Free Learning and Childcare

Within the Birkbees Group we welcome children wishing to access the free funding.

Our Guide to Funding

Understanding the funding and who is eligible:
Working parents are eligible to ‘free childcare’. The age of your child will affect the amount of funding you receive. The funding is as follows;

15 hours a week if your child is 9 months to 2 years old
30 hours a week if your child is 3 to 4 years old

What is the ‘15-hour free childcare’:

Under the 15-hour free child care, each child is entitled to a total of 570 hours of free funding per academic year (September to August).

You may only begin claiming this funding from the term after your child turns 9-months old.
We will provide 15 hours ‘free childcare’ per week for the 38 weeks of the academic year. Our nurseries operate for 51-weeks of the year.
Full fees apply for the remaining 13 weeks of the year where no funding is available, and for any additional sessions booked.

How we provide the 15-hour free childcare:

To provide the 15-hour free childcare in line with our operating hours, we will structure the weekly childcare hours as follows:

2 Full Days
Parents can choose to use their 15 free hours across 2 full days, where each full day lasts 10 hours. Full day sessions are 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM (10 hours) or 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM (10 hours). The additional 5 hours per week beyond the 15 free hours will be charged at full fees.
4 Half-Day
Sessions Alternatively, parents can split the 15 hours over 4 half-day sessions where each session is 5 hours. Half-Day Sessions are either, 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM (5 hours) or 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM (5 hours). The additional 5 hours per week beyond the 15 free hours will be charged at full fees.

A Sundries charge of £1.50 per hour will be applied for each hour of funded childcare. This fee covers consumables such as snacks, cleaning materials, and other resources not included in the early years funding. Summary of costs and breakdown:

Breakdown:

15 Free Hours Per Week:You are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare each week for 38 weeks of the academic year (September to August).
Full Fees Apply for 13 Weeks: Our nurseries operate for 51 weeks per year, so full fees will apply for the remaining 13 weeks when no funding is available.

Additional Costs:

Sundries Charge: A fee of £1.50 per hour will be applied for each hour of funded childcare. This covers consumables like snacks, cleaning materials, and other resources not included in early years funding. For example, if your child uses the full 15 free hours each week, the Sundries charge will be £22.50 (£1.50 x 15 hours).

Summary of Costs for a Week of 15 Free Hours:

Funding Provided: 15 hours per week of free childcare.
Additional 5 hours charged at full fees: £37.00.
Sundries Charge: £22.50 for the 15 hours.
Total per week for 2 full days of childcare: £59.50