30 hour question

[finleysmaid]

Can anyone clarify the rules on 30 hours for me please?

We have a parent on low income who has been told by tax credits to get a job...she has managed to get 3 in order to pay for her bills. She assumed that she would get 30 free hours once she had a code but has now been told that the code will not be valid until September (by which stage her child will be at school!)

I am confused surely this cannot be right?? That would mean if we were a year round setting that she could have to pay fees from april to September !!!

When i've read the GOV info it really doesn't make it clear...anyone got any info?????

(BTW LEA NO HELP !!)

[louby loo]

Sadly true. You have to have the code by the end of the previous term. We have two parents with this issue/problem this term. Although one I have little sympathy for- I kept telling him to apply early. The other just got a job this week 

Can you parent apply for the 'help towards childcare' ?  Although the trouble with that one is it goes direct to parent and they then pay you.

[finleysmaid]

well what a bl***y shambles...how does that help parents get back to work!!! the tax credits people have offered her a percentage of the cost but won't pay it all

thanks for your reply ..thought I must have misread something

[lynned55]

Yes for this terms funding code had to be obtained by 31st March

 

[finleysmaid]

interestingly the 30 hour info from the GOV talks about 6 terms not 3!

[FSFRebecca]

It would make sense that a valid code gave immediate access to funding. I'll ask a few questions and find out why (other than an 'ease of admin' reason) that it is the case. I'll see what I can find out.

 

[lynned55]

Is not also to do with the deadlines LA's have to pay out funding

[finleysmaid]

11 hours ago, lynned55 said:

Is not also to do with the deadlines LA's have to pay out funding

I'm not sure that this is a good enough reason to put families in to poverty though! The family in question are now in severe financial difficulty and there is talk of repossessing the house and putting mum and 4 children on the street.....

[hopeytg]

We have a child who has just started with us in Foster Care, desperately needs 30 hrs as he is going to school in Sept and very delayed but I have been told Foster Mum needs to have another job as well to get the 30hrs! How is she supposed to do that? System is wrong when the children who need it are not getting the support.

[finleysmaid]

2 hours ago, hopeytg said:

We have a child who has just started with us in Foster Care, desperately needs 30 hrs as he is going to school in Sept and very delayed but I have been told Foster Mum needs to have another job as well to get the 30hrs! How is she supposed to do that? System is wrong when the children who need it are not getting the support.

I would speak to your LEA about this .There is a whole different set of guidelines for children in foster care.

Other sources of funding could be found too...she will get EYPP and you could ask your parish if they might help with funding . The social services rep should be able to support funding too.

[hopeytg]

That is exactly what I expected Finleysmaid - but the LA have said no, SS have no money apparently, I am giving some extra hours using the EYPP but he needs a lot of support 

 

[williamc]

I am a practitioner in Surrey, their web site info says, " If you already have a valid 30 hours code issued on or before the 31 March 2019 you can claim your funding from April 2019. If you received your code after this date you will not be able to use your funded hours until September 2019. "

This is because the local authority gets no money from the government to pay for discretionary places when deadlines have been missed.  The law is as follows.

"Early years entitlements: operational guidance For local authorities and providers" June 2018 from the DoE , page 6 says, " Parents are only legally entitled to start claiming a 30 hours place for their three or four year old the term following the date they receive a decision from HMRC. "