Early Years settings are under increasing financial pressure. The Government funding that we receive is to deliver your 15 or 30 hours of childcare support. Funding does not cover the additional costs that we incur to run our Early Years setting and many of these costs are not items that people would realise are costs that we have to pay.
Also, once a child receives 3 or 4 year funding, the hourly rate for that funding is in the region of half of most of our staff’s hourly wage. Even with multiple children attending, that funding money doesn’t stretch far when you have lots of hidden costs of running an Early Years setting.
You may be surprised by some of the costs that we incur and they are all essential to run our provision for the benefit of your child. As you can see from the table below, every penny counts!
What do we spend your fees and funding on over our two settings?
Every penny that we receive goes on enhancing your child’s early education experience as we are a Charity and don’t run for a profit.
| Legal Requirements | Running an Early Years Setting | Hardware |
| Staff wages | Website fees | Staff tablets and laptops |
| Staff National Insurance contributions | Licenced products for IT | Printer/scanner |
| Staff holiday pay | Rent of the two sites | Washing machine (to wash spare clothes and tea towels) |
| Staff pension contributions | Subscriptions, such as Twinkl | A mobile phone for each site |
| Ofsted fees | Mobile phone contracts | Laminator |
| Insurance | Internet subscriptions | Hoover |
| Accountancy | Printer ink | Mops |
| Charity commission fees | Paper | Changing mats |
| Staff training and CPD | Playdoh | Potties |
| GDPR subscription | Sand | Toy storage |
| Cots | Cooking ingredients | Toilet steps |
| Sleep mats | Paint, paint cups and paintbrushes | Scissors |
| Blankets for sleeping | Staples | Cutlery |
| First aid kits | Laminating sheets | Plates |
| Office equipment to satisfy DSE legislation | Notebooks | Cups |
| Lockable storage cabinets for GDPR long term storage | Dish cloths and tea towels | Staplers |
| Locks for COSHH | Blu-Tack | Car seats |
| Additional locks for short term GDPR | Folders and folder inserts | Large play equipment such as a kitchen, shop, outdoor toys |
| An app for logging information that we are legally required to gather, such as attendance and accidents/incidents | Pens for adults, sharpies for labelling items plus pens, pencils and crayons for children. | Toys including dressing up clothes, baby toys, toddler toys, Pre-Schooler toys, jigsaws, puzzles, games, musical instruments, books etc |
What are we allowed to charge additional fees for, regardless of funding?
- Additional hours outside of funded hours
- Additional services, such as activities and trips
- Consumables such as snacks
What happens if I don’t pay the voluntary contribution on the invoice?
If you don’t pay the voluntary contribution, we will need to ask you to send your child in with their own consumables, such as wipes and allergen free, healthy snacks.
If you are unable to pay the voluntary contribution then your child won’t be specifically penalised. All of our children are treated with the same respect and are given the same provision, regardless.
However, if lots of people aren’t able to pay the voluntary contribution then this will have an affect on what we are able to provide all of the children in the setting.
We provide invoices and receipts that are clear, transparent and itemised to see you have received your child’s free entitlements and understand any fees for additional hours or services.
To find out more about how funding works, take a look at Hertfordshire County Council’s Information on Childcare and Early Education or the Best Start in Life website.