Funded hours cover the amount of hours a child attends as part of their funded entitlements.
Funded hours does not cover the cost of:
- meals
- nappies
- additional hours
- additional activities, such as trips
- other consumables and charges
So, if children access these additional services parents will be asked and should expect to pay for these items. However, it must not be made mandatory condition by a provider for parents to purchase extra services to gain access to funded hours.
Where parents do access, meals, consumables, activities parents should speak to their childcare provider about alternative or cheaper options (i.e. child taking a packed lunch) or voluntary payments.
It should also not be made a mandatory conditions that parents pay for but not limited to, non-itemised enrichment charges, sustainability charges, business continuity charges, additional charges, enhanced ratios, hourly rates, or any other supplementary charges on top of the funded hours (unless parents agree to "voluntary" pay for these)
Costs are determined by the chilcare provider and should in line with their normal charging policy.
Tops ups
Government guidance that childcare providers cannot charge top ups on the funded hours, this is the difference between the funding the provider receives from a local authority and what they normally charge.