Consumable fees are charges that cover the cost of additional services and items used by children in your setting. These are separate from your standard or local authority (LA) funded hourly rates and can be applied to any contract type.
For standard contracts, you are free to set fees as you see fit, in line with your Fees & Admissions Policy and through agreement with parents.
For funded contracts, all additional charges must comply with Department for Education (DfE) guidance. This means fees must be optional, linked to actual costs (like meals or nappies), and not used to top up hourly funding rates.
🥪 What You Can Charge For
There are three main categories of consumable fees:
Meals and Snacks: You can charge for snacks, meals, or split your fees into morning, afternoon, and evening meals. These fees can include the cost of food, your time, and associated utilities.
Non-food consumables: This includes frequently replenished items like nappies, wipes, suncream, and personal care products.
Activities: This fee covers the costs of providing enhanced experiences, such as outings (e.g., farm visits, music classes, soft play trips) or resources for special activities and celebrations.
🧮 How to Calculate Consumable Fees
Consumable fees should reflect the actual costs to your setting, as these are costs that parents agree to cover.
Meals: Calculate the maximum cost of providing a meal. For example, if it costs you a maximum of £3 per child, all meals you provide should stay within this limit. This can include the cost of food, your time, labour, and utilities.
Non-food consumables: Work out the average number of nappies, wipes, or other consumables you use per day or session, and calculate the associated cost.
Activities: Activity fees should be for anything you offer as part of your enhanced offer, not your core offer.
For funded placements, remember:
Fees must be clearly associated with costs for things like meals, activities, and items that need to be frequently replenished.
They should not be charged for standard items that are part of your core provision, such as books, toys, or stationery.
✨ Core vs. Enhanced Offer
Your core offer is defined by the curriculum required by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory guidance. An example is small world play with a zoo animal theme as part of a core animal topic.
Your enhanced offer includes activities and experiences that go beyond the EYFS requirements. These are your unique selling points - the extras that enrich children's experiences in your setting, such as a trip to the zoo.
📜 Important DfE Guidance
Fees must not be a top-up: Additional fees cannot be used to make up the difference between the LA's hourly rate and your usual rate. They must be associated with specific costs for meals, consumables, and activities.
Fees must be optional: All additional charges must be optional for families to access a funded place. Parents must have the option to provide their own meals or consumables if they are not able to pay your fees.
It's crucial to be clear about what's included in your core versus enhanced offer so parents can make informed choices. If a parent opts out of paying for activities, consider whether you can afford to absorb some of those costs. Remember that you can claim the costs of all consumables as an expense on your tax return.
💻 Invoicing and Compliance
From January 2026, all invoices for funded placements must show a clear breakdown of charges. This must include:
Funded hours (free to parents, at £0/hr)
Additional hours charged directly to parents
Optional additional service charges that have been agreed with parents
Tiney invoices will display this breakdown clearly.
⚠️ In line with DfE guidance, these new consumable fees are replacing subsistence fees. If you previously used subsistence fees for funded placements, you must update them to the new fee options to ensure your invoices are compliant by January 2026.
🛠️ Updating Fees in the tiney App
To update your fees in the tiney app, go to Business Settings from the Account Menu in the top-right corner. There, you can add any consumable or activity fees relevant to your offer.
These will auto-fill into any future contracts you create, but can be edited per child.
📱Accounting for the Tiney Fee
You can also include the tiney percentage fee in your calculations, as it's a cost to you for providing the service. To do this, you can add a markup to your fees to cover both the cost of the service and the tiney fee.
For example, if the ingredients for a meal, your time, and resources cost you £2.00, and your tiney fee is 12%, you can use this calculation to find the total charge to parents:
£2.00 ÷ (1 − 12 / 100) = £2.27
By charging parents £2.27, you will earn £2.00 after the tiney fee is deducted, covering the cost of the ingredients and your time.