30 hours funding

I am so annoyed with my Granddaughter's Pre-school. If they weren't helping her out with her Global Development Delays she would be taken away. They never informed her Parents that they had to apply for the 30 hours funding, with not childminding now I don't receive information. I only found out by chance when it said on the front page of our local paper yesterday that only 57% of parents had taken up the 30 hrs, well it is hardly surprising if no one is telling anyone that they have to claim for it and it is not automatically done by the care givers. Is it just in my area Staffordshire or is it across the country. They had to apply by midnight tonight so it was a good job that I saw it, and they were lucky enough to qualify even though they both have good jobs, a teacher and a police officer, but because they have so much of their salaries taken to go to their pension it meant they qualified.
Sorry if I seem to be thick here but when I was minding we claimed for the 15 hr funding so I assumed that pre-school would claim, it just shows how being out of the childcare situation can easily lead to problems.
Thanks for reading.
Teacake2

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by teacake2

I am so annoyed with my Granddaughter's Pre-school. If they weren't helping her out with her Global Development Delays she would be taken away. They never informed her Parents that they had to apply for the 30 hours funding, with not childminding now I don't receive information. I only found out by chance when it said on the front page of our local paper yesterday that only 57% of parents had taken up the 30 hrs, well it is hardly surprising if no one is telling anyone that they have to claim for it and it is not automatically done by the care givers. Is it just in my area Staffordshire or is it across the country. They had to apply by midnight tonight so it was a good job that I saw it, and they were lucky enough to qualify even though they both have good jobs, a teacher and a police officer, but because they have so much of their salaries taken to go to their pension it meant they qualified.
Sorry if I seem to be thick here but when I was minding we claimed for the 15 hr funding so I assumed that pre-school would claim, it just shows how being out of the childcare situation can easily lead to problems.
Thanks for reading.
Teacake2

---

The preschool still has to claim. The code they received needs to be given to the preschool so they can verify it and start the process

Thank you for your reply, yes they have a code, but you would have thought that pre-school would have told them that they had to get the code first, still it is done now.
Teacake2

It's a complete mess - parents can't get claims through - children who need it are missing out - providers don't want to offer it or are being forced to charge extra money which parents say they cannot afford ... and so it goes on :(

I am pleased your family have sorted it quickly xx

Received this on my twitter feed :
New #30hours #childcare offer rolls out tomorrow & will make a big difference to #families Read more goo.gl/AVsjYB

The link took me to a Justine Greening full of how wonderful the 30 hour childcare is.....

No mention of the problems, the lack of returning calls the HMRC has achieved or generating codes or lack of childcare places for those that have got a code.....which has been on every news programme, twitter feed from the opposition and news site I have read this week.

Justine has her head in the sand I think.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FloraDora

Received this on my twitter feed :
New #30hours #childcare offer rolls out tomorrow & will make a big difference to #families Read more goo.gl/AVsjYB

The link took me to a Justine Greening full of how wonderful the 30 hour childcare is.....

No mention of the problems, the lack of returning calls the HMRC has achieved or generating codes or lack of childcare places for those that have got a code.....which has been on every news programme, twitter feed from the opposition and news site I have read this week.

Justine has her head in the sand I think.

---

Absolutely!

Heard some Torydup spin doctor on the radio on Wednesday spinning 30 hours as "an incredible success" nearly two weeks before any child here can even have their first funded session. So how does that work?

We have multiple problems here. The LA's data entry portal is closed again, because they still can't find a way to enable it for inputting 30 hours after three failed attempts. At the moment we can only get paid for 15 hours "until further notice". We've been warned to check dates of birth because HMRC have issued eligibility codes for 1 and 2 year olds; if we take one of these on by mistake, we won't be paid.

At the same time we are "encouraged" to take on trust those "amber cases" (whatever that means) whose codes haven't been issued due to HMRC delays. But we do so entirely at our own risk if it turns out they aren't eligible after all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by teacake2

Thank you for your reply, yes they have a code, but you would have thought that pre-school would have told them that they had to get the code first, still it is done now.
Teacake2

---

Tbf, I can see this from the preschool's position. Childcare providers have been given a huge amount of bad information and very little useful information, to the point where separating the wheat from the chaff has been virtually impossible.

Funded hours means they do more admin work only to be paid less than the place is worth. Parents, including some pretty high-earners, will save £thousands for a minimal amount of effort. In that scenario, I am not about to criticise any provider who thinks the parents should take a little interest in how to do their part.

Only working parents are eligible, and I think it's fairly obvious to anyone smart enough to hold down a job that there's absolutely no way a childcare provider could possibly make the application on a parent's behalf. Why on Earth would a nursery be holding detailed data on clients' employment status, tax/National Insurance reference, working hours, £salary, dates of birth, etc.? They'd almost certainly be in breach of data protection law in they did.

To be brutally honest, if I stood to gain an easy £5k Tax-free for doing nothing, as a poor, hard-pressed working parent, crippled by "the exorbitant cost of childcare" I think I could spare a few minutes to google my way to the necessary information.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FloraDora

Received this on my twitter feed :
New #30hours #childcare offer rolls out tomorrow & will make a big difference to #families Read more goo.gl/AVsjYB

.

---

This is the bit that absolutely infuriates me! It should read "will make a big difference to families...apart from those working in childcare"

My DIL works in a nursery, earning just above minimum wage. Many of the parents who use the nursery earn decent money. They're delighted to be saving so much on childcare now that they'll get their 30 hours funding. In the meantime DIL's been told she won't get a pay rise as the nursery can't afford it. So families who earn up to £100k can save £5000 a year, but low paid nursery workers are stuck on their £7.50 an hour because of it :censored:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mouse

This is the bit that absolutely infuriates me! It should read "will make a big difference to families...apart from those working in childcare"

My DIL works in a nursery, earning just above minimum wage. Many of the parents who use the nursery earn decent money. They're delighted to be saving so much on childcare now that they'll get their 30 hours funding. In the meantime DIL's been told she won't get a pay rise as the nursery can't afford it. So families who earn up to £100k can save £5000 a year, but low paid nursery workers are stuck on their £7.50 an hour because of it :censored:

---

I feel a bit let down about the 30 hours today. I thought we were all set and we had prepared the parents on what we could offer. The numbers of queries on the September invoices I am having is really getting me down. "No its not 30 hours all year round and no we are not diddling you!"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mouse

This is the bit that absolutely infuriates me! It should read "will make a big difference to families...apart from those working in childcare"

My DIL works in a nursery, earning just above minimum wage. Many of the parents who use the nursery earn decent money. They're delighted to be saving so much on childcare now that they'll get their 30 hours funding. In the meantime DIL's been told she won't get a pay rise as the nursery can't afford it. So families who earn up to £100k can save £5000 a year, but low paid nursery workers are stuck on their £7.50 an hour because of it :censored:

---

It's worse than that. A parent earning just over £100k can throw money at various salary sacrifice schemes, not to mention a clever accountant, and thereby drag their on-paper income down to the point where they get free childcare.

Needless to say, the actual card is providers by nursery workers or CMs on minimum wage or less. :mad:

Meanwhile, it's nigh on impossible to help out a poor family on shifts or zero-hours contracts.

I feel currently that the more you have the more you can benefit...and I am definately not comfortable with it.

Mark Cavendish ( great down to earth top cyclist) who I admire, tweeted today a big thank you to Nike for providing his 3 children with Nike backpacks, water bottles, pencils, notebooks etc...back to school....Nike do it for advertising, Mark can easily afford to provide his children with kit....so I suggested he ask Nike to provide the kit for those in need too.....

But I know it won't happen..

There's a La-bore MP on Pienaar's Politics, Radio 5, pointing out some of the flaws with 30 hours. No Torydup there to defend it, which is a shame because I'd rather have some regime minister on the spot than this badly-briefed opposition MP. You can tell she knows little and cares less about the issue, except to use childcare as yet another political football. Sounds like she only got the gig because she's MP for Kensington and can milk the 'Grenfell Factor' for a good few months. :(

Are we ever going to get politicians who care enough about childcare to listen and learn, or are we doomed to a string of "professional" politicians who continue to use the issue for cynical purposes?

As a parent, I do not agree with any funded hours at all. I think if you have children, it is your responsibility to care for them, not the tax payers! However, as a childminder, I love it because I get alot more money from funding than what I charge parents!! But that's a childminder - I can see nurseries that have to cover lunch breaks, time for paperwork, cover for maternity leave etc etc it is completely unfair on. There is no way nurseries can be profitable, and it's just ridiculous. So, unfortunately, I can kinda understand nurseries not shouting it out.
It isn't possible for settings to set up the child's code as alot of details about the parents are needed, as already mentioned. But can I just point out that the code needs to be renewed every 3 months by parents, else parents will not get their funding for the next term. hth.