Childcare for baby

Lots on information on the government website about when to apply etc.

@Jo I had a look but was getting pretty overwhelmed with all the different Information.

It’s 30 hours term time only free, so if you use nursery all year round on a full day at private nursery it works out to about 2 days a week free plus the nurseries consumables fee. You can register for nursery whenever you wan, most you have to pay registration fee between £100 & £200. You don’t apply for the free funding until much closer to the time, about a month before you start x

@Caroline 15 hour days?

Yeah it won’t be completely ‘free’ depending on what you need but still register with a nursery now that accepts the funding and apply 3 months before I think

Be aware it’s the first term after they turn 9 months So mine will turn 9 months in May so I have to pay full price till September

@Ali she’ll be 11 months by the time I need her in childcare x

For advice and support on how to find the right childcare, then come join my group https://www.peanut-app.io/share/sMqecxESqJb The sooner you start looking, the better. I would start now. It might seem mad, but wait lists can be really long sadly

Most private nurseries are 7.30-6, even if you don’t need them in the full day that’s what they charge. The funding is term time only but private nurseries mostly want you to pay all year round so you actually only get around 20 hours per week because you have to use it all year round, term time is only 38 weeks (I think?!) but you have to use your funding over 52 weeks, so it’s not as good as it may seem and definitely not free as nurseries charge a fee upto £20 a day on the ‘free days’.

Apply for the nursery place as normal, and explain you’ll be getting the funding and they’ll work out the fee from there. You can’t actually get your ‘code’ until 1 month before you’re due back at work. And as many above say, it won’t be totally free. My toddler gets 30 hours at the moment, but I’m still paying £950 a month for 4 full days.