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VOUCHERS
EXPLAINED
Nursery
vouchers or nursery education grants are received from the West
Sussex County Council Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership
at the nursery on the behalf of any parent who qualifies. Your child
will qualify for these nursery vouchers in the first full term following
their third birthday.
The
nursery vouchers are paid on a termly basis to fit with local schools,
although we open fifty weeks of the year. These terms are Summer
Term, Autumn Term and Spring Term, the dates of each of these terms
can be found from the West Sussex website.
Each of these terms is eleven weeks, so you will receive thirty
three weeks of funded sessions per year.
After
an audit for the Chief Internal Auditor for the Nursery Education
Grant, 'the conclusion to be drawn , based upon the information
provided, is that the County Council can be rest assured it is paying
grants on the basis of valid and accurate claims and the money is
being spent in accordance with the Children's Act and regulations'
In
each term, we are asked to complete two ‘headcount forms’
which tells us during which week we need to calculate how many sessions
each qualifying child does. A session is defined as two and a half
hours of funded care, although our nursery sessions are longer.
So, if your child does a morning or an afternoon session with us,
this will be one session and a full day is two sessions. We are
entitled to claim up to five sessions on your behalf, and if your
child attends more than one setting, you will need to decide how
many sessions you would like to claim from each setting up to the
maximum five.
Headcount
Dates are:-
autumn term 2005 15th June 2005 and 15th September
spring term 2006 12th January 2006
The
summer vouchers to be recieved off the bills in May and July
Autumn
2005
Initial Payment
- Octobers invoice
Residual Payment
- Decembers invoice
Payment
is received at the nursery each term in two separate payments, an
initial payment and a residual payment, so each year we receive
six payments on your behalf. Nurseries distribute this money in
several different ways, but the way that we choose to do this is
the way we feel that it is easiest and open to less errors. Once
the funding is received, we will credit this amount back to you
in full on your next invoice. A list is available here (link to
page on web site voucher dates) giving details of the dates for
head count and in which months you will receive your funding. You
will receive six credits during each year.
If
a child leaves before the headcount date, any payment made based
on the estimate will be reclaimed when the second payment is made.
However, if your child leaves after the headcount date you will
receive the full amount for the term. You will be ineligible to
claim at another setting for that term.
CURRENT
FUNDING
1
session per child per term £87.20
2
sessions per child per term £174.40
3
sessions per child per term £261.60
4
sessions per child per term £348.80
5
sessions per child per term £436.00
EXAMPLE
Your
child attend nursery one full day and two afternoons per week. Subject
to there date of birth, you will qualify for four session (two for
each afternoon and two for the full day). This means that you will
receive £348.80 per term which is then paid as £174.40
as an initial payment and £174.40 as a residual payment.
If
your child starts school on a part time basis, and then to a nursery
in the afternoon, we will be unable to claim any vouchers on your
behalf as the vouchers will be paid directly from the council to
the school.
Whilst
this all may sound a bit complicated, the whole process is administered
by the nursery and all you will be asked to do is to complete a
short form, giving your child’s details and supplying a copy
of his/her birth certificate which we need to photocopy, the rest
is down to us.
If
you need to ask any further questions, please contact us or alternatively
contact:
The
Children’s Information Service
St James Campus
St James Road
Chichester
PO19 7HA
(01243 777807)
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