Funding food ..

[Ruthierhyme]

How do you fund the food used in your setting?

Are unexpected topics / directions / tastes & events a burdon or given flexibly in any weekly accounting or cost sheets ..

[Kathie]

Our food budget comes from petty cash and my cupboards when trying different things like spices etc. We recently made pasties with the children and asked the parents for a donation of 50p towards the meat. I always make sure we have flour, sugar, icing, oil etc as we do alot of baking. With the cost of food at the moment i am thinking of revising our allowance because it's getting harder to shop on a budget and have the same healthy variety when food has gone up so much

[cabin]

We pay for all our food out of own funds - and it's now one of our major outgoings. Like Kathie I often delve into my own cupboard too...

xxxxx

[Brandy]

our parents sometimes bring in food yesterday a mum brought in pancake mix, strawberries etc, planning changed from making playdough to yummy pancakes, most of our cooking ingredients comes out of petty cash.
parents bring in pieces of whole fruit and add to a large bowl for snack and sometimes crackers/breadsticks.

[Kathie]

It's suprising how many settings ask for extra payment for snack, i am inundated with new children at the moment and every parent has asked how much extra do they have to pay for snack, maybe we're all doing something wrong!!!!

[cabin]

I have noticed that we seem to be having a 'new breed' of parent lately- they do seem to expect to pay for things -- and at long last we're getting lots that see the importance of play and not expecting us to make them 'work' at a younga age.

xxx

[sarahcentral]

We introduced a snack fee this term of 25p a session ( payable a term in advance). Everyone has paid ( no complaints either!) and this means that we can continue to provide a really good snack. We were finding things difficult and then found out lots of other preschools in the area were charging.

[Gavla]

We too are asking for a 20p snack fee per session. We only introduced it this week, but no one has complained so far! We only introduced the fee because of the rising cost of food and ingredients, we like to offer a healthy snack and allow the children to visit our snack bar more than once.

[gracygrey]

Originally Posted by sarahcentral

We introduced a snack fee this term of 25p a session ( payable a term in advance). Everyone has paid ( no complaints either!) and this means that we can continue to provide a really good snack. We were finding things difficult and then found out lots of other preschools in the area were charging.

Hi,

Only just seen this thread.
We introduced a 50p snack charge at our setting to help with costs, which as a registered charity in a rural village is hard. It was given to the parents as either pay 50p for snack or they can provide their own as long as falls within the healthy eating guidelines in our policies.
We had a visit from our LEA ey's advisor and she went loopy when she found out and said that we must not in any circumstance charge a fee, we can ask for a donation toward snack but it must not be compulsary. None of the parents had complained about paying for the snack so all we did was rephrase the welcome pack and letter about it to requesting a donation and on we went as normal

[Heidi]

Originally Posted by gracygrey

Hi,

Only just seen this thread.
We introduced a 50p snack charge at our setting to help with costs, which as a registered charity in a rural village is hard. It was given to the parents as either pay 50p for snack or they can provide their own as long as falls within the healthy eating guidelines in our policies.
We had a visit from our LEA ey's advisor and she went loopy when she found out and said that we must not in any circumstance charge a fee, we can ask for a donation toward snack but it must not be compulsary. None of the parents had complained about paying for the snack so all we did was rephrase the welcome pack and letter about it to requesting a donation and on we went as normal

Your LEA advisor is correct, settings are no longer allowed to charge a snack fee to any child that is eligible for funding.

As from 1st April 2011 when the Single Funding Formula was introduced- the sessional rate is broken down into portions for cleaning, premises etc and an allowance for snack.

You are not allowed to even ask for a donation from any child that is eligible for funding, only fee paying children. The government want 'free places' for three year olds to mean exactly that.

You can of course charge fee paying children - as it is looked upon as a contract between the setting and the parent/carer and no government funding documents are signed.

When the setting and the parents sign the funding form contracts they both agree that the child will not be charged anything for the 15 hours that they are entitled to. Charges may apply for any additional hours a child attend.

The above information is from the funding department of the county - although forms from them with the break down will have been sent to all settings. Auditors will do spot checks to ensure all the criteria for funding is adhered to, and any deviation from the documents/contracts may result in the funding being withdrawn.

My setting also charged a small fee for snacks across the board with allowances (non payment) made for those that needed it. We ceased charging snack fees as from 1st April 2011 to ensure we are abiding by our contract.
We have incorporated the snack money from fee paying children into the sessional fees as I feel it smacks of discrimination overtly charging some and not all.

I personally feel it is a shame as like others commenting on this subject, I felt that a small fee for snacks/sundries from [i]all [i]children went towards tissues etc and varied snacks without the setting having to worry about the cost. Parents have still been trying to pay us snack money this term and I've explained that we are no longer collecting it. My setting benefits from having the top 'tier' payment, so we will not lose out, but I know of other settings that are on the bottom tier and will have their funding reduced and no snack money so they will really feel the pinch.