of your DLA letter or evidence of your EYPP eligibility.
Fees for non funded hours 2023/24
Non funded hours for 2 year olds
morning or afternoon session - £21.30
all day - £42.60
Non funded hours for 3 & 4 year olds
morning or afternoon session - £16.95
all day - £33.90
Fees for non funded hours 2024/25
Non funded hours for 2 year olds
morning or afternoon session - £28.50
all day - £57
Non funded hours for 3 & 4 year olds
morning or afternoon session - £24
all day - £48
These fees include our Education, Health and Wellbeing package.
Rate changes from aged 2 to 3 are effective the half term after the child’s 3rd birthday.
Service contribution fee for funded hours
Due to increased costs and underfunding by the UK government we now ask for a service contribution fee to cover the Education, Health and Wellbeing package we offer all children at preschool attributed to any funded hours you claim with us. These can be paid for in exactly the same way as non funded sessions.
Service contribution fee for government funded sessions for September 2023 to July 2024
morning or afternoon session - £3
all day - £6
Rates for September 2024 to July 2025
morning or afternoon session - £6
all day - £12
The request for parents to pay a service contribution fee for their child’s funded education is to help bridge the gap of the cost for our additional services. Many other settings are following suit in asking parents to pay towards consumables and services and the Education, Health and Wellbeing package that our setting offers is a combination of services not offered at any other setting that we are aware of.
To help parents understand the current crisis in early years the Preschool Learning Alliance has created this interactive article:
https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/problem-free-childcare-interactive-explainer-parents-and-carers
We have also created our own power point presentation to explain the circumstances we are trying to overcome.
https://www.clophillpreschool.co.uk/financial-sustainability
If you would like to come in to talk about this further, please contact us on clophillpreschool@gmail.com.
Nursery Education Funding
We accept Nursery Education Funding for 2 year olds, as well as the new 2 year funding for working parents from April 2024, and Universal (15) hours and Extended (30 hours) funding for 3 and 4 year olds. Parents can share their funding between settings, claimed for hours must not add up to more than their entitlement and must be added to their Parent/Carer Agreement form which we send out in a link each term. All sessions are granted subject to availability.
ALL parents claiming government funding MUST complete an online Parent/Carer Agreement form for Nursery Education Funding every term by the given deadline. If the form is not completed on time parents may be charged for their child’s hours at preschool.
Additional funding information.
Adventure Fridays
We ask all Adventure Friday parents to pay our Adventure Friday contribution fee of £45 per half term to cover the additional package of services offered. Please see our Adventure Friday package for more information.
Rates for 2024/25 - £50 per half term
Invoicing
All session fees are invoiced half termly and must be paid within 2 weeks.
Reminders will be sent out over the 2 week payment deadline period.
Fees continue to be payable if a child is absent, but in cases of prolonged absence, parents should consult with the managers.
If children are settling in and not attending their full session parents are still required to pay the full fee. Fees are charged from the child’s first session as staff have to be in place for them to attend. We aim for new starters to be invoiced after the first 2 weeks of having started for the term they are in, in some cases, if they start towards the end of a half term, the fees may be added to the following half term invoice.
To withdraw from preschool please give 4 weeks’ notice in writing, otherwise you may be asked to pay for any funded hours left in the term, fees are non refundable.
We understand that some families may face genuine hardship in paying fees. If you think you may have difficulty paying your invoice, please get in touch with us. Please email or speak with Imogen, Chris or Nina in confidence as soon as possible We will work with you to create an agreeable payment plan.
A reminder that we rely on prompt fee payments to be able to meet our running costs, thank you for your understanding. Please see our Late or non-payment section below.
Please see here for help to offset your fees and here for extra support
We reserve the right to review fees annually.
Additional costs
Lunch club
Parents are able to purchase lunch club at £8 per session, 12-1 (rising to £10 in September 2024). This one hour session cannot be claimed with funded hours but is included in 9-3 or 12-3 sessions. They can be booked ad hoc on the gate subject to availability or half termly in advance. Termly booked sessions will be invoiced. Ad hoc sessions must be paid for on the day, non-payment will incur a £5 charge each time and no further lunch clubs can be booked if there are any arrears.
Uniform
Other items can be purchased e.g. polo shirts, jumpers, hats. They can be paid for by cash, card or BACS. Please reference all online payments with your child’s initials and the item bought e.g. IG uniform.
Late pick up fee
We have held off from doing this for many years but while we understand there can be occasional delays, this is becoming too costly for us to manage, it means we have to pay staff and hall rental for the extra time. We will be charging parents who turn up 15 minutes late or more in increments of 15 minutes at a rate of £20 each 15 minutes to cover costs.
We aim to keep parents aware of costs for their child, if any are incurred, and to bill them accordingly and efficiently. We aim to make ease of payment and time frames of expectation as clear as possible. We also aim to be sensitive to the financial hardship of those who may require personal payment plans.
Ways to pay
BACS payments for fees is an online payment through the bank and very easy to do, preschool’s bank details are on the invoice, parents are asked to please quote their child’s name as reference for session fees.
If paying by cash, please ensure that we receive the correct money as we cannot guarantee to return any change on the same day. If payment has been received by cash a receipt will be issued.
You can also pay by card machine at preschool, please ask on the gate, this may have to be done at the end of the session when staff have more time.
Childcare voucher schemes, there are a number of schemes that parents can pay by, they will need a reference number for preschool, those we have registered with will have a reference number on the bottom of each invoice, if parents wish to use a different scheme please contact Imogen or Nina who will register with the company – where possible we ask that the child’s name is used as reference.
There are various tax free childcare, tax credits, universal credit schemes available to support parents. Tax free childcare will pay for 20% of your child’s fees.
It is possible for parents to pay in part with the various methods combined to the full amount.
Late or non-payment
Parents will receive regular invoice reminders.
Late payment of invoices: if your invoice has not been paid within the required 2 week period and you do not have an agreed payment plan in place, a late payment charge of £50 will be added to you invoice. You will then have 5 working days in which to clear this whole payment. If you still fail to pay we will advise that your child will no longer be able to attend their sessions at preschool from the next working day until full payment has been made.
If payment still remains outstanding following this communication then preschool will proceed down the legal route to reclaim the owed monies, this may incur charges to the parent/carer.
Please note: if you think you would benefit from spreading your payments out over the half term, please contact us to arrange a payment plan as soon as possible to ensure you do not incur a charge.
March 24