Tracking your funded hours
Check your funding claim and each child’s used and banked hours, and cost a new place before you take it.
Who this is for
Who this is forChildminders with funded children, or thinking about taking one. Set your LA rates in
Business Settingsfirst. It takes about five minutes.
Open the Tools tab and choose Funding Tracker.
1. Check your claim
The Allocation tab shows your Estimated Funding Claim for the period, child by child.
2. Check hours used and banked
Tap Balances to see each child's funded hours, used and banked.
- Used: when a child is absent, late or collected early, their funded hours still count as used. You're not expected to make them up.
- Banked: hours bank only when the family missed out through no choice of their own, like when you close because you're ill. Clear a banked balance by recording a free session.
3. Try a what-if
Tap the calculator in the header to open the Funding Calculator. Nothing you enter here changes your contracts or rates.
Enter My Private Rate, the weeks you're open each year and your monthly expenses. Funding rates come from your LA rate cards, and you can change them here to test.
4. Add children
Tap + Add Child. Each child starts as a funded 3 to 4 year old on 15 hours. Change their age group, hours and days, or switch them to Private. The Yearly Profit updates as you go.
✅Why KinderStart does it this way
Tracking used and banked hours the way councils expect means your termly headcount is right, and you can show your figures if they're questioned.
What to do next
- Creating a childcare contract: funded hours are set on each child's contract.
- Choosing how you invoice families: how funded hours come off invoices.
Next: step 6, Run your day
Keeping a child's daily diary
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