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Lincsminder
09-11-2009, 08:52 PM
well I finially got hold of an application form for the capital grant and OMG:angry: they really don't want us to access this do they. Has any one else applied, it ask for such things as

-a business plan (including long term sustainability information)
-Cash flow forcast and financial statement

No idea what I'm going to put for these.
Caroline

jaja
09-11-2009, 09:01 PM
omg,

how did you get hold of the information?

can i apply? i am in caistor, lincolnshire

Any information? i thought we couldnt get this fund, me very confused now..... business plan??? ouch and forecast??? cricky jumping though hoops. did they sya how much you could get?

xxxxxxxxx

Lincsminder
09-11-2009, 09:10 PM
send me your email and I will forward you the forms my development worker sent me today. its between £2500 and £3500 but I don't think I will bother after looking at the forms, they also want copies of your bank statement which is tough as I don't have a business account it my joint one with dh.

Adiamond
09-11-2009, 09:30 PM
Not heard a thing here :( Haven't heard from my co ordinator for months!!!!! x x x

singingcactus
09-11-2009, 09:48 PM
STILL waiting for my development worker to get back to me. And NO_ONE will be looking at my bank statements!!! Apart from anything my money is not always paid into my bank, it goes on my weekly shop! So bank records would be pointless and damned nosey.
I can give a yearly forecast, but as for sustainability, that is not something that we as childminders can predict. We can hope, but we cannot predict. Someone might breeze into town and open a cheap daycare, or the government may bring in some vote winning change that make childminder more popular OR null and void!

DO we get to choose what we use the money for? My dw told me that there is a choice of three packages, one is a sustainability grant, one is an outdoor grant (containing specific items) and one is an IT grant (again containing specific items).

If I pm you my email would you mind sending me the forms too please.

RachelE
10-11-2009, 11:28 AM
I havent heard anything positive about grants in Lincolnshire for minders.

I met with my DW this time last year and she promised to find out more - we've had 2 DW's since then and are now without!
(She did say that she was fighting the corner of minders and grants as a local nursery got a huge grant for an extension and then the owners sold it - reeping the rewards of a bigger nursery! - not much help, as she's now left, but anyhow!)

I think the whole system needs to be made easier and clearer - maybe an evening meeting regarding this and the whole process.
It also needs to be tailored specifically towards childminders as we can predict our business in the way other childcare settings can.

Let us know if you get anywhere! :thumbsup:

Rachel x

Lincsminder
10-11-2009, 12:54 PM
I have been asking for the forms for months, I think the problem is the dw don't understand them either so can't really advise how to fill them out. You are right about the 3 packages though I am going for the monetry grant because I want fake grass in my back garden so the children can get out side all year round. It also asks for information on the environmental inpact. No where does it ask how it will benefit the children. And as fr the bank thing well thats really not fair expecting us to let them see that especially if it is a joint account and liek you say most parents pay in cash anyway.




STILL waiting for my development worker to get back to me. And NO_ONE will be looking at my bank statements!!! Apart from anything my money is not always paid into my bank, it goes on my weekly shop! So bank records would be pointless and damned nosey.
I can give a yearly forecast, but as for sustainability, that is not something that we as childminders can predict. We can hope, but we cannot predict. Someone might breeze into town and open a cheap daycare, or the government may bring in some vote winning change that make childminder more popular OR null and void!

DO we get to choose what we use the money for? My dw told me that there is a choice of three packages, one is a sustainability grant, one is an outdoor grant (containing specific items) and one is an IT grant (again containing specific items).

If I pm you my email would you mind sending me the forms too please.

singingcactus
10-11-2009, 01:48 PM
I got your email just now. I opened up one of the attachments took a 2 second look and closed it again lol. I will look later once the kids have gone home and mine are in the land of nod.
I think maybe you have the information for the sustainability grant which is why you are being asked such weird stuff. I will try to get some info regarding the other two types and see what happens. To be honest we are a techno family so have everything technological but it would be nice to have some stuff just for mindees. We are also doing up our yard...again...so stuff for that would be nice, but only if I can chose what I get cos I don't want someone else's idea of what would be good for my setting, they don't know me, my ethos or my kids.
Thanks for the email though, I will look at it tonight :panic:

singingcactus
30-11-2009, 04:15 PM
Well me DW finally also sent through the info on getting the capital grant. It is rubbish. They are offering a pre chosen package that will not suit my children at all. When I mentioned this I was told that the package was good for every child because it was based on needs of individual children!
Not sure how it works that they managed to base a package on my individual kids without ever meeting them or seeing what their needs were, OR how they have such different ideas about what the needs of my kids are compared to me who has cared for them for 2 years at 50+ hours per week!
Anyway, I will not be applying for the package OR sending them a copy of my husbands bank statement, or my family home rental agreement etc.

I feel that if money has been set on one side for childminders to develop their setting, then those childminders should get the opportunity to decide what resources would benefit their setting and their children.

Quick example being, my kids love to arrange and design, and have a big impact upon their own environment, everything in the package is large and fixed. Meaning, the adult would place the item and the kids would have no impact on it at all. You can hardly expect a 2 year old to drag a large heavy wooden table across the yard where she wants to play with it by her friends who is in the sand box, and then back again to under the tree in the shade. Or to move a fixed wall mounted blackboard next to the flower box so he can draw the bumble bee on it, then over to the patio so he can wet his chalks in the puddle that has developed there.

jaytravis
30-11-2009, 07:41 PM
ooo tell me more in lincs but have heard nothing about the grant
stacey

singingcactus
01-12-2009, 04:41 PM
If you contact your development worker, whoever that is, and ask for the paperwork she will send it through to you at some point.
You can apply for one of two packages, one is an ICT package in which you will be given a laptop, keyboard, printer and camera. OR you can apply for the outdoor development one where you will be given a picnic table, a twigwam, a blackboard, a guttering pack, and either a wheelbarrow and hand tools, or a mirror.