Payment and Invoicing:

The Trust SMART Services team will deal with all of your finance queries. The finance team will provide you with a letter containing instructions for setting up a ParentPay account which will be used for invoicing fees.

Nursery fees are charged at a rate of £6.00 per hour. Fees will be invoiced at the beginning of the month for that month and should be paid promptly through ParentPay unless you are paying through the Tax Free Childcare (TFCC) scheme, in which instance, please provide the nursery with your TFCC reference number. You will still be invoiced for the fees (for your information) but a manual adjustment to reflect that they have been paid will be made on receipt of the TFCC monies.

Fees will be charged for the hours you have booked in each month. Any missed sessions will still be charged for, to secure your future places and to cover the staffing costs associated with ensuring the correct expected adult : child ratios.

Government Funding Available:

There are several different types of funding available depending on your situation.

Free Childcare if you’re working

You may be able to get free childcare for your child aged 9 months to 4 years old if you live in England.

The amount of free childcare you can get depends on:

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

Your child’s age and circumstances

The number of hours of free childcare you can get depends on the age of your child. If your child is:

• 9 months to 2 years old, you can get 15 hours per week of free childcare
• 3 to 4 years old, you can get 30 hours per week of free childcare

You will not be eligible if your child does not usually live with you.

Foster carers

If you foster your child, you can claim free childcare if you’re working as long as:

• you’re in paid work outside your fostering role 
• your ‘adjusted net income’ is under £100,000

You cannot use the online application to get free childcare. Speak to your social worker and your local authority if you want to apply.

If you’re working

You can usually get free childcare for working parents if you (and your partner, if you have one) are:

• in work or starting a new job
• on sick leave or annual leave
• on shared parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave

Free Education and Childcare for 2 Year Olds

Your 2-year-old can get free childcare if you live in England and get any of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit, and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not including benefit payments
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit (or both), and your household income is £16,190 a year or less before tax
• the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

Once approved, you will need to share your funding code with the nursery and complete a declaration form confirming we have permission to apply for those hours. If we do not receive your funding code or your funding code is invalid, you will be invoiced for the hours booked.

For more information and how to apply please go to www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs.