Swindon Borough Council will fund the provision of early year’s education and childcare to Ferndale Nursery, and all 3 and 4 year olds are entitled to free learning and care in an early years setting from the start of the term following their third birthday, for 38 weeks in a full year.
Are you eligible for 2 year old funding?
If you are in receipt of one of the following your child could be eligible for 2 year funding
- Income Support
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided they’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on, which is paid for four weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit (provided they have an annual net earned income equivalent to and not exceeding £7,400, assessed on up to three of the parent’s most recent Universal Credit assessment periods.)
Once you confirmed as eligible, you will be sent a reference code and this must be passed on to the school to secure your place.
30 hour Funding Process
30 hour places are offered on a first come-first served basis and immediate notification of eligibility is needed to secure your child’s place.
Parents must apply online at www.childcarechoices.gov.uk and you will be given a unique code; you must inform the school of this code, along with your national insurance number and child’s date of birth, so that we can confirm with the local authority or a provider portal that it is a valid code. If you are eligible, you will receive a 30 hours eligibility code.
You will be asked by the Department of Working Pensions (DWP) to update your eligibility 3 times a year and they will contact you direct to do this.
Paid Sessions & Extra Fees
Those children starting in our Tiny Acorns room who are still 2 and are not entitled to 2 year old funding, will be asked to pay for their sessions.
The cost of these sessions is £16.00 per 3-hour session and these are invoiced termly in advance by the end of the previous term (e.g. invoiced in August ready for a September start) with payment due before the new term starts. If the invoices fall in to arrears and no payment is made, you will risk losing your child’s place for the following term.
If children do not attend booked sessions including holiday and sickness, parents will still be charged.
If your child is 30 hour funded, you will be required to pay £2 per day to cover the lunch supervision and this will be invoiced termly in advance by the end of the previous term. If the invoices fall in to arrears and no payment is made, you will risk losing your child’s place for the following term.
Late collection fees – if you are persistently late collecting your child after their nursery session has finished, you will be charged for this to cover for the extra staff needed to care for your child. This will be charged at £5 per 15 minutes that you are late