Registered and Approved Childcare Provider
Childcare providers are a vital resource to society, enabling parents to get into and stay in work. We understand the significant expense childcare is for families and want to highlight to all parents of the current financial support available in Northern Ireland.
Bumbles is an approved Childcare provider, meaning we are vetted, registered, insured and inspected, and ensure we always adhere to the ‘minimum standards’ that have been set in place. Attending an approved and registered Day Care is an essential part of being able to apply for and claim financial support to help towards childcare costs.
Most working families are entitled to some form of financial support with their childcare costs, including those on higher incomes. At Bumbles, we accept payment from and are part of all major schemes including:
Tax Free Childcare – click here
Tax-Free Childcare is a government scheme that pays 20% of childcare costs up to a maximum of £2,000 each year. Tax-Free Childcare is a UK-wide scheme covering England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The scheme is open to all parents of children under 12 years old, therefore including nursery, wraparound care and our breakfast club.
According to Moneysavingexpert.com, 1.3 million families in the UK are eligible and around 800,000 families are not making use of it. (Ref: January 2023) Please visit the gov.uk website to apply. Check your eligibility here.
Childcare Vouchers (still available to some) – click here
Childcare Vouchers are a scheme run through an employer’s payroll aimed at helping working parents with the cost of childcare. Parents ‘sacrifice’ part of their salary into the Childcare Voucher account and, as a result, save on their tax and National Insurance.
The Tax-Free Childcare scheme replaced the Childcare Vouchers scheme, which closed to new applicants in October 2018. However, if you were signed up for vouchers before the scheme closed, you can continue to get them as long as you stay with the same employer, and it still offers them. Find out more here.
Bumbles Daily Fees
For 30 years now, Bumbles has been a recommended, sought after and high quality childcare provider in the Rosetta and Ormeau area of Belfast. With family at the heart of our operation, we have always endeavoured to be reasonably priced in comparison to, and quite often below, the sector average for our area.
We display our fees publicly on our website to help families stay informed as and when they require the information to help make future decisions. As it stands, our highest daily rate is £57 per day. When broken down into the potential 10 hour day of care at Bumbles, that is just £5.70 per hour.
Wraparound hourly rate works out higher, mainly due to the time involved in scheduling to ensure the safe collection of children and managing the extra staff required to facilitate different pick ups and times from various local schools. Our flexible service for wraparounds are not charged 52 weeks of the year, allowing parents to opt in and out during school holiday periods. Read more about our fees here.
At Bumbles, we hope to become more active in wider discussions around childcare support and will keep our families updated on any further developments relating to childcare costs / support available.
Below is a short video Family Support NI have produced outlining Financial Assistance with Childcare Costs and helpful information about how to access this.
Just yesterday, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the Spring Budget which Employers for Childcare have highlighted has little to no impact on families budgeting for childcare here in Northern Ireland. Read the article here: Budget leaves Northern Ireland families further behind in childcare support