What's your take home pay net of childcare?

[lolapalooza3]

Have just started a new job after being a SAHM for a couple of years.

The salary is good (London) but after paying for our nanny £13ph, I'm left with slightly less than that p/h. It's just so depressing.

After paying for nursery/nanny/childcare, what's your hourly or monthly take home pay?

In our house childcare is a joint expense so wouldn’t be factored against 1 salary or the other. It’s just part of the general household expenses. A much healthier way to look at it IMO or there were times in the early years of dc that it would have been thoroughly depressing.

Also - turn it round - you are just under £13ph richer than you were when you weren’t working. Great! How will that improve your life?

@TreeLawney

Also - turn it round - you are just under £13ph richer than you were when you weren’t working. Great! How will that improve your life?

This is true, thank you! I hadn't thought of it like this before

Not now as DS is an adult but nursery fees used to take almost half my pay at one point. My friend had three dc in nursery and worked for negative wages.Okay it’s a shared expense but I understand what you mean.

Of course childcare should be considered to be a joint expense, but the marginal gain is also be a factor, some people could be coming out with nothing, if they are a low earner, as childcare could cost the same or more than they earn, and they wouldn't get help unless their partner is also a low earner. You also may have the costs of travelling to work to consider plus the time at home you lose by working.

On the other hand, it often can be considered to be an investment, as you will be building up your pension and keeping your hand in your career, which will pay off later down the line as you won't be in a position where you've been out of the workforce for a few years and find it much harder to get back in, especially if you need to work eg due to any of the three dreaded Ds, ie divorce or death or disability of your partner.

I'm left with slightly less than that p/h
Just because you say "left with that", can I check, are you funding the Nannys salary yourself and then only have access to the amount that is left?

The cost of the nanny isn't to be deducted from your salary alone though, it's a cost that allows both parents to work.

@TreeLawney

Also - turn it round - you are just under £13ph richer than you were when you weren’t working. Great! How will that improve your life?

Just under 13ph still works out at 23k pa which is a lot of peoples actual wage before tax and other deductions.

I hate threads like this. They make me worry that the OP is being treated terribly by their partner.

childcare should be a joint cost. If it’s all coming out of your salary, you need serious words with your partner about how you’re managing finances.

Also, ‘take home pay net of childcare’ is only part of the story. Presumably you are also now making national insurance contributions, pension contributions, increasing your experience for future roles, etc, etc?

If you think about the benefits long term, it feels much more positive!

I pay nursery fees, water bill & TV/broadband, DH covers the rest & I transfer him the difference proportionate to our salaries.

Nursery fees are about £970 so I’m left with about £1900 after that.

I got a significant pay rise after returning from mat leave to a new job, about an 11k increase despite dropping to a 0.8 FTE so that’s basically paid for nursery & increased expenses of having DS, while being able to maintain our lifestyle.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

I'm left with slightly less than that p/h Just because you say "left with that", can I check, are you funding the Nannys salary yourself and then only have access to the amount that is left?

Yes.

Are you married/in a relationship with the dcs dad?

Your partner needs to be transferring half of the nursery costs surely? Kids are joint ventures

£0. Childcare is more than my salary.
We have joint finances though so I have equal access to DH’s salary.

The fairest way is for both of you to end up with the same personal spending money after all joint costs, including the nanny, are paid out of joint funds.

So whether your £13 ph is just spending money for you is fair would depend on what your partner pays for and what personal money he has.

If you're paying all the nanny costs and also need to contribute to household bills and end up with a lot less personal money than him, that's not fair at all.

The childcare fee should be treated as a household bill, so your DP is just as responsible for it as you are.
However for the purpose of what you are asking, if I deducted our monthly nursery bill solely from my take home pay, I’d be left with £2.5k which goes into our joint pot for bills etc, so it’s definitely worth me working rather than being a SAHM. DH actually earns a bit less than me so if anyone was to become a SAHP it would make more sense for it to be him!

Childcare fees shouldn’t be thought of as an expenses just for today. You also need to think of all the opportunity costs of not working. By working you are building up NI and pension contributions which will benefit you hugely later in life. You are also progressing on a career ladder, no matter how small. You have to view this as long term as not about the fees today.

Why are the fees down to you ?

Yes, childcare is a joint expense but if only 1 parent worked, you wouldn't need childcare, so the net benefit of 2 parents working is a valid question (although it shouldn't be assumed that it would be the mother to stay at home).

And yes, its a bigger question that short-term financial benefit.

3 in nursery / after school - dropped to 3 days. After commuting costs, pension contributions (10% of FT salary), I was left with about £600 per month (qualified professional, higher rate tax payer). I just saw it as a short term issue (well, about 8 years of nursery!). Once they were all at school and we were just paying for after school care, I came out with more.

Just under 13ph still works out at 23k pa which is a lot of peoples actual wage before tax and other deductions

This.

It's not amazing, but it's not bad considering it's after you've paid childcare.

I guess it doesn't go very far in London though.

It's also very subjective because it depends on whether you have a partner who is contributing.

If you have £23k p/a and a partner who is working, meanign that you don't have to pay any other bills out of that, then you're probably pretty well off.

If you have £23k and are single and raising a child alone, then likely you're struggling.

Household income is more relevant than a single person's income really if you're looking at relative lifestyles.

People always forget pensions when working out childcare costs.

The long term benefit of staying at work, no career break, continued pension contributions etc far outweighs a short term (3 or 4 years) net loss for childcare.

Unless you’re minimum wage and/or have multiple children pre school age it’s nearly always better financially to stay working. Childcare costs will go down, and wages will go up.

Another who says it’s a joint cost though. Where is the child’s dad and why doesn’t he contribute?

Childcare is more than my earnings and this thread is fucking depressing for me

Why are you paying it?

DH pays for our childcare as in he makes the payment. But it’s a joint expense as he pays less for the mortgage, so overall we both pay the same for it.

How old are your dc?
When will you get the free part?
It's only for a short time. It feels like a long time, But in the grand scheme of things when you think about it it's so not.
I had minimal childcare costs because I had an unplanned age gap. And then I only worked a few hours more than the allotted free 15 hours.

Is a nanny your only option. Could you get childcare vouchers from work.