Guest Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 we have never charged any extra when children are funded.... we work 2 3/4 hours so for children who do 5 mornings they get 1 1/4 hours free. Now (about time) they are now going to charge the parents, i have worked out how much that will be (divided hourly rate) what i need is a carefully worded letter as this will effect some of the parents in September when this comes into force. Just a few lines to help me word the letter would be fantastic thank you
Guest Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 Is your county not offering the free 15 hour a week entitlement to nursery age children? I thought it was a standard thing now that every child was enttled to 15 hours per week free!
HappyMaz Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 I thought it was a standard thing now that every child was enttled to 15 hours per week free! The universal entitlement to 15 hours' free nursery education doesn't become statutory until September 2010. Obviously it has been rolled out in some areas, what with those pathfinder Authorities etc! Will have a think about a suitable form of words, Suer! Maz
Guest Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 (edited) we have never charged any extra when children are funded.... we work 2 3/4 hours so for children who do 5 mornings they get 1 1/4 hours free. Now (about time) they are now going to charge the parents, i have worked out how much that will be (divided hourly rate) what i need is a carefully worded letter as this will effect some of the parents in September when this comes into force. Just a few lines to help me word the letter would be fantastic thank you Doesn't it state on you 'parental statement of undertaking' that anything over the 2.5 hours provided will be charged for. Ours does and as parents sign it they should have read it and not be surprised if they receive a bill. Parental_Statement_of_Undertaking_15_hours.doc Edited April 9, 2009 by BrendaS
Cait Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 Doesn't it state on you 'parental statement of undertaking' that anything over the 2.5 hours provided will be charged for. Ours does and as parents sign it they should have read it and not be surprised if they receive a bill. Is that something you have made yourself, BrendaS? We certainly don't have anything like that. I made my own form for parents to sign to say they don't take the free entitlement elsewhere
HappyMaz Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 Is that something you have made yourself, BrendaS? We certainly don't have anything like that. I made my own form for parents to sign to say they don't take the free entitlement elsewhere How odd Cait! I thought every Local Authority would have its own paperwork so they can check that parents are not claiming their entitlement more than once. Ours was rejigged to ask questions about whether the child is known by a different name than is on their birth certificate etc, and parents have to sign to say which other setting their child attends, if any. Perhaps your authority is just more trusting! Maz
sunnyday Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 Kent has a 'Parental Declaration Form' - they provide one copy and providers are free to photocopy as needed - they are not, however, sent to LA - they are kept by provider - some providers do not choose to use them at all. Parents understand that any 'unfunded' time is charged for e.g. some parents split care between us (v. small pre-school) and Nursery if they are working part-time and they may choose to use all of their funding to cover the nursery place. Sunnyday
Cait Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 No we definitely don't have one, and we had our Audit last year and nothing was brought up about the forms we made. It just says on our contract that we ask parents to sign to show how many hours they are taking up, that they are not taking this funding elsewhere and ask for a birth certificate or family allowance letter which states date of birth.
diesel10 Posted April 9, 2009 Posted April 9, 2009 Hi This is not going to help your wording but I thought that you had to give the parents of only having the free entitlement. Our morning session is 3 hours, now parents can claim flexibly most do 4 mornings claiming 12 hours (losing 1/2 hour). If you want to charged them for the extra 1/4 hour (rightly so) you would need to give them the option of picking their child up 1/4 hour early to comply with the grant. If you word the letter giving them the option no one can mind.
Guest Posted April 10, 2009 Posted April 10, 2009 (edited) that is part of our delegated conditions that we offer children to be collected after 2.5 hours if they do not want to pay the extra 1/4 hour the rolling out of 3 hours is not across the board in Kent until 2010 we do use a parental dec. form but i feel that i need a carefully worded letter from me Thank you Brenda for posting your form, it has given me some ideas any more gratefully recieved Edited April 10, 2009 by Suer
Inge Posted April 10, 2009 Posted April 10, 2009 how about an explanation that the current education grant is for 2.5 hours and that until now you have been able to offer the remaining session time free. Unfortunately in current climate due to increase in costs etc from xxx you will no longer be able to offer the time free but will be introducing a charge of xxx amount to cover xxxxx. It is with regret that we have to introduce this charge but without it we would be unable to offer the same service we currently do. then perhaps something on how they will be able to have the 2,5 hours free and collect at xxx time , that you are giving them time to make any necessary changes, I would include a new agreement to be made between parent and preschool, and start a new one from Sept which includes the the payment and details etc. Ours was a letter for each parent individually stating hours / days booked, cost pre session, total cost per week, how it was to be paid, paid in advance etc. also let them know how you intend to collect payment .....bills /weekly/termly monthly etc, be positive, factual, and ready for questions, perhaps a return with the letter asking parents about the changes if they will take it up, for how many days etc. Inge
lynned55 Posted April 10, 2009 Posted April 10, 2009 Hi Suer, We id this around 3 years ago- for some reason I am unable to find the letter that went out to parents but I think it went something like this. For some tiime now the pre-school has been subsidizing the additional 15 minutes your child is at the setting and we find orselves no longer in a positon to do so. Should you have any concerns about taking up this additional time please see your pre=school Manager. There was also a little about the funding only being for 2.5 hours etc. I didn't want to actually state on the letter 'you dont have to take this if you dont want to' So if a parent had come to us and said I'm not happy with this then, I would have told them they didn't have to do so. We charge parents in exactly the same way we do for unfunded children,invoice them at the start of each term and no refunds for missed sessions. It does generate quite a lot of revenue- for us it's around £7/8k per year- which is another staff memebrs salary. In the time we have been doing this I have never had a parent refuse it. I did have one half way through a term say they couldn't afford it, once I pointed ot that they could pick their child up 30 minutes earlier (in our case) they managed to pay, but only after the private daycare she also attended had been paid (sorry differnet story) I've just checked and it is no longer on our T & C form that parents sign when they take up the place. It was, but I vaguely remember takeing it off last year and just worked on if anyone asks/complains then we woud tell them. We have subsidized 1 or 2 children for short periods of time ver this, when I know it's been genuine hardship, but if a parent refused it, I would then insist they pick up 30 minutes earlier and then charge if they were late. From what I can remember when it was on or T&C we informed them that they had to decide before the child started if they wanted the additional time and if changed mind we would still charge ? Hmm not too sure abot that one as reading it back sounds dreadful!!
Guest Posted April 10, 2009 Posted April 10, 2009 How interesting, we are in the PVI sector, we are an independant charity and have had children accessing double free entitlement but the LA found out and contacted us (we didnt know but it explained alot about the child when we found out). I think we need to introduce our own letter to get parents to say they wont claim the free sessions elsewhere, thanks for that. but now I really must focus and stop getting distracted, next time you see me, shout at me and tell me to get on with my work
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