Navigating the many fee & funding options can be difficult for busy parents. To help you understand your childcare fees and what you’re entitled to, we have put together some helpful information and resources below. We want to be open and transparent about our fees. A number of factors are considered when calculating our fees including consumables, staff costs, resources etc. We want to ensure your child receives top quality care, and in order to achieve this, we highly value the investment in training and retaining the best practitioners.
Childcare Fees
Our fees are designed to cover all the essential items your child needs throughout their day at nursery, ensuring they are happy, comfortable, and well cared for. This includes, but is not limited to breakfast, healthy snacks, lunch, tea, milk, formula, nappies, and sun cream, so you can have peace of mind knowing that all of your child’s daily needs are provided for as part of their nursery experience. We want to provide a transparent fee structure with no hidden costs or additional charges. We do not charge for bank holidays, inset days or closure periods. Fees are charged on a monthly basis. Invoices are issued on the 23rd of each month, and fees must be paid in advance by the 1st of the following month. This straightforward approach helps families plan and budget with confidence.
Childcare Funding
We know that many parents have been looking forward to the time when they can claim childcare funding. In most cases, funding won’t start from the day your child turns the age they need to be to be eligible for funding. Please read our factsheets to understand more about when you can expect your childcare funding to start.
Tax-Free Childcare
Tax-free childcare is a government scheme that allows all eligible parents of children under 12 – to open an online account to pay for childcare and early education. You could save significant money in a tax-free childcare account, so we encourage parents to look into this. If you get Tax-Free Childcare, you’ll set up an online childcare account for your child. For every £8 you pay into this account, the government will pay in £2 to use to pay your provider. It is important to note that, while you can use tax-free childcare alongside the 30-hours offer (or 15 hour offer), you can’t use it at the same time as Childcare vouchers, Universal Credit or Tax credits.
Childcare Vouchers
Childcare Vouchers typically operate through salary sacrifice. A salary sacrifice arrangement is an agreement by an employer to reduce an employee’s cash pay, usually in return for a non-cash benefit. Under the Childcare Voucher scheme employees may ‘sacrifice’ part of their pay in exchange for Childcare Vouchers. Wise Owls Childcare accepts all childcare vouchers.