To ask how much nurseries actually cost?

[LGY1]

I’m trying to weigh up my options for childcare but it’s very hard to get a definite answer on how much a nursery will actually cost at the end of the month.

The one we are looking at is £244 a week. (£1057 a month of you x by 52 \ 12)
I know that childcare vouchers are tax free, but it isn’t as easy as taking 20% off as you can’t get childcare vouchers for the full amount?

I’ve asked my NCT crew how much they actually pay between childcare vouchers and the amount left over, but no one seems to have an answer!
If this would me I would know exactly how much the amounts were.

Anyone able to help with what proportion would be tax free & what would be full price? Does anyone have similar base costs?

(As a side AIBU - how can people not know what their monthly outgoings are?!)

[irnbruxtra]

Hi, the maximum tax free amount of childcare vouchers is £243 a month. Does your partner have the option to do vouchers too? So say 2/4 weeks are covered by your vouchers and then pay rest in cash?

[reluctantbrit]

Monthly amount the nursery charges less the childcare voucher and you have your monthly amount to pay directly.

We always had a fixed amount each months, it only changed when DD changed rooms as they had a variety of fees depending how old the children are. From 3 she got the 15hr term time funding which the nursery again applied as one am Unit or months to keep the invoice amount the same.

[HappyDinosaur]

Ours is £57 a day, or £36 for a half day. We were told no new applicants could claim childcare vouchers as the govt has replaced it with something else? We also can't get whatever the new thing is so basically no help at all!!

[QforCucumber]

We use the tax free childcare so a little different. Our bill for 3 days at £42.50-day is £541.87 (42.53 51 weeks / 12 months) they don't charge for Xmas week as they are closed.

We then put £435 into the tax free account each month, which is topped up to the £542 by the government.

so for us, 3 days a week of nursery costs £435/month.

[BluebadgenPIP]

I wouldn’t tell you any kind of personal finance info because how much it works out to related to income as far as how much you get paid for you / given back. Does that make sense?

[OpportunityKnocks]

You might be better off with the tax-free childcare scheme. You pay into an account and the gov tops it up 20% up to a max of £2k across the year

[cupoftea84]

The new system is online and the government top up what you pay by 20% effectively giving you basic rate tax back. For most people it's better than the old system.

[chocolatebuttonsandcheese]

Mine is £50 a day so I pay £40 and the government pays £10 a day.

[Darkstar4855]

Childcare vouchers and tax free childcare are two different things.

Childcare vouchers is the old scheme and unless you are already signed up for it you can’t use it.

Tax free childcare is the new system: basicslly you pay money into an account, the government top it up and then you use it to pay the nursery fees. They add £2 for every £8 you put in so you effectively pay 80% of the nursery fees. The maximum they will pay is £2k so anything over £10k a year in nursery fees you will have to pay in full.

As an example, if you are paying £250 a week for 52 weeks the total annual bill is £13k. You will get tax free childcare on the first £10k so that will cost you £8k. You pay the other £3k in full so your total annual bill is £11k i.e. £212 a week.

If your annual nursery bill is less than £10k you just multiply it by 0.8 to see what you have to pay.

[Palegreenstars]

Is £244 after vouchers? If it’s brfore for 5 days a week it’s £48 a day - that sounds very good to me. Ours is £60 per day (including food not including nappies)

We do the other gov scheme so get £2000 off a year but this has to be split to £500 per quarter.

So around £800 a month for 4 days after the tax free is applied.

Our nursery is very good at delaying payments if you’ve used up your tax free for the quarter.

[ItsLikeRainOnYourWeddingDay]

With childcare vouchers you save 80 odd quid a month per voucher. If you both work it is always better to do the 20% tax option

[RicStar]

Unless you have already registered for vouchers for another child you will not be able to claim vouchers. You may be able to claim tax free childcare if you meet the criteria. I don't use that scheme but my understanding is you can pay in around £800 per month which is topped up to around £960ish. So for your nursery you are looking at around £900 per month if you qualify for tax free childcare.

[JagerPlease]

I use tax free childcare (you won't be able to get vouchers unless you're already signed up, but if you're both working tax free childcare is likely better anyway).

My weekly bill is £260, I pay £208 into my childcare account and the govt tops it up (so I actually put around £850 in per month)

[Darkstar4855]

Eligibilty for tax free childcare canbe found here: www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

[LGY1]

The £244 is before vouchers (we are up north!) & is full time, 5 days a week.

We haven’t joined anything yet so would be on the new tax free scheme.

Thanks - sounds a bit better than I originally thought, seems we can get a higher tax free amount than with the vouchers.
Still a lot of money a month though

[LGY1]

@jagerplease Thank you - we have similar base costs so that gives me a good idea

[Darkstar4855]

£244/week = £12,688/year.

First £10k will be tax free so you pay £8k.

£8k + £2688 = £10,698.

Divide that by 52 and your nursery fees will be £205.73 a week.

[roses2]

I pay £1,100/month for 9am-4pm 5x per week x 50 weeks per year.

I use tax free childcare for £2,000/year reduction. This is in Zone 2 London.

I use an au pair for wrap around childcare. She drops off and picks up so I don't need to put DS in nursery 8am - 6pm. This costs an additional ~£500/month.

[MynameisJune]

The childcare voucher scheme is now closed to new joiners. So unless you already get them you won’t be able to get them now.

Your only option is the tax free childcare scheme, which the government will top up your account by 20% of what you put in. So if you put in £800 they’d put in £200 up to a maximum of £2000 a year per child I think.

[Xenia]

Depends on the child. A good full time nursery in London for a baby could be £24k pa per baby.