Fee Structure

Please find below details of the settings fees policy and structure, please contact us directly should you have any questions or to arrange a viewing.

Fees from September 2025

• £7 Per hour for children aged 0-24 months, with a 15% discount £5.95, with a 25% discount £5.25 (see discounts)
• £6.50 Per hour for children aged over 24 months, with a 15% discount £5.53, with a 25% discount £4.88 (see discounts)
• £3 For School Lunch, served at 12.00 midday, this is optional, you can send your child in with a packed lunch from home as an alternative, although it must not contain food that requires either cooking or heating up.
• £1.00 for breakfast, served at 8.00am, and £2 for Tea, served at 5.00pm, again these are both optional.

Payment of Fees

• All fees are fully inclusive of morning and afternoon snacks, all drinks (excluding formula), nappies, wipes and sun cream.
• Fees are charged by the hour/half hour (not by the session) and any extra/extended sessions are charged at the same hourly/half hourly rates.
• Bills are issued at the beginning of each month for that month.
• Fees can be made by cash or BACS (details as above and on the monthly invoices). If paying by cash please ask a member of staff for a receipt to serve as proof of payment, as no other proof of payment will be accepted.
• Payment is expected by the 15^th of each month. Other payment dates and arrangements (weekly etc) can be arranged in writing with Claire.
• If full payment has not been received by midday on the last working day of the month, then your child’s placement will be suspended until full payment is received, this may result in loss of your child’s place as we have waiting lists for most days.
• Any bad debts (once a child has left) will be referred to the small claims court for collection, any costs of this will be added to the debt.

Notice Periods

• You are required to give four weeks’ notice in writing, if you wish your child to leave Tom Thumb. This notice will be charged in full even if your child doesn’t attend. For children claiming either EYEE or ELP, please note if you access the stretched funding offer and leave midterm/year you may be in a situation of owing us for funded hours used, due to the different lengths in each term, and this will be added to your final invoice. Please also note if full notice is not given and/or full payment of your final invoice is not paid, this information is given to ESCC and therefore will affect your ability to claim at another setting.
• Changes to your child’s hours/days can be made (subject to availability) for the following month of attendance as long as written notice has been sent to Claire office@tomthumbnursery.co.uk before registers and invoices have been issued.
• Extended sessions and extra sessions can be booked at short notice, written notice is not required for these.

Discounts/Refunds

• We offer a 15% discount off the total invoice for a single or joint (siblings) booking of 40 hours or more per week.
• For sibling bookings where both/all children attend 40 hours or more per week the discount is increased to 25%.
• No discount or refund (this includes any meal charges) is given for part attendance of a pre-booked session or sick days or any holidays.
• We will be closed, and do not charge for, all bank holidays, the summer break which this year will be week commencing 10^th of August 2026 and the Christmas break which runs from, and includes, Christmas Eve until New Year’s Day.

15/30 hours Funding

• We are registered with OFSTED to deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and therefore can claim the Early Years Education Entitlement (15/30 hour funding) from ESCC.
• From September 2025, 30 hours per week (term time) is available for eligible working families of 9 month old’s, from the term after they turn 9 months, you will need to check eligibility and apply online and then provide us with a code to access this funding, which will need to be reconfirmed online every 12 weeks. This funding will only last for as long as you are eligible.
• The 15 hours per week (term time) is also available for eligible families of disadvantaged 2-year old’s, from the term after their second birthday, you will need to check eligibility and apply online and then provide us with a code to access this funding
• The universal 15 hours (term time) is available for all 3- & 4-year old’s, from the term after your child’s third birthday, your child is automatically entitled to this offer, and you will need to apply through Tom Thumb to access this.
• Any hours in addition to the 570/1140 free hours are paid at normal rates.
• All other nursery fees and placement policies and procedures still apply to children claiming their 15 or 30 hour funding

38-week offer

For a maximum of 15/30 hours per week over a minimum of two days, during school terms.

Funded term time only booking dates are as follows.

8^th September 2025 to 19^th December 2025 with a break w/c 27^th October (total 14 weeks)

Term time only parents can book their children in for the 4^th and 5^th of September by emailing Claire but there will be no funding that week.

Monday 5^th January 2026 to Friday 27^th March 2026 with a break w/c 16^th February (total 11 weeks)

Monday 13^th April 2026 to Monday 20^th July 2026 with a break w/c 25^th May (total 13 weeks)

Term time only parents can book their children in on the 21^st & 22^nd of July by emailing Claire but there will be no funding on those 2 days.

• 15 hours funded only bookings can book in for 2 days of 9-4.30 per week and suggested hours for 30 hours funded only bookings are Mon-Fri 9-3 or 4 days of 9-4.30 (other hours may be available).
• If you wish to claim less than the 15/30 hours per week then please arrange this directly with Claire.
• For children who are paying for additional hours on top of the funded hours and children accessing the stretched funding offer parents can choose their hours using our minimum hours rules and your weekly funding entitlement will be deducted before charging for any booked additional hours.

Stretched offer.

This is only available for families wishing to access the full 30 hours.

The 38-week funding is then stretched across all the weeks we are open.

If your child is due funding from September 2025 the 1140 hours are split into 23.5 hours per week over 49 weeks (1^st September 2025 until August 28^th 2026)

If your child is due funding from January 2026 the 720 hours are split into 22 hours per week over 33 weeks (January 2^nd 2026 until August 28^th 2026)

If your child is due funding from April 2026 the 390 hours are split into 19.5 hours per week over 20 weeks (6^th April 2026 until August 28^th 2026)

Get help paying for your Childcare

30 hours funded childcare for working families with 9-month-olds (from September 2025)

Working parents and carers of children over 9-month-old’s may be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare, from the term after they turn 9 months. But you will need to meet certain conditions, like:

• each partner in your household works at least 16 hours a week.
• each partner in your household earns at least £139 a week.
• neither partner in your household earns over £100,000 per year
• if you’re a single-parent family, you’ll need to meet the same criteria.

You apply for this at www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

15 hours funded childcare for families of disadvantaged 2-year-olds.

The government offers funded childcare to families with disadvantaged 2-year-olds. This may include you if you or your partner:

• receive benefits, allowances or other government support.
• have a disability or if your child has a disability.
• arrived from another country and cannot claim benefits.

You apply for this at www.eastsussex.gov.uk/children-families/childcare/funding/apply

15 hours funded childcare for 3- & 4-year-olds

All families – the universal offer

Everyone can claim 15 hours a week of funded childcare when their children are 3-4 years old. And this continues until they start school - even if that’s past their fifth birthday.

You apply through a childcare provider for this.

Tax-free childcare

• For every £8 you pay into an online account, the government will add an extra £2, you can get up to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of your children 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)..

To be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare, you, and your partner (if you have one), must:

• be at least 16 years old & be in the UK, or treated as being in the UK
• be responsible for the child you are applying for
• be in qualifying paid work, which can include being self-employed, on shared parental, maternity, paternity, or adoption leave or on sick leave or annual leave
• expect to earn on average at least a weekly amount equivalent to 16 hours a week at the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage over the next 3 months
• not be earning more than an adjusted net income of £100,000 per year
• not be in receipt of Universal Credit or Childcare Vouchers 

You apply for this at www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Universal credit for childcare

Universal Credit can help with the costs of childcare. You may be able to claim up to 85% of your registered childcare costs if you’re eligible for Universal Credit, in paid work or due to start a job in the next month.

You have to pay for your childcare costs yourself unless you are eligible for an initial up-front childcare cost payment. You then report them through your Universal Credit account and will be paid some of the money back in your next Universal Credit payment. You can get up to 85% of childcare costs paid back to you. The maximum amount for each assessment period is:

• £1,031.88 for one child
• £1,768.94 for 2 or more children

You will only get the money back with Universal Credit after the childcare actually happens.

You can claim Universal Credit Childcare costs for all the children you’re responsible for until the 31 August after their 16th birthday.

Support while you study.

The Care to Learn scheme can help with childcare costs while you study.

You can get Care to Learn if all of the following apply to you:

• you’re a parent under 20 at the start of your course
• you’re the main carer for your child
• you live in England
• you’re either a British citizen or have a legal right to live and study in England
• your course qualifies
• your childcare provider qualifies

Your course

Care to Learn is only available for publicly-funded courses in England. This includes courses that take place in:

• schools
• sixth-forms in schools
• sixth-form colleges
• other colleges and education providers, including Foundation Learning
• your community at Children’s Centres

Your education provider can tell you if your course is eligible.

Apply for the Care to Learn scheme through your education provider. They will tell you if you and your chosen childcare provider are eligible.