Fees and Funding

Information and support on how to fund your little one’s nursery journey

What funding is currently available?

 

 

15 hours funded childcare

All parents of 3 and 4 year-olds are entitled to 15 hours funded childcare. At Thrive, we also offer 15 hours funded childcare to some 2-year-olds if parents are receiving certain benefits, a child has Special Education Need (SEND) or has Disability Living Allowance if a child is being looked after by a local authority or has a kinship or guardianship order.

30 hours funded childcare

For working parents with 3 and 4 year-olds, families may be able to get 30 hours funded childcare depending on eligibility. Eligibility criteria includes work requirements, salary, age of children and location.

Our spaces fill very quickly so we do recommend you enquire as early as possible to ensure you get the sessions and start date you require.

Speak to us today so we can best support and advise on your questions

Funding

We work in partnership with a number of Local Authorities to provide this at our nurseries.

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Nursery Fees

Each nursery has its own set of fees – find your local nursery and we can provide these for you!

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How to Pay

You can pay your nursery fees via our Parent Zone App or Direct Debit

Current Parent

What Extras are Included at my chosen Nursery?

Our nurseries provide Nappies, Wipes and Meals within our fees. Some Extra curriculars included in the fees, however each nursery varies on the Extra Curriculars they can provide for their children depending on location, accessibility to classes and variation of what’s on offer in their local area. The best way to find out exactly what is included is to have a look at our brochure which will detail all the fees and what is included. Get in touch with us today so you can get a real feel for what’s included for your little one!

Tax Free Childcare 

Tax free childcare is a government scheme to help working parents with the cost of their childcare. Aimed at families with children aged 0-11 or up to 17 if their child has a disability, the scheme can save families up to £2,000 per child per year or £4,000 for a child with a disability.

Funded childcare and the proposed changes 

The funded childcare scheme the government has currently in place in England offers free childcare for children aged two, three and four:

  • 15 hours funded childcare for eligible 2-year-olds
  • 15 hours funded childcare for all 3 and 4-year-olds
  • 30 hours funded childcare for eligible 3 and 4 year-olds

These schemes are only available to families living in England, although similar schemes are available in Scotland & Wales.

Budget increase – what is changing going forward?

On 15th March 2023, the Government announced they are helping parents with childcare so they can return to work more easily via a range of new measures set to be introduced in 2024, for children from 9 months old.

Increasing childcare support:

Eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of subsidised childcare per week, for 38 weeks of the year, from when their child is 9 months old to when they start school. Please note that 38 weeks are ‘free’, but there is a payment for the remaining 14 weeks of the year.

This will be rolled out in stages:

  • From April 2024, all eligible working parents of 2-year-olds can access 15 hours funded childcare per week
  • From September 2024, all eligible working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3 years old can access 15 hours funded childcare per week
  • From September 2025 all eligible working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3 years old can access 30 hours funded childcare per week

Eligibility

Your eligibility depends on:

  • If you’re working (employed, self-employed, or both)
  • Your income (and your partner’s income, if you have one)
  • Your child’s age and circumstances
  • Your immigration status

For more information, visit the Childcare Choices website. On the government website.

Funded Childcare News

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What location are you in?

Applying for 30 Hour Funded Childcare

In order to access 30 hours funded childcare, you will need to confirm your eligibility and collect a unique code through HMRC. Eligibility for funded childcare is income-based, and there are set cut-off dates for applying for funded childcare throughout the year.

You will then need to provide our nursery team with your unique code number. We then have to validate this in order for us to arrange to register your child’s place. Acceptance of funded places within our nursery is dependent on our availability.

Supplementary Charges

Bookings made under the 30 hour funded contract are subject to supplementary charges, as per Department of Education Guidelines. These charges are designed to cover costs associated with hot lunches, healthy snacks and extracurricular activities over and above the basic funded provision.

How Funding Applies to Your Nursery Fees

Following consultation with our current families, we have decided to ‘stretch’ the 15 hours and the 30 hour funding entitlement from term-time only cover to year-round cover full. This equates to 22.5 hours of funded childcare per week which can be assigned to varied session patterns. If you desire a term-time only place, you may wish to consider 15 hour funding as an alternative.

Scottish children are entitled to 1140hrs funding pro rata*, there are some caveats to cross boundary funding. Not all councils will accept children into a nursery if they reside in another council area or they may only get 600hrs.

Check what help you’re entitled to in Scotland here

Also note that all children get a lunch provided as part of funding, but not if they have secured a cross boundary place.

Different councils also have different start dates, e.g. Glasgow – day after child turns 3; Renfrewshire – the first Monday of the following month after they turn 3; East Renfrewshire – the first OPEN day after the child turns three (in line with school holidays).

Some councils accept applications all year round – Glasgow. Some stop at end February and Children with March – Aug birthdays start in August.
*if the start on first day schools start in August they get 1140, after that they get a % of the 1140 depending on their start date.

We are pleased to offer England’s new 30 hour funded childcare entitlement for 3-5 year olds at of our English Nurseries, and will continue to offer the 15 hour council funded childcare scheme where preferred.

Applying for 30 Hour Funded Childcare

In order to access 30 hours funded childcare, you will need to confirm your eligibility and collect a unique code through HMRC. Eligibility for funded childcare is income-based, and there are set cut-off dates for applying for funded childcare throughout the year.

You will then need to provide our nursery team with your unique code number. We then have to validate this in order for us to arrange to register your child’s place. Acceptance of funded places within our nursery is dependent on our availability.

Supplementary Charges

Bookings made under the 30 hour funded contract are subject to supplementary charges, as per Department of Education Guidelines. These charges are designed to cover costs associated with hot lunches, healthy snacks and extracurricular activities over and above the basic funded provision.

How Funding Applies to Your Nursery Fees

Following consultation with our current families, we have decided to ‘stretch’ the 15 hours and the 30 hour funding entitlement from term-time only cover to year-round cover full. This equates to 22 hours of funded childcare per week , depending on which term you join in, which can be assigned to varied session patterns. If you desire a term-time only place, you may wish to consider 15 hour funding as an alternative.

Tax Credits

If you receive tax credits, the amount you are eligible for may be affected by using childcare vouchers. You can check whether you would be better off taking childcare vouchers through this free online calculator.

Many families do not take advantage of the financial help that is available to them for the cost of childcare. Families on middle as well as low incomes may be entitled to financial support such as Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit. This extra help – called ‘the childcare element of working tax credits’ – is available to individuals on lower incomes to help with the cost of childcare. The amount received is dependent on your circumstances and income, but could cover up to 70% of your childcare costs.

To be eligible, lone parents must work 16 hours or more per week, for couples, both partners must work 16 hours or more or one partner must work 16 hours or more per week if the other is unable to work for specific reasons. To see if you are eligible for assistance, please visit: www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/start/who-qualifies/children/childcare-costs.htm

HMRC

Current Parent?

Discounts and Sessions

Our nurseries do offer the following discounts where applicable:
• Sibling Discount
• Emergency Services Discount

These discounts come with T&Cs and are applicable to each site individually. If you have any queries per your nurseries provision of these, please do contact us for
further information.

Some of our nurseries offer Term Time sessions and are subject to availability. If you are looking for a Term Time only place, do let us know and we can check the availability of these for you and provide cost.

Paying your fees

We have multiple methods of payments to make your nursery fee payments quick, easy and work for you. We offer payments via direct debit, via BACS transfer and other payment schemes once agreed with manager. We do accept all major credit and debit cards.

Payments can also be made directly through our Parent Zone app, which is available to download from the App Store or Google Play. Alternatively, you can log on to Parent Zone account to make a payment. At the moment this is currently being worked on for our Benison Nursery parents alongside direct debit set up. We plan to be able to offer this service in the near future. Any issues or queries about payment for Benison Nursery in the meantime do let your Nursery Manager know.

If you are having any difficulty with payment, please do let your Nursery Manager know and we can try and rectify the issue as quickly as possible.

Querying a bill?

If you are querying a bill you have received do notify the Nursery Manager directly of this and they will kindly look into it with assistance of our finance team.