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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Original poster

What would you expect to be cheaper....

30 replies

IneedAsockamnesty · 10/12/2013 17:23

I asked this on a thread but thought it may be more appropriate to start my own.

I was chatting to a friend last night who was asking me about my childcare and she asked what different things cost. She's thinking of going back to work after 15 years of being a sahm

I realised I didn't have a clue, I haven't used a nursery for 18 years a nanny for 13 years so my only recent experience is of two childminders.

So in order of least - most expensive what would order you expect it to be (outside of London) between childminder,nanny and nursery.

If your not bothered by sharing the actual cost I'm also quite interested in how often sibling discounts show up she has 3.and if ofstead rating makes a difference.

I pay mine £6 ph for each child no sibling discount. But I am about to stsrt with a different one as I've recently found out that the going rate in my area is only £3.70 ph each child and I'm not comfortable with my cm's rusk assessment did think I was being silly until I read her recent ofstead report and they highlighted the same things as an issue.

I guessed that in cost order it would be childminder then nanny then nursery (nursery being the most expensive) but I have no idea if I'm correct.

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nannynick · 10/12/2013 18:14

3 children under 4, then I would say:

nanny
childminder / nursery

Reason is that a nanny cost is not per child.
Things would be different if there were less children.

Once eldest child is at school there may be other options but would need to weigh up the inconvience of taking/collecting children from multiple places.

Tax credits can be used towards a nanny subject to the nanny being registered (England), approved (Wales) or recruited via a childcare agency (Scotland).

Problem though is that with whatever childcare option is selected childcare cost could be higher than salary retail pays, unless at management level.

busyDays · 10/12/2013 18:06

Like others have said, it depends on so many factors. In my area a childminder is roughly £5/hour per child and sibling discounts don't really exist. That generally includes all meals and activities. Nurseries charge about £65/day per child regardless of how many hours you need, and again, that includes meals and activities. Nannies seem to be very roughly £10-12/hour but then you have employers costs, meals, activities, petrol, etc. on top. So around here, for three children under 5 a nanny would probably be the cheapest. The local after school club is only £9 from 3pm-6pm, so if some of the children are school age, then a combination of an after school club and chilminder may well be cheaper.

Original poster
IneedAsockamnesty · 10/12/2013 17:55

She's looking at retail type jobs but part time about 20 hours no weekends but both term and school holidays. None of her kids are in school yet.

I'm not very up on tax credits and childcare costs but my understanding is you can't get any help with costs for a nanny.

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NomDeClavier · 10/12/2013 17:39

Totally depends how many children, what hours, the nanny/CM's experience and what extras they charge etc.

If you have 1 child and need 40 hours care a week between 9am and 5pm, then a nursery is likely to be cheapest. But if you have 3 children and work shifts which include unsociable hours a live in nanny is going to be cheaper than a CM and a nursery won't be practical.

So it's a bit of a how long is a piece of string question, which is also the reply to 'how much does a nanny cost' because you can paying anything from £7 to £17 per hour.

ConfusedPixie · 10/12/2013 17:29

It depends on many factors though.

With one pre-school aged child I'd say Nursery or childminder, then nanny.
With two pre-school children the costs could level out across all three though nannies will be slightly more expensive due to employer costs.
With three it's a no brainer as a nanny would be cheaper than the other two.