Payment and Invoicing:

The SMART Trust Services team will deal with all of your finance queries. The finance team will provide you with a letter containing instructions for setting up a ParentPay account which will be used for invoicing fees.

Nursery fees are charged at a rate of £6.00 per hour. Fees will be invoiced at the beginning of the month for that month and should be paid promptly through ParentPay unless you are paying through the Tax Free Childcare (TFCC) scheme, in which instance, please provide the nursery with your TFCC reference number. You will still be invoiced for the fees (for your information) but a manual adjustment to reflect that they have been paid will be made on receipt of the TFCC monies.

Fees will be charged for the hours you have booked in each month. Any missed sessions will still be charged for, to secure your future places and to cover the staffing costs associated with ensuring the correct expected adult : child ratios.

Government Funding Available:

There are several different types of funding available depending on your situation.

Free Childcare if you’re working

You may be able to get free childcare for your child aged 9 months to 4 years old if you live in England.

You can get 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year.

You may be able to get free childcare for more than 38 weeks a year if you take fewer hours over more weeks. 

If your child is 2 to 3 years old and you get extra support

You may be able to get 30 hours of free childcare through 2 separate schemes if both of the following apply:  

• you’re eligible for Free Childcare for Working Parents 

• you or your child get extra support

You’ll get: 

• 15 hours per week if you or your child get extra support (you’ll continue to get these hours even if you are no longer eligible for Free Childcare for Working Parents)

• 15 hours per week through Free Childcare for Working Parents

You’ll get these 30 hours for 38 weeks of the year. You may be able to get free childcare for more than 38 weeks a year if you take fewer hours over more weeks.

Free education and childcare for 2 year old if you get extra support

Your 2 year old maybe able to get 15 hours of free childcare a week if you live in England and you or your child get some extra support.

You’ll get these 15 hours for 38 weeks of the year. You may be able to get free childcare for more than 38 weeks a year if you take fewer hours over more weeks.

You’ll be eligible if you get any of the following extra support:

• you get Universal Credit, and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax (not including benefit payments)
• you get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• you get the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• your child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, also known as an EHCP
• your child gets Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• your child has left care under an adoption order, special guardianship order or a child arrangements order

For further information and how to apply for funding, please visit www.gov.uk.