EYE funding for 3/4yr olds - what to charge in hols?

[butterfly]

I will have two children taking up the early years entitlement funding in January and they will only be attending duing the school term. Do you think it is fair to charge them my usual holiday fee of half my normal hourly rate to keep their space during the hols? Funded hours equate to £3.62 per hour whereas my hourly fee is £4.25. Obviously for non funded children I would charge £2.12 per hour during school hols and want to do the same for the funded children. Do you think that's fair?

[gigglinggoblin]

You are not allowed to add any charges to children who receive the funding, the space must be available completely free. So no registration fees, you cant charge for snacks unless they have the option to bring their own and I cant see how charging a retainer woul dbe allowed. If they use extra hours the parents pay for then you can charge a retainer on those.

[youarewhatyoueat]

Try to advertise the space for holidays only, thats what most do if they have children using the funding for holidays only.
I guess you now realise why quite a few childminders don't bother to do the jumping through hoops that the council want to earn less money, its never been worth it for me.
Some nurserys in my area also have stopped accepting it for the same reason that they earn less for those children using the funding.
You can't be seen to be charging a different rate that you advertise and you can't charge a retainer for children using funding only. If the parents want extra days in the holidays then you can charge your standard rate.

[beccas]

i am also acrredited and start in jan we are not allowed to charge for places during holidays. etc.

[butterfly]

It's difficult because the parents also pay for extra hours and they already use the space now - the funding will just be a bonus for them!

[magicminding]

I have a contract like this, where they use additional hours, we have in our contractual agreement that term time their fees are x and holidays are y - I just give her 4 weeks notice of non funded weeks.
hth

[miffy]

we are not allowed to charge for places during holidays. etc.

I never realised this - it doesn't seem fair on childminders, you might finish up with no income during the holidays.

Miffy xx

[jumpinjen]

It's difficult because the parents also pay for extra hours and they already use the space now - the funding will just be a bonus for them!

perhaps you could continue to charge the additional hours at full fee, or some percentage that would equate to the same as your half fee would...... you can charge to retain extra hours surely? then you aren't losing out on the under fives place. I know that different local authorities have different interpretations of the code so you could ask for advice but once asked you must follow it then if you see what I mean!

jen x