The cost of childcare

[user1487755366]

I know this has been done to death but the cost of childcare is out of control. I have twin one year olds who go to nursery 3 days a week. It’s killing us and the price is only going up again in April.

When will something be done about this? My job doesn’t cover it and I’ve had to take extra work on out of hours to cover costs. We have no local family support.
I don’t know what this aibu is for but I guess some advice or solidarity would be nice.

@1smallhamsterfoot

Why should the childless be taxed more for your childcare? Doesn’t enough cover schools etc?

Why should I be taxed more to pay for some peoples pensions .. I won’t have mine! Why should I be taxed more so some people live from benefits ? I don’t live from them ! Why should I pay more taxes next month for the new covid tsx ? I’ve not had covid not been forloughed !

Hope you’ll moaninf about paying for other kids childcare also care about what your money is used for when it doesn’t benefit you.

What many of you don’t realise that this mainly affect women that give up their careers because they can’t afford childcare. when they go back to work many of those women won’t have the same salary (aka taxed payed )

Wow are you having a bad day today TT 🙄 jeeeeeez!

@EasterIssland I won’t benefit from any of those things you mentioned either… but this thread is about childcare.

Now society wants parents back in the workplace ASAP after children arrive then I think we definitely need a better system of funding for both parents and nurseries/childcare providers.

Childcare isn't just care. It is education, professional support to families and it provides many services that have been cut elsewhere in the community such as two year checks, SALT, SEN support etc. Its one of the reasons childcare staff get annoyed with the assumption it is just playing with children. Good providers are doing the jobs of people who get paid much higher wages than them.

Fees are too high for many low waged families and yet don't cover more than basic running costs and wages for the provider due to all the ratios and regulations. Something has to be done to support both parties.

Yep childcare costs in this country are atrocious when compared to rest of Europe.

The government are to blame for under funding it. Unfortunately certain media outlets love to blame early years settings for charging too much to gloss over government failings. Just like junior doctors, teachers, tube drivers in recent past.

I'm a childminder and in order for your child to have an amazing day full of educational opportunities, decent quality food and care I need to charge enough. My outgoings are huge. It's a rewarding job but by no means lucrative. There's no way I can afford to offer 2 year old funding. I offer 3 year old funding but you have to pay a top up fee. Why should I earn less?

This is why I'm now a SAHM to my twins until they get their funded hours, there is no support for those with multiples.
Stupid comment from the previous poster about budgeting - twins don't tend to be planned.

I also didn't budget at all for how much it was going to cost... I wish I had

You have my sympathy op. It was like we were paying a second mortgage for several years when dc were small. We have a 4.5 gap between hours simply because we couldn't afford 2 in nursery at the same time. I actually reduced my hours from 4 to 3 days, as the cost of nursery, fuel etc meant I was coming away with £20 a day. We had the the childcare voucher scheme at work which helped a little, but I don't think they accept new applications. You can however look into tax free childcare.

www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/childcare-vouchers

Twins run in the family and my mother had multiple twin dreams before I announced I was pregnant - I was terrified at the prospective implications.

We have a huge problem coming in this country.
Our own PM took his begging bowl to tory donors to pay for his kids nanny and birth rates are through the floor.

We are high earners (with savings!) and have one baby coming and are a bit about childcare costs. To the point I am questioning the second we thought we wanted.

Our nursery is £29k year year with no tax relief no subsidy no nothing. A nanny in North London is upwards of 40k if you can find one.

I expect to pay for quality care but government help is dire vs other European countries

Even twenty years ago I was paying twice our mortgage amount to have two children in full-time day nursery. I had very little left if I compared the cost to what I was earning, but did it so I could keep my job. I knew as a family we'd benefit from that income again when they were at school. I also kept my employee pension entitlement etc, something I'm very grateful for now. The 'free' childcare hours have increased greatly since then. It really is a case of gritting your teeth, cutting other costs, battling through those very early years and it comes right in the end.

Gosh some people on here are horrible

OP you have my complete sympathies. We will have to pay for two for a very brief time before the 30hrs kicks in for the older one. We will have to use savings for this but no choice. I could extend my maternity but would end up worse off that way. I think 30 hrs funded should be at 2 and not at 3 personally

It is incredibly expensive. DD’s now 14, and her boarding school (admittedly part-scholarship) is actually cheaper than her nursery was! Using childcare vouchers helps a lot. Especially if you and DP both opt into the scheme. If your employer isn’t in a scheme, you can request that they join.
Also, shop around when they reach 3. We found an amazing forest school nursery for DS that was term time only (I’m a teacher) and made a huge saving. He was happy at nursery 1, and then settled quickly and was also happy at nursery 2.
Government funding kicks in soon(ish) and the funded hours will make a big difference to your bill. Just hang in there!

Education (school) is free because we need an educated adult population and most parents do not have the skills to teach their own children well enough. Note that even there the government does not provide hours matching the working day, because that is too long for children to learn effectively.

The government does provide 30 hours a week preschool education, again because there's evidence that high quality preschool improves educational outcomes. They do not provide free nursery hours under age three because at that age what children need can be provided well by their own parents at home.

@user1471539385

It is incredibly expensive. DD’s now 14, and her boarding school (admittedly part-scholarship) is actually cheaper than her nursery was! Using childcare vouchers helps a lot. Especially if you and DP both opt into the scheme. If your employer isn’t in a scheme, you can request that they join. Also, shop around when they reach 3. We found an amazing forest school nursery for DS that was term time only (I’m a teacher) and made a huge saving. He was happy at nursery 1, and then settled quickly and was also happy at nursery 2. Government funding kicks in soon(ish) and the funded hours will make a big difference to your bill. Just hang in there!

Voucher schemes have stopped. They've been replaced with a tax free child care account, which I actually prefer as you can see how much the government is topping it up by.

Childminder of 25 years I charge £4 per hour out if that comes a percentage of electricity, snacks, resources, extra cost of heating, registration fees to OFSTED, insurances, special car insurance, any money for days out/ice creams. I have just had a child move onto another setting as their parent has changed jobs so until September when new ones start on a Monday and Tuesday 9-3 I am working for about £2 per hour and on a Wednesday 9-3 I earn nothing!
Parents get the option of using the child tax free payment scheme where government pay 20% of childcare costs from 0-12 years. From 3 years old parents get help with up to 30 hours funded sessions (which comes in at £3.98 per hour here in Norfolk so I lose money when they use that) or some businesses offer childcare vouchers. Yes to the parent it may seem expensive and I will admit some nurseries are but as a childminder trust me we definitely are not making millions!!!....and for those of you who say we are when we have a lot of children our outgoings increase when we have lots so we really aren't!!

I met a parent at playgroup who had given up work because she’d had surprise triplets. She’d had to change her car to accommodate them already.
Luckily she was able to go back to work teaching in the same school she had been. She said the cost and the actual logistics didn’t work, she knew they would also all get sick at different times.

@OfstedOffred

Education (school) is free because we need an educated adult population and most parents do not have the skills to teach their own children well enough. Note that even there the government does not provide hours matching the working day, because that is too long for children to learn effectively.

The government does provide 30 hours a week preschool education, again because there's evidence that high quality preschool improves educational outcomes. They do not provide free nursery hours under age three because at that age what children need can be provided well by their own parents at home.

My son is 3. I still pay 700 for him to go to nursery

Its so expensive, why does it reduce at 3? Surely nobody can just take 3 years off work and return to the same job? It implies that's what the government expect though. We barely afford it for 1 child but its a nice nursery (the fees go up every year though). If we'd had twins we'd be talking cheapest childminder or one of us give up work probably to afford it.

Actually @TearifficTaz There would be a very strong argument for free early education, it's widely accepted that birth to 3 are some of the most crucial years for brain development through language development, attachment, explorative play etc.

Most parents can provide those every bit as well as nursery nurses until about age 3 or even 4.

My son is 3. I still pay 700 for him to go to nursery

But that's because a) the government does not fund the hours properly (this is annoying, I grant you)

But it's also because you are presumably wanting full childcare to cover hours you work and not just the term time 9-3 preschool place which the government provides. It's akin to a school place, it's not childcare. It's based more on number of hours it benefits the child to be in that setting, than on full time working hours as needed by a parent for childcare.

Surely nobody can just take 3 years off work and return to the same job? It implies that's what the government expect though

Isnt it just the norm to save before hand? I appreciate people with twins get screwed over. But for people with single pregnancies literally everyone I know has saved beforehand, then not had a second child til the 30 hours kick in for the first etc.

It's like everything in life, planning helps

I understand. My DTs are now teens and I don't need professional childcare, but it nearly broke me when they were babies and preschoolers. I was a single parent earning too much to qualify for help but actually left worse off than if I'd been on benefits after paying childcare. I had to sell things and often went hungry to get by. I considered (on more than one occasion) giving up work, but didn't.

Now, I am extremely glad I didn't. I earn 2.5x more than I did then because I stayed in employment rather than taking time out, and also eventually came out the other side with a huge amount of resilience and confidence built as a result of pulling it off. But it was one of the hardest things I've done in my life and so I would never judge anyone who chose to stop working. When having children impacts on men the way it does on women, we'll find aot more state support for childcare. Til then, it's hard and while I have no tips other than to hang on I there, it does get better, I really really sympathise.

We're considering moving to the UK (partner is native) but the cost of childcare is actually insane. We would be in financial ruin. So if we move it won't be until our twins are at least 3 and if we have more kids then I'd probably keep them home.
YANBU at all.
Same with rent and generally the housing market. Something needs to be done as wages do not match.

No one plans for having twins. How can you, childcare costs for two at once is insane. We have a high household income but if I’d have had twins we wouldn’t easily been able to afford nursery for two and I’d have thought twice about going back to work.

A simple solution would be to start the free hours at age 1 instead of 3 for families where both parents work. If one or both parents don’t work then keep the free hours at age 3. Also for the government to properly fund those free hours so nurseries/childminders don’t have a shortfall.

the 'free' nursery hours should be available as tax credits for parents that want to look after their own children instead. But I'd go further and put a mandatory right to flexi-schooling at early primary in too for the same reasons.

I don't understand why we accept the relentless principle that we only subsidise childcare by others. Other countries have longer maternity leaves which is in effect a subsidy for parents to look after their own small children.

Yanbu @user1487755366 childcare is horribly expensive for parents