Fees, Funding & Tax Free Childcare
Information for Parents – Fees, Funding and Government support….
At The Wendy House we passionately believe that all children should have access to outstanding Early Years Care and Education. We recognise that the first five years of your child’s life are the most crucial in their development and as such ensure our unique learning environment supports them to thrive and gain the skills, resilience and confidence to excel in their learning during the Early Years and beyond.
In 2010 the Government, recognising the crucial role that Early Years settings play, not only supporting children’s development but also on society as a whole, introduced various schemes to provide financial support to families paying Nursery fees and to ensure all children receive the best possible start to their education - please see below:
Early Years Funding
The exact date your child will receive funding will depend on their date of birth and/or the dates of your parental leave when you return to work. This will be confirmed when you apply to Childcare Choices.
If claiming for the first time, you must have returned to work one month before the start of the relevant term.
Please see the key dates for funding below:
Working Parent Entitlement
- 15 hours funded childcare for children aged 9 months to 3 years.
- 30 hours funded childcare for children aged 3 years +.
As of September 2025, eligible families of children aged 9 months+ will receive 30 hours funded childcare per week.
To check if you meet the eligibility criteria and find out more about Early Years Funding please visit Childcare Choices. Once approved, please ensure you provide us with your unique 11-digit eligibility code (usually starting 500 or 501).
Universal Funding
All parents of children aged 3-4 years, who do not meet the eligibility criteria for the Working Parent Entitlement, will still receive 15 hours of funded childcare per week.
Important information
Government funding does not cover all the costs of your childcare, therefore you will be charged for the hours attended each month outside of the funded entitlement.
Our fees are determined by continuously reviewing operational costs, which include our buildings and outdoor grounds, staffing costs and training and general utilities. As our business operational costs vary at each setting, we apply different rates to ensure you are only paying what is necessary for us to maintain the highest possible standards you’d expect from our Ofsted rated Outstanding settings.
We do not offer term-time only places, therefore we will stretch your funding over the entire year. This not only ensures consistency for your child, crucial for their happiness and development but helps you to budget for you childcare costs knowing your fees will be unchanged.
A Stretched claim works as follows:
- 15 hours/week (570 hours/year) = 11.2 hours/week x 51 weeks (equates to 47.6 hours per month).
- 30 hours/week (1140 hours/year) = 22.4 hours/week x 51 weeks (equates to 92.2 hours per month).
We have a minimum attendance policy of three days a week. We do offer a small number of places where children attend only for their funded hours, which are strictly subject to availability, family circumstances and following verification of your eligibility.
Please note that funded only spaces are allocated on a termly basis, not in advance, and are subject to change.
We do not share funding with other providers – all funding will be allocated as described in this document.
Each month you will receive an invoice that will detail the number of funded hours claimed/attended and the number of hours you are paying for outside of the funding entitlement. Fees are payable in advance on the 3rd of the month by standing order or Tax-Free Childcare (we do not accept childcare vouchers).
Tax-Free Childcare
Eligible working parents can make further savings by opening an online childcare account to pay registered childcare providers directly. It works in a similar way to an online bank account.
This can amount to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) for each child to help with the costs of childcare. This goes up to £1,000 every 3 months if a child is disabled (up to £4,000 a year).
For every £8 paid into an account, the Government will add £2 (£4 for a disabled child), and up to the total amount in the account can be paid to a childcare provider.
For further information visit Childcare Choices and Tax-Free Childcare - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Nursery Fees
Please click below to see our current fee schedule.
All fees charged are solely for the monthly hours attended outside of your child’s Early Years Funding entitlement, as agreed at the time of securing a place.
Please also refer to our Terms & Conditions (link below) for further information regarding payments, fees and all general T’s & C’s.
Terms and Conditions (April 2025), click here....
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