For the love of god will someone please help me with this maths

[DiaryStrife]

I promise i'm not stupid but I cannot work out this sum and I need the answer by tomorrow

I've had a letter from tax credits wanting to know my childcare costs between 11th October 2017 to today. They want my average weekly cost. DD's nursery is only open term time only. I have all the invoices from Sept 2017 to now.

Sept 2017 term - £551
Spring 2018 term - £732
Summer 2018 term - £733
Autumn 2018 term - £890

From these figures can anyone work out DD's weekly childcare cost?

My head is spinning, in return i'll be forever grateful and follow you around MN agreeing with all your posts

You need to know how many weeks per term - or how much the daily rate is and how many days were covered from 11/10 to now.

Do you not just add up the 4 terms costs then divide by 52?

How many weeks in each term? Just divide the termly cost by the number of weeks to get the average

We need to know the number of weeks to work it out. Add all the costs together then divide that by the number of weeks to get the weekly average

You need to know how many weeks are covered . Do you have dates for the different terms (and I presume there’s a half term week off each term as well)

Do you not just add up the 4 terms costs then divide by 52?

Divide by 54 as the 11th was 2 weeks ago.

There are 36 weeks in a school year.

So 2906 /36 = £80.72 per week.

Add the four figures and divide by 52 (weeks) if you divide by 39 (or however many weeks she actually goes to nursery) it will give you a higher figure but tax credits assume that will be for every week of the year, not just those 39 weeks.

Or 2906/54 = £53.81

Okay, so a full year's childcare for you is three terms; Autumn, spring and summer.

So that's these three (most recent prices):
Spring 2018 term - £732
Summer 2018 term - £733
Autumn 2018 term - £890

There are 52 weeks in a year.

So for that year your weekly childcare costs were (732+733+890)/52.

Which is £45.29 per week.

Tax credits are paid all year, not termly so I think you would need to do what IstandwithPosie says.

I was assuming the 3 terms covers a full school year...

If all 4 terms make up a full year then add up all 4 and divide by 52, but I was sure there were only 3 in a year!

I spoke to CTC this morning and they said work it out over a year and then divide by 52, not the amount of weeks she actually goes to nursery.

I think that comes out as £55.88 a week and i've told them previously its £53.00. They've written and said "Based on your circumstances, your childcare is higher than we would expect and we want to make sure we have got the right information" I'm wondering if its because she doesn't get the 30hrs free childcare as her nursery doesn't offer it?

So now she's three they are wondering why her childcare hasn't gone down?

They think £55 a week is high for nursery??

£55 is the cost of a DAY in nursery where I am!

Yes! Too high apparently

I think Rat's approach is closest to an accurate answer.

In theory, you should work out how much of the Sept 2017 bill relates to the period after 11 October (eg work out how many days that bill covers and then what fraction of those days is after 11 October). Then, for consistency, work out how much of the Sept 2018 bill relates to the period up to today. Then add it all up with the other two bills, then divide by 54. But, as I say, Rat's approach feels reasonable to me.

I'd be in the wrong job if it wasn't

If it's from 11th October 2017, then you shouldn't be including most of the September 2017 term, it's before the required date.

So £732 + £733 + £890 (+ whatever comes after 11th October for the first bill) then divide by 52.

So you need to take off the costs for all of September 2017 and about the first week of October 2017.

If you are not to include Sept 2017s figures at all it is £2,355 / 52 = £45.29 a week.