About Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE)
The Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of free childcare. The Government funding is there to provide basic care for the child, it enables all children from 9 months to 5 years to access the 
Early Years curriculum (EYFS) (external website).
It is not intended to cover the costs of meals or other consumables. This means that parents and carers wishing to opt-in to paying for additional hours or food and care packages will see these clearly itemised on their invoice.
Stated below is a list of things we provide outside of the funded hours:
- Food package – Breakfast, 2 course hot lunch, tea & 2 X snacks
- Care package – Nappies, nappy cream, wipes, baby milk, Calpol, Piriton
- Online portal – Eylog (external website)
- Special family celebration days – invitations to join in with a variety of celebrations such as Easter egg hunts, sports days, Christmas and school leaver parties and religious festivals
- Trips & outings – bus trips, local walks, library visits, park trips (Please note: Not included is the school leavers special yearly outing which has a small additional cost)
As a setting we treat all our children to the same experiences and high level of education and childcare regardless of whether they are in receipt of the government funding or not.
Statutory guidance from the Department for Education (DFE) is giving parents the opportunity to opt-out of paying for additional private hours & extras such as specialised activities.
They say (quote);
‘Parents must be able to opt-out of paying for chargeable extras and the associated consumable or activity for their child. For activities and extra services, providers should be made aware that participation in any optional extra activity should be on the basis of parental choice and a willingness to meet the charges’
Parents/carers will have to choose to opt-out of these payments.
Price List
Price list for food, care and special activities is set out below. Please note we offer a discount for acceptance of the full food & consumables package.
| Breakfast | £1.50 |
| Two course hot lunch | £2.94 |
| High tea | £2.00 |
| Snacks (x2) | £0.86 |
| Care | £1.30 |
| Online portal (EYlog) | £1.05 |
| Special activities | £0.58 |
| Trips and walks | £0.58 |
| Total | £10.81 |
| Discount for taking full package | -£2.41 |
| Total (after discount applied) | £8.40 |
Wrap around care package (7.30am – 9.00am and 4.00pm – 6.00pm) will incur 3.5 additional private hours charged at £27.55 per funded day.
We remain mindful of the impact of additional charges to any families facing financial difficulties and where parents are unable to pay for meals or consumables they can speak to a manager who will provide them with options for alternatives to additional charges, including waiving the cost of meals & snacks and providing their own nappies, wipes & cream.
If we do not have availability to offer a funded-only space in the nursery, we can off an alternative setting in the village, Caterpillars Pre-School (ages 2 – 5 years) which is a Term-time only, fully-funded setting. This setting also has option for additional hours if required.
Parents / Carers Responsibilities
- Parents/carers are responsible for checking their eligibility for extended entitlement by visiting www.childcarechoices.gov.uk (external website). If they are eligible they will receive a 30-hour Code from HMRC.
- Parents/carers are responsible for supplying this code along with their National Insurance number and a copy of their child’s birth certificate to the nursery.
- Parents/carers will be asked to complete a Parental Statement of Undertaking form (PSOU) which gives us, the setting, permission to claim the funding on their behalf.
- Parents/carers will be responsible for re-confirming with HMRC that they are still eligible every 3 months to allow them to continue to receive the 30-hour extended entitlement and the working families funding. Failure to provide this information will result in us not claiming the additional hours on their behalf.
- Children claiming funding must be in attendance for the full 7 hours on their funded days.
- Parents/carers will be responsible for contacting the nursery If their child is absent for any reason i.e. sickness, holiday and they will be asked to sign a ‘non-attendance’ form which will enable us to continue to claim for their child.
- All supporting documentation must be supplied to us & PSOU’s must be completed and signed prior to the start of the funded term.
Funding is allocated term-time only (38 weeks per year). This equates to 570 universal hours or 1,140 hours with the extended entitlement.
Castle View Nursery offers both term-time funded places and stretched funded places. Please be aware that funding in the spring or summer term must have banked hours to be able to stretch. Children who start in the summer term (April to September) hours can only be spread over term-time as they have no banked hours; this means some sessions will be charged at full price.
Please speak to a manager to discuss options for invoicing during this term.
Castle View Nursery Responsibilities
- For parents wishing to stretch the funding we will offer this in continuous 7-hour blocks (children claiming 30 hours extended entitlement and attending a full day session). The remaining 3.5 hours of each session will be charged as additional private hours. This will use either 7, 14 or 21 hours per week over 1, 2 or 3 days for the stretched offer.
Any parent/carer wishing to opt-out of paying additional private hours will be able to take up funded hours only between 9.00 am and 4.00 pm if there are available sessions. If all spaces are taken, parents may wish to be added to the waiting list for a fully free space. - Parents wishing to use their funding term-time only can do so over 4 days for 30 hours or 2 days for 15 hours.
- Charge new customers a £50 non-refundable administrative fee for any child taking up a wrap around care package.
Castle View will provide clear and concise itemised invoices which are broken down into;
- the free entitlement hours
- additional private hours
- food charges
- non-food consumables charges
- activities charges
Wrap around care package will incur charges to cover 3.5 additional private hours.
The funding provision and delivery will be reviewed on a termly basis.
Complaints
Any complaints or concerns about the delivery of the FEEE must be made through the 
Complaints Procedure.
If the situation cannot be resolved satisfactorily with the setting, please email:
- Leicestershire County Council,
feee@leics.gov.uk