MNHQ here: anything you'd like to tell your MP about your experiences with using childcare?

I would contact my MP but he has blocked me after I asked if he could explain why he voted against extending the free school meals programme. Apparently this was an "Angela Rayner-esque" comment so it was deleted from his social media and I was blocked, he also no longer replies to my emails

Lack of availability completely screwed my chances of getting back into work in my profession (tech). Nurseries around us seemed high quality (child-minders did not) but had years long waiting lists, only a couple ran the sorts of hours I needed and with twins the chances of getting them both in at the same time was also an issue.

In the end I had to wait until they could go to the nursery attached to the primary school they ended up attending and that could only give them the “free” hours allotment, not a full day (and certainly not the 8 - 7 I would have needed to get back into my career properly). Childminders with availability seemed pretty low quality (watching them as they dropped off and picked up at the school there was a lot of ignoring the children, shouting, smoking in front of them, etc.) so even after mine were in school I didn’t feel able to use a child-minder to cover the hours I would have needed and the after-school club didn’t have excess spaces so couldn’t depend on them either.

I did love the nursery they attended. The staff were fantastic and I have nothing but praise for them. My kids loved it there and really blossomed. All the nurseries I looked at seemed high quality. I also used a number of regulated crèches from time to time and one unregulated one (it ran for two hours, once a week and so did not need to meet the same requirements). The regulated ones were far, far better. I think the work the UK has done in regulating nurseries has, for the most part, resulted in a good early years experience for children who attend. But it can’t have helped with cost and that’s a big issue if we aren’t going to subsidise it better...

Child care is expensive. Child-minders, where I was, were significantly less expensive than nursery and could have more flexibility, but they seemed much lower quality. And even at child-minder prices I would have been out of pocket covering childcare for two children while I worked. While long term it would have made financial sense since it would have been a career investment, lots of families don’t have the capital to look that far ahead. And for some women, their careers will not pay back that investment.

Sorry, new here, what is MP?

I don't understand where people think cheap childcare is going to come from, especially in areas with high property prices.

@RowanMumsnet the team at Pregnant Then Screwed have been covering this all week due to the potential funding challenges in early years childcare. There’s a lot about the debate on their social channels at the moment.

I appreciate school isn't child care, but we have to arrange childcare around it.

Think that the pandemic has put that myth to bed, of course school is (and always has been) a form of childcare.

The cost is extortionate. My second child was twins. Double the cost. Well triple actually if you count the first one. Parents of multiples are not entitled to longer maternity leave, not exempt from child benefit reductions on subsequent children, and yet somehow have to pay for an extra child. It is grossly, hugely and disproportionately unfair. It nearly bankrupted me.
I had to employ a nanny as I couldn't afford nursery. It cost £2k per month. There are no tax benefits to employing someone, and you are not entitled to any of the benefits a small business would get. Yet, you cannot grow your income as a business could do, and you are stuck paying these enormous bills.
It's a disgrace specific to multiple parents.
Mine weren't ivf, and although you could argued that ivf twins are a known 'risk' in terms of these costs, you could also argue that these pot parents have paid enough and shouldn't be penalised for infertility.
I really, genuinely think that parents of multiples need some financial help. It is very rarely 'buy one get one free' with twins in my experience.

When my DD was born I went back to work when she was around a year old. Worked brilliantly. Nursery were consistent, professional, had good communication and generally worked WITH us to ensure DD was safe and happy.
Almost as soon as she went to school, I started having problems. After school care cancelled with little notice, had to re-apply for sessions each half term, sometimes not enough places. INSET days, parents evenings and ad hoc 'essential' parent briefings with very little notice.
Within 6 months, I felt I had to give up work.
Most people only get 5-6 weeks off work per year, so covering holidays is a nightmare. If you can find holidays clubs, many don't start until 9am and finish at 3/4pm.

I appreciate school isn't child care, but we have to arrange childcare around it.

The whole system needs a re-think.

I pay trusted people cash in hand to care for my kids
It’s cheaper , works for all
And means I can happily work and pay my 40% tax
And yes it’s not strictly legal but it works really well for us

I feel it would be better for families to have a government 'pot' they can access for funded places which they claim and use towards their bill, like tax free childcare but with an additional grant, that way parents get a discount, more flexibility over when they can use the hours and providers get their full amount.

Exactly. The free hours sounds great but in practice has been a nightmare. They should have expanded the childcare vouchers scheme but I suspect employers didn't like paying for the childcare vouchers when a mother was on maternity leave (they were quite happy with their reduced NI contributions of course). But putting the choice in the hands of the parents seems like a Tory policy, whereas free hours is pulling preschool childcare into the early years education sphere. And if we think early years education is important it needs to be like schools and funded by the state.

I flagged that I was being charged top up fees by my son's nursery provider a few years ago (which at the time was not allowed under their funding contracts), my MP couldn't have cared less and sent me a letter filled with spelling and grammar errors and a statement about how much the government planned to invest in early years education in the next 5 years.

Thankfully I now no longer need any sort of early years childcare as my children are too old. The system is very very poor and needs significant reform, but there doesn't seem to be any interest in listening to parents or providers.

@RednaxelasLunch
The universal 15 hours is early years education but the extended 15 hours is for when both parents (or one when a single parent household) are working only so it’s for childcare.

I would like to know how the purported importance of early years education can be squared with the idea that the responsibility for running many of the 'government-funded' settings lies with unpaid, untrained and inexperienced volunteers. Having served on a preschool committee for more than 5 years, I find the reliance on an unpaid workforce of well-meaning parents and their fundraising efforts devalues early years education and belittles the work that the practitioners do.

The initial 15 hours is early years education, the additional 15 is childcare.

The rates for the funded places needs to improve. As a childminder I'm paid 45p per hour less for a funded place than my hourly rate. Also pretty rubbish not knowing childminders are early years professionals Mumsnet!

After expenses, training costs, replacing damaged resources, additional heating costs etc I average about £6 per hour. That's taking into account the preparation time for care (cleaning, set up, making resources etc), business paperwork like accounts, learning journals, dealing with enquiries and discussions with parents, training courses and so on. I do this job because it works for my family and I love working with my littles, certainly not for the money!

I feel it would be better for families to have a government 'pot' they can access for funded places which they claim and use towards their bill, like tax free childcare but with an additional grant, that way parents get a discount, more flexibility over when they can use the hours and providers get their full amount.

Rightly or wrongly, I should add..

The 30h free is for early years education, to benefit the child and get them ready for school, not for childcare.

I think it's great that there is a discussion about early years provision but there is a much bigger gap - childcare for children with complex needs esp once they are older and beyond traditional childcare age (12+). There is virtually nothing forcing many parents to give up work.

That is a discussion which is just as much if not even more needed.

And yes, agree that staff should receive a higher wage. It is a challenging job with a high level of responsibility, yet it relies on the fact that some people enjoy working with children.

The 30 hours kicking in at 3 years is odd, I mean by then many women (let's be honest, it's usually women) have been forced out of the workplace for a few years if cost is a barrier; an additional year before they start school doesn't make a huge difference to that. Personally I think childcare settings should be better subsidised by the government, so that funding it effectively 'spread out' and it's consistently more affordable. Here the cheapest nursery is £1250 full time, and they struggle to break even, it's ridiculous. Yes it is a choice to have children, but a lot of wages don't keep up with the cost of childcare, and it is either a barrier to being a parent, or a barrier to working- neither of which are great.

There needs to be much more subsidy of early years education, women should never be put in a situation where it is more expensive to work than to stay at home. And that should apply to grandparents as well, especially with the rising age of retirement. At the very least there should not be a limit on the tax relief you can get on childcare.

Agree with the PP that the women doing the caring should be paid more, our nursery had several graduates (including qualified teachers). They were extremely experienced and knowledgeable educators and I'm not quite sure why they are paid less than primary teachers except for the fact that early years is predominantly paid for by parents rather than the government.