tiney's service charge applies to certain Local Authority payments you receive for provision of funded childcare. Some payment types are exempt, and the way you pay the service charge will depend on whether the LA pays you directly or via tiney. The charge is set at your standard percentage for all applicable payments.
Which payments are subject to the charge?
Here's how tiney's service charge applies to payments for the different funding types:
Funding type | Does the fee apply? |
Working Parent funding for 9 - 23-month-olds | Yes |
Working Parent funding for 2-year-olds | Yes |
Additional Support Funding for 2-year-olds | No |
Universal funding for 3&4-year-olds | Yes* |
Working Parent funding for 3&4-year-olds | Yes* |
EYPP | No |
Disability Access Fund | No |
Other supplementary payments or grants paid by the LA | No |
*The fee will apply to payments for funded hours of care for children accessing 3&4-year-old entitlements for childminders who registered with tiney on or after 1st January 2026.
Has this always been the case?
Before the government's expansion of funding, which started in September 2024, all funding was exempt from tiney's fee.
Since that point, many more children have become eligible for funding, so the fee goes towards tiney's work in providing our services, including handling contracts and invoicing, tiney's app and resources, INSET days, training and coaching, reduced first aid training costs, insurance, QA, ongoing support, and more.
You can view our Funded Placement terms here.
Will my fee be lowered if I submit my own funding claims?
The fee will be applied at your standard rate, as it goes towards tiney's work as detailed above. The only way your fee can be reduced is via the loyalty offer.
Some LAs work with tiney, but others prefer to work directly with childminders. If you are currently submitting your own funding claims and would like tiney to do this for you, please reach out to us: the decision will ultimately be up to your LA, but we’ll be able to guide you through making the request and the next steps.
How does the fee get paid?
If your payments are made via tiney, the fee will be applied when the payment reaches us, in exactly the same way as the payments received from parents.
If the LA pays you directly, a charge will be set up in your tiney wallet, which must be paid by the end of the term. Please see here for more information on the process.
There's also guidance here on asking your LA to send your payments to tiney instead of to you directly, as well as how to ensure that we have the correct information for your funding claims.