Upon registration with Wye Under Fives parents and carers will be give a copy of our full fee structure, a summary of the main points are below:-

• Fees are reviewed annually, at least one months notice will be given for any changes.
• No refund will be given in the event of a child’s absence due to illness or holiday, or any other reason.
• Should the pre-school have to close then parent will be refunded for full sessions only.
• Our fees are payable termly in advance. Our preferred payment methods are by BACS or Childcare vouchers. 
• Invoices are issued 3 times a year in September, January and April.   Each invoice will confirm two payment dates and amounts due.
• Late payments may be subject to an additional charge.
• Late pick up fees will apply for persistent offenders

Fees from April 2023 are as follows:-

• Morning Session – 8.45:am to 11:45am – £24.60
• Afternoon Session  – 12:15pm to 3:15 pm – £24.60
• Lunch Session – 11.45am to 12:15pm – £3.75
• Full Day Session – 8.45am to 3:15pm – £52.95
• Late Pick Up – First 10 minutes – £5.00
• Late Pick Up – Every Half Hour after the first 10 minutes- £15.00
• Late Payment Fees – £25.00 charge

Kent County Council provide Free Early Years Education to all 3 and 4 year old children from the lead term following their third birthday.  They can have up to 15 hours of free childcare each week for 38 weeks a year.  This is a national scheme every child in England is entitled to.  You do not need to apply to KCC to receive this funding, but we will ask you to complete a parental declaration three times a year to enable Wye Under Fives to receive your funding.  The table below gives details of when your child becomes eligible.

Free early education for 3 & 4 year old is available for up to 570 hours per year, taken as 15 hours per week over 38 weeks.  If your child attends Wye Under Fives for more than 15 hours, and you are not eligible for 30 hours free funding, you will be invoiced for the additional childcare as per our fee structure.

Free Early Education hours can only be increased or decreased at the beginning of a lead term (in September, January or after Easter). Those hours are then fixed for that term. Any requests to increase or change hours are subject to availability in the requested session.

Visit KCC Free Early Education for More Information: https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/childcare-and-pre-school/free-childcare#tab-1

KCC have also produced a parents guide to Universal Funding :KCC Parents Guide to Universal Free Funding

Kent offer Free Early Education 2 year olds, which is known as “Free for 2”.  (FF2) In summary, this allows parents who are in receipt of certain benefits to be able to claim up to 15 hours free early years education from the Term after a child’s 2nd birthday. Although you do not have to take the full 15 hours if you feel it is too long for your child, when claiming FF2 parents may increase their hours to the maximum 15 hours free early education at any time during the term, subject to availability in the requested session.   (Everyone qualifies for 15 hours Free Early Years Education from the term after a child’s 3rd birthday).

If you think you may be eligible for Free For 2 Funding please let us know when you register your child with Wye Under Fives.  You will need to apply for the funding via the KCC website and we will ask you to complete a parental declaration form three times a year to enable Wye Under Fives to claim the funding for your child.  

For a child to get free early education for 2 year olds you must be getting one of the following:

• Income Support
• Income based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Support through part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act
• Tax credits and have an annual income of no more than £16,190 before tax.
• Universal Credit and have an annual income of no more than £15,400 after tax.
• The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• The Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

Children are also entitled to a free place if:

• They are looked after by a local authority
• They have a current statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) or an Education Health and Care Plan
• They get Disability Living Allowance
• They have left the care of the local authority under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order which specifies with whom the child lives or an adoption order

Funding is available in accordance with the date of birth range chart below.

Visit KCC Free Early Years Education for more information and to apply online: https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/childcare-and-pre-school/free-childcare#tab-2

KCC have also produced a factsheet for parents and carers: FF2 Information sheet for parents and carers

Eligible working families with 2, 3 and 4 year olds can receive up to 15 hours of free early education each week for 38 weeks of the year. For 3 & 4 year olds, this is an extra 15 hours of free childcare in addition to the universal entitlement for 3 & 4 year olds and is known as extended entitlement.

Eligibility

To qualify for 15 hours of free childcare, each parent (or the sole parent in a single parent family) will need to earn on average, the equivalent of 16 hours on the national minimum wage per week and no more than £100,000 per year. A family with an annual household income of £199,999 would be eligible if each parent earns just under £100,000.

Self-employed parents and parents on zero-hour contracts will be eligible if they meet the average earnings threshold.

Parents can still be eligible if they usually work but:

• one or both parents are away from work on statutory sick pay
• one or both parents are on parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave.

In addition, parents are eligible if 1 parent is employed, but the other:

• has substantial caring responsibilities based on specific benefits for caring
• is disabled or incapacitated based on specific benefits.

Parents who work less than 16 hours a week:

Eligibility is based on income earned, not hours worked. If a parent works for less than 16 hours, but in that time, earns more than the equivalent of 16 hours per week at national living wage (or minimum wage for under 25s), they will still be eligible.

All 3 and 4 year olds and eligible 2 year olds will remain entitled to 15 hours of early education per week during term time, regardless of the employment status of their parent(s).

It is the families responsibility to provide  the eligibility code: apply for 30 hours Free Childcare .  Eligibility codes must be updated every three months or they will expire.  

To enable Wye Under Fives to claim the funding we will ask you to complete a parental declaration form 3 times a year which will need to include your eligibility code.

You must apply for your eligibility code in the term before your child becomes eligible by age. The government has recommended application periods. If you do not apply within these recommended periods you may not get your code in time. If you do not apply for and receive your code before the deadline date you will not be able to take up your place until the term after.

You can use the Childcare Choices website to check if you are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare.

There are a number of government schemes available to help with childcare costs, whether you have toddlers or teens, you could get support.  Schemes available are:

• Tax Free Childcare
• 15 Hours Free Early Education for 2 year olds
• 15 Hours Free Early Education for 3 & 4 year olds
• 30 Extended Entitlement (30 hours free early years education)
• Tax Credits for Childcare
• Universal Credit for Childcare
• Support While Studying

Check your eligibility for these schemes go to the Childcare Choices website.