Full-time WOHMs who can't afford nannies....

As a childminder - I will have children for school holidays only, inset days, occasional ad hoc care, etc. Some of the parents I've minded for have been on low incomes, and have been able to claim working family tax credits (or whatever it is called now) for school holiday care only.

Relatives (even non-local ones!) have also been emergency carers for odd days.

Sheila It was just one of the options offered at work as part of the standard package (I work for a large company) alongside things like private medical care, retail vouchers, childcare vouchers etc. These have an effect on your take home pay in relation to what you opt into/out of. Anyone can take up to a week extra holiday (in my case 3 days because I work a 3 days week). I get the cost of this knocked off my salary but also don't pay tax/NI on it so that means it only costs me 2/3 ish of the total pay I get for working 3 days. The cost of this to me is then divided over the 12 months but I can take the days just like annual leave (in fact it is added to my leave days) so have to fill in an online form and get my manager's approval basically. But I think it is more straightforward than parental leave and the cost is spread.

bluejelly also mentions it in her post.

Blimey - respect to you Xenia! makes life as a single parent of 1 seem easy! Who do you use for after school care, BTW - a student?

I used to use a childminder in the school holidays - was a single parent then. I no work term-time only and have emergency leave to cover sick/inset days which are also shared with partner. But, I am also able to work at home pretty easily so use that for sick days as well.

I work full time and am the single parent of 5. I use the older children quite a lot. One is babysitting tonight for example. There father does and pays virtually zero despite being a teacher. His loss really.
I've put the youngest in holiday play schemes/clubs. A long while back a daughter with 2 week half term used to go to grandparents by train for the second week alone. Now I have someone who comes after school most days and she is luckily able to do most of the holidays for a daily rate as and when needed.

Older children can stay alone or go to friends.

Often students are very keen for extra money.
Au pairs by the way are quite cheap, really worth considering, not a posh rich option. Goregous clever nice sensible Polish girls too abound but depends which part of the country you live in.

wrappingpaperBOwZZAndribbons, can you explain how the holiday purchase scheme works? How is it better than just taking unpaid leave?

I'm a single parent with one school age DS, and must say I find childcare a struggle. DS's school has a holiday club but DS hates it and will only go if one of his mates goes too (sigh). He doesn't like the football and other theme-based clubs (Arty-crafty etc) either, and in any case these are often hugely expensive. I manage mainly through saving all my leave for the hols, begging favours from friends etc etc. Each week is different in the Summer hols and I find myself longing for the school term to start - pretty sad eh?!

I'm a singel parent with three Dcs - they have an excellent after school and holiday club system, tehy take them on trips (cinema, parks, safari park, fun fair, museums, bowling etc throughout the summer - which was partly funded by the council - which costs me £48.25 a week throughout the year - for all three children.

the council ha stopped funding as they had to make a HUGE payout on equal oppurtunities court cae for back pay ( basically they were paying women workers far less than the male equivilant) so they've put the out of school service out to tender, one plus are meant to be taking over and the rumour (because no one will tell us anything - after all we're only parents!) will be a huge price hike in fees (which my tax credit won't adequately cover) & less trips and fun things to do during summer holidays.

nice to see a labour council fully supporting the Labour partys stated aims of getting (lone) parents back to work to eradicate child poverty.

I'll need to drop time at work during term time(pay cut, which WFTC will make up a bit of) leave kids with paternal grandparents (120 mile round trip during some of the summer holidays) and try to persuade alcoholic XP to sober up a bit and spend some tiem with them. obviously I'll take a lot of my annual leave myself.

I know I've had it relatively good up to now, but as far as I'm concerened convincing parents to return to work should include targetted subsidised, comprehensive childcare that takes account of peoples financial and parenting needs.

Combination of
accrued Time Off in Lieu - I work in education so am able to take leave more easily in the vacations, and so does dh
some help from family - but not much as my parents are elderly and it would wear them out if they did as much as they keep offering to
dh and I not being off together except for our annual hols and at Christmas
After-school club
Occasional use of local day nursery's rather relaxed playscheme for older child

yes you're right Bozza both DH and I are (relatively) well paid and in fact in extremis would just take unpaid parental leave, we have that for a while as DS2 only 3.5.

Have never had to do that in 3 years of school tho.

dh worked nights for a while

family helped out for a while - paid i might add

dh worked alone and cheated picking them up from school without telling anyone

i have flexible job which involves toil so i can come home early - start later

once eldest turned 14 we left them to it

Also my decisions/work hours etc are influenced by still having a pre-schooler.

Most of the replies you have got are not from people in the worst paid jobs though are they? We are the in between people who can afford some childcare but not a full-time nanny or don't want one like bundle.

Yes like others posting here it's a mixture for us.

Take all hols in school hol time, generally not together.

We still have C/minder for DS2 and she can sometimes take DD as well which just leaves DS1 - Gran or Grandma can cover (tho neither is very local).

Sports club at local sports centre - usually about £10-£12/day. Often share pick-ups and drop-offs with a friend so someone can have earlier start/later finish.

We each have one day off a week so only 3 days to cover anyway. also our days off are Mon and fri so Inset days no prob. At a pinch we have plenty of neighbours/friends who will help.

Fo eg, this Christmas DH is taking the first day of the hols as holiday, my mum is here for Christmas and hopefully staying a couple of days beyond it, then I am taking 2 days hol after New Year. Christmas is easier tho as so many Bank hols anyway.

It sounds a bit mad doesn't it but it does seem to work OK.

share days during sickness (dh does mornings, I do afternoons)
holidays - workplace playscheme for dd1, dd2 still at nursery (open 8-6)
I probably could afford a nanny, but don't want one

Well I think a lot of the people who are in really poorly paid jobs will work anti-social hours to avoid the childcare issue. So evenings/weekends as bar staff/cleaners/care assistants/shelf stackers etc.

I think you're right Greensleeves, if you both work full time in inflexible jobs and not particularly great salaries, then without relatives to help it's really hard. You'd need a really good after school club system or a good childminder.

but your DH works flexibly doesn't he?

my DP takes about 4 weeks unpaid parental leave a year. but obviously that only works if you don't need the full income. he's a bit work-shy so it suits him.

I work full time and am a single parent. Use a combo of

after school clubs
childminder
Grandparents
holiday playschemes
I buy an extra week's leave
and occasionally ask friends who don't work to help

Sounds complicated but with one child totally doable.

If I had 2 or 3 I think I'd be a lot more stressed!

I don't work full-time anymore - but still 30 hours a week. I am also lucky in that I work at home 2 days a week so that removes makes life a bit easier (not that working from home with 3 kids in the house is exactly easy!). I had an excellent CM who would look after all 3 in the hols but not too often as she wasn't really geared up for older kids and it cost me a fortune too. My parents step in to the breach but again, not too often as they are quite elderly now. DH is self-employed so can take time off when he wishes but can't afford to do too much. I've not found a satisfactory holiday club - most aren't all day, or too expensive, or no good so I don't tend to bother.

So in brief - mostly my leave, some of DH's leave, some CM and some gps. It's always a bit wing and a prayer really...

I do think it is so much easier if you have family local that you can call on for ad-hoc/emergency childcare - eg inset days or if CM is on holiday, or school rings up for child to be collected.

some employers will let you take parental leave as odd days though, depends how flexible they are. but yes, the law says it has to be week long blocks.

Some of my friends have just moved their children to a different school solely because of the provision of before and after school and holiday care. It's been a priority for us in choosing schools too even though we rarely use it at the moment.

We worked out that a live in au pair would probably be the cheapest option, if you have a spare room and like having feckless young foreigners in your home (which we do). in the end we didn't do that as we both work flexibly anyway so don't struggle as much as some to fit work round childcare - getting a flexible job where you can start and finish at odd times and make up the hours is also worth considering if you have the choice. we save a fortune in childcare by both being able to work very flexibly.

By leave for when the children are sick I mean annual leave not parental leave. Although at our work you get the option of buying an extra week's hols. I worked it out that with the tax/NI implications this meant I would be loosing about £20/month net so I took it. That way if I did need to take time off with the children I would not get a big hit in one month's pay.

School holidays - 6 weeks in summer, 2 weeks on holiday, one week DH, one week me, 2 weeks with sister & SIL
half terms - either me, DH take holiday or sister

inset days - grandma or take as holiday

sick days - I have taken as holiday or grandma has looked after her, but these are the worst parts as you cannot plan ahead.

It is bloody hard at times and I resent having to use annual leave for DD being ill. Also, parental leave has to be taken in weekly blocks, notified in advance and is unpaid. How useful is that?
So glad I will be on maternity leave for 12 months from April next year.