The £100k childcare cliff edge - how is anyone meant to make this work?

This.

It’s not about ‘feeling sorry’ - its about it not being rational and incentivising people to work less / earn less / pay less tax - which has a broader impact on productivity and growth and overall tax take.

You need to think about this beyond ‘that’s more than I earn, so what’s the problem’.

Whether you have a point or not, couching it in faux concern for women who earn vastly less then that astronomical amount is gross.

We have had to space our children out to ensure the oldest is at school before we have another. Otherwise we’d be paying in excess of £4k for nursery fees which despite me being a high earner (my partner isn’t) we don’t get help. We can’t afford that when the mortgage on our 3 bed terraced house in a London suburb is now £3,500 a month.
I appreciate I earn well and am lucky to do, but it does sting that friends have a higher collective household income than us and receive 30 free hours.

and how about, there were no subsidies for us and so our £90k was all we earned to pay for child care.

and that is meant to make me feel sorry for you?

Missing the point here again.

The presence of the subsidies (and being excluded from them) create an incentive for people to work less to claim the benefits, as they otherwise face a 100%+ tax rate on income over £100k.

As of September 2025 I went from not being eligible for £2k of childcare help for a 9 month old, to not being eligible for around £15k of childcare help for a 9 month old. To earn £15k over £100k, I need to earn £135k gross. This creates a very large incentive to ensure I can claim those free hours.

That is the problem.

It’s even worse in Scotland. The SNP made a manifesto commitment to improve funded childcare, they have been given the money to match England’s policies under the Barnett formula…and yet children won’t get any funded childcare until they are 3-3.5 years old.

They can get it from 2-2.5 years old if you give up work though :)

They won’t go to school until 4.5-5.5 years old too, so we have another year of paying for childcare too.

My child’s nursery fees are £3,000 a month.

Why do the SNP hate women so much?!

and there were no subsidies

This is nothing new. 20 years ago we were on £90k and I basically worked to pay child care of about £1,500 pm

At £120k your take home is less in real terms than on £99k because you lose your 30 hrs childcare. I worked out the exact numbers but I think you have to be closer to 130k to actually be better off. Go the pension route or drop to 4 days a week.

So why are childcare costs so much lower in other European countries?

Because I think in the UK they are treated like a private good and thus mainly private provision and privately funded by families (govt makes some contribution). But in say France it is seen more like a public good and the state makes a very significant contribution with families paying a lot less.

It’s a damn shame. Quality childcare is important national infrastructure and should be treated like that.

Been there and was the reason we have 2 kids 5 yrs apart so that we don’t have 2 at the same time at nursery as it wouldn’t be affordable to us

How much was your mortgage then? How much was inflation? If it was 10+ years ago it's a totally different landscape.

Nannies aren't covered by free hours anyway.

I think it's the fact it's based on a solo income and not a household income which makes it so unfair.

Not everyone can have a larger gap. People are having kids later (again partly due to house prices and COL) so if you have no1 at 35 then you can't always wait until 39 for no 2. Having 3 kids is now a luxury!

I'm struggling to have much sympathy. There was absolutely no assistance with child care costs when my son needed it. We made the decision to employ a nanny. That was paid out of taxed income and on top of her wage we paid National Insurance.

We should take this post and some of the calculations in this thread in to a petition. I’d sign 10 times if I could.

Childminders and nurseries that are part of schools are far cheaper than the private nurseries in the southeast. Yes the school ones close in the holidays but there are clubs the kids can go to in the holidays which are also cheaper than private nurseries (admittedly this only works for 2 year olds and up)

They want to put people off having kids, put it that way. And imagine this situation for singles, even with a normal salary, despite some help, if you are entitled.
Then the holidays, someone commented on a TikTok video as there are always things on there about these subjects. That the school holidays have always been the same.
They have, but logistics have changed.
And if you can’t find suitable cover then you are f**d.

I’m actively turning down work to stay under and not taking on extra responsibilities. Which I know is a very privileged problem to have. I’d generate more tax by doing the work though. And there are a lot of us doing this within the NHS. Probably would be quite good for the country if we did some of that extra work needing done. I love my job but I’m not going to literally pay to do it.

My husband earns slightly over 100K, I have a step child who my husband pays a lot of money to their mum and rightfully so. We have 2 children 20 months apart and we too, have unfortunately been hit with not receiving 30 hours funded childcare. This meant I had to make the decision not to continue/take a break from my career, as putting 2 children into paid childcare priced me out of working.
I do work part time for the 15 hours we receive, but have no career prospects, it is just a job.
I personally think it's hugely unfair for these rules being based on one earner, it penalises not only the other parent but also the children who are missing out on additional preschool education.

There are some truly vital jobs that are paid a pittance. Post doc researcher doesn’t earn much more than the minimum wage. Intelligent, able people trying to find a cure for cancer having to give up work because their other half earns over £100k.

I agree that childcare should be universal like in Scandinavia where they pay around 200£ per month for nursery. But since the parents have 18 months of maternity/paternity leave most children will not be left before that. What I find weird is people wanting to have children but then not spending time with them. Preferring to go to work and leave your child with strangers even though their pay is as high as the nursery costs. Noone is forced to have a child. Personally I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my children.

I am very interested to see what happens over the next 12-24 months. The new 30 hours has really changed the incentives quite dramatically.

With a 4 year old and a 1 year old in 2023 I would be excluded from 15 hours for the oldest, and tax free childcare x 2. I think this would be worth ~£9k.

With a 4 year old and 1 year old in 2025 I am excluded from 15 free hours for the oldest, plus the tax free childcare x 2… plus 30 free hours for the baby. This is worth more like ~ £22k.

To earn that difference, most of the income is taxed at 62% - so you need to earn a lot to recoup the effective loss vs trying to get below the threshold.

It’s huge. How did no one realise.

@SalmonOnFinnCrisp here here. And I have dropped a day and backed right off my career. Which is sad.