Please help me work out childcare costs per month?

[WhyTheHeckMe]

I'm driving myself insane. Every time I do this I get a different figure! Will be returning from maternity leave on 4th Feb 2019.
Dc1 - will be 3. Not entitled to 30 free hrs till the April. Fees are £40 per day. Will go tue - Fri, so 4 days per week (7.30-6pm)
Dc2 - will be under 1. Fees are £42 a day. Will do same 4 days and hours as dc1

I'm tying myself up in knots as I can't work out the fees at all.

It's going to be a huge shock as not only are we moving from 1 child to 2 in childcare, but we've had to increase the days too due to MIL now being unfortunately very seriously ill with terminal cancer so she definitely won't be able to assist.

I know it's a big ask but if you can help me, please do :)

[Cify]

So £82 a day which is £328 a week. Assuming you have to pay for holiday (?) 52 weeks in a year is £17,056 a year, so divided by 12 months is £1,421 a month

[umizoomi]

Do you get any holiday time or Christmas not paid?

I would say it's daily cost X 4 X 52 then divide by 12

So I would say in your case it's £1421 per month

[insancerre]

I work in a nursery and we work it out as the previous posters have
Day rate x number of days x 52 divided by 12

Please be aware that fees may have increased by then

[WhyTheHeckMe]

But that isn't taking into account dc1 30 free hours is it? That's the bit that I can't work out.
We get 2 x weeks 1/2 price annull leave so effectively we pay for 51 weeks a year
Thank you

[insancerre]

Thought you said she wasn't entitled to the hours?
Roughly the 30 hours will get you 2 free days a week, so the fees should be about half for dd1

[insancerre]

Any sibling discount?

[Makingworkwork]

You said DC1 is not entitled to free hours?

[WhyTheHeckMe]

He will be entitled, just not immediately. I go back to work in Feb and he will get 30 hours on April. They split the fees over the whole year so I I know that although Feb and March will be £1421 worth, I'm unsure what it will work out the rest of the time :(

[RicStar]

You will need to ask the nursery how the free hours will impact dd1 when she is entitled to them. As different nursery have different policies- some are flexible some only offer free hours as fixed sessions per day so a part time child may not get all 30 hours.

[WhyTheHeckMe]

They've confirmed that he will get the full allowance as he's there 4 full days per week

[insancerre]

No nursey is going to commit to giving you a price for April 2019 but you could ask for a figure based on today's prices

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

Yes but it’s not as simple as that. You need to know what you’re paying for the remaining time.

[WhyTheHeckMe]

Ah alright. Thanks for your help all. Unfortunately the nursery are not at all accommodating with this, they're a good nursery but not when it comes to fees. I thought I'd overpaid last year and the manager assured me I hadn't, then I got my end of year statement and I'd overpaid by over £300! It's like getting blood out of a stone with them and I just was hoping for an approx figure. Thank you :)

[RicStar]

You are paying £3.8 per hour for the older one - and will need around 20 hours unfunded per week (as 30 is term time only) so around £76 per week - which is around £323 per month for dc1 but that is dependent on the nursery not having different rates for 'top up hours' - and I know few nurseries where the calculation works out that simply. Together with baby that would be about £1100 per month - which I think is the very minimum you can expect to pay. But it could be a totally different figure.

[AndWhat]

So next year Easter is end of April so free hours possibly won’t start till May.
Therefore approx;
DC1 = £40x4 = £160 x 52/12 = £694 for 3 months
DC2 = £42x4 = £168 x 52/12 = £728 pm

Feb/Mar/Apr = £1422 pm
Then £728pm

[AnnaT45]

I don't know if this helps but my three year old gets 15 hours a week. They split it over the year and it works out to save about £200 a month. I would ask nursery how they do it and what it equates to. They should know as presumably other children are already receiving the fee hours?

[insancerre]

When are they 3?
If they are not 3 till end of April
Then you won't get any free hours till the beginning of September

[WhyTheHeckMe]

He's 3 in Jan. I emailed the nursery again to ask her for help and she replied with this:

"He receives 30 hours as from April at present this would cover 3 full days term time only."

Not overly helpful :/ so I'll just assume that they'll split it out over the 12 months as opposed to having some months cheaper than others

[insancerre]

So 38 weeks of paying for one day
And 13 weeks of paying for 4 days a week