First, just to clarify, I think the word "loss" is misused a lot when people debate this issue. Don't worry, it's not you. This has me screaming at my TV set every few months when some CM or nursery manager is on saying how the funding "does not cover the cost of providing childcare". In economic terms, a "loss" means it costs more to provide the service (ie. food, fuel, resources, etc.) than you earn, and so the best thing to do is get out of the business and find another job.
Providing funded care does not mean anyone is making a "loss". Instead, they are making
less profit i.e. they aren't making as much out of the place as they would be if the full fee was being paid for those hours.
OK, got that off my chest..............................
so now let's answer your question.
(Btw, no - you are
not being a pain............. a lot of the world of childcare is weird and daft and confusing.)
The following assumes the LA pays for funded hours at below the CM's usual hourly rate (which is usually the case.) In short, you really cannot stay within the funding rules and still earn the same amount from a funded child's place as you'd make from a non-funded child using the same place, hours, etc.
Any attempt to charge more for the paid-for hours would be seen by the LA as a "top-up" charge, which is outlawed. In any case, you cannot demand they use any more than the funded hours: if they only want 15 hours, you cannot make them take more.
You can define particular times of day as your 'funded sessions' - which can have the effect of forcing people to take more hours than they'd choose to, but that's about all.
Part of the current debate about the proposed increase to 30 funded hours pw is concerned with the 'lost' earning potential and if the scheme if therefore sustainable or not. There's a lot of concern that CMs and nurseries will have to charge more to all clients because the funded hours eat away at the profit margin. The overall effect would be that the parents of under-3s would face big fee increases to cover the 'lost' earnings from funded 3-4yo's.
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