Fees and Opening Hours
A core component of co-produced parent-led childcare is providing high quality childcare for local families that is affordable, inclusive and provided by childcare professionals on fair terms and conditions.
In developing your fees you can work closely with local parents through meetings, conversations, workshops and online survey to ensure that you meet what they need. Our research at Friendly Families showed that families wanted:
Rent is potentially one of the largest costs and it is well worth pursuing ways to reduce this where possible. At Friendly Families we have worked with our partner and landlord, Peabody Housing Association to ensure we have low rent. We have registered as a charity to operate as a not for profit organisation, with local parents acting as directors of the charity.
The largest cost of the nursery is staff wages. Good terms and conditions for staff has a positive impact on the quality of the care provided and reduces the levels of staff turnover, so while keeping costs down is important, ensuring that the childcare professionals who work at your nursery are paid a fair wage is vital.
Consider how many weeks per year you will open and how parents can use their government allocated free hours across the week and year. Make sure parents are fully aware of all their entitlements, including free hours and tax free childcare schemes.
Make sure to research average fees for your area and check that you can operate below these for parents who volunteer their time.
In developing your fees you can work closely with local parents through meetings, conversations, workshops and online survey to ensure that you meet what they need. Our research at Friendly Families showed that families wanted:
- affordable, high quality care
- flexibility to use their ‘free hours’
- longer sessions than 3 hours per day
- childcare that is available across the year, not just school term time
- care that doesn’t distinguish between children on free hours and families that are paying for their care
- transparency about costs
Rent is potentially one of the largest costs and it is well worth pursuing ways to reduce this where possible. At Friendly Families we have worked with our partner and landlord, Peabody Housing Association to ensure we have low rent. We have registered as a charity to operate as a not for profit organisation, with local parents acting as directors of the charity.
The largest cost of the nursery is staff wages. Good terms and conditions for staff has a positive impact on the quality of the care provided and reduces the levels of staff turnover, so while keeping costs down is important, ensuring that the childcare professionals who work at your nursery are paid a fair wage is vital.
Consider how many weeks per year you will open and how parents can use their government allocated free hours across the week and year. Make sure parents are fully aware of all their entitlements, including free hours and tax free childcare schemes.
Make sure to research average fees for your area and check that you can operate below these for parents who volunteer their time.
The fees and opening times we use at Friendly Families are regularly updated on our website.
We share the following information with parents to help them understand our fees
At Friendly Families Nursery we believe it is important to be open and transparent about the fees parents pay. We calculate what parents will pay, based on the number of days their child attends, the amount of funded hours they access and any discounts they are entitled to. Our fees for 3 and 4 year olds are slightly lower than 2 year olds because the adult to child ratio is slightly less.
Parents monthly fees are based on the total annual fees divided by 12 months. This means parents are able to pay the same fees each month even if the total number of days of care each month varies slightly. This makes it easier for parents to budget. Funded hours entitlements are only paid by government for 38 weeks. We stretch them over the full year. This means parents can pay the same fees each month even though government funding is targeted at only 38 weeks per year.
At Friendly Families Nursery we believe it is important to be open and transparent about the fees parents pay. We calculate what parents will pay, based on the number of days their child attends, the amount of funded hours they access and any discounts they are entitled to. Our fees for 3 and 4 year olds are slightly lower than 2 year olds because the adult to child ratio is slightly less.
Parents monthly fees are based on the total annual fees divided by 12 months. This means parents are able to pay the same fees each month even if the total number of days of care each month varies slightly. This makes it easier for parents to budget. Funded hours entitlements are only paid by government for 38 weeks. We stretch them over the full year. This means parents can pay the same fees each month even though government funding is targeted at only 38 weeks per year.
For the most up to date information on fees visit the Friendly Families Nursery website here.
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