Commiseration thread for those who will miss the 30 free hours from 9 months

[DownInTheDumpster]

Not putting on AIBU as I know I am- all still TBC with the details, childcare sector already v wobbly etc etc. But good god the last 5 years with two small kids have been so hard with crippling childcare fees. We only get the '30 free hours' for our youngest from next month and were looking forward to having slightly more money and finding out everyone will be getting this from 9 months has killed me. It would have saved us thousands and thousands of pounds and made such a difference to our quality of life. As it is we have depleted our savings and living hand to mouth due to childcare.
I don't want others to experience that, changers were 100% needed but bloody hell. We missed the boat on affordable housing, free HE etc etc (by a long way) but just too early for this. Gaaaaah!! Anyone else??

I can't really see how this will work - in theory this will encourage more people to want to put their children into nursery, but in our area (smallish town in North West) nurseries are already full to bursting with massive waiting lists. They are struggling to recruit new staff as it is and unless the government actually provide some proper funding I can't see how the situation will improve. We are currently using the 30 'free' hours but it is nowhere near free as we have to pay a not insignificant top-up fee for each of those hours (I'm massively grateful for the discount by the way, but's that all it is, a discount, not 'free' by any stretch!!).

I sympathize and am in the same boat ish (we might get the 30 hours slightly sooner for my two year old, or not, depending on when they bring it in - obviously the ship has sailed on my four year old!). You just have to grit your teeth and be happy for other people though - and I know you said you are. They got temporarily got rid of stamp duty literally the week after we exchanged on a house in 2020 and I am still a little sad about it when I think about it - what we could have done with that £7000! - but as someone else did you make the choices you can with the information you have and have to live with that!

Yanbu!!! I am thinking of the career hit I took since we couldn't afford ft childcare for one and wraparound for two kids.

My youngest is 10, so we only ever got the 15hrs.
I couldn't work as we couldn't afford childcare.

I'm happy this means more women won't have to make this decision! But do think it should be just a discount rather than trying to make believe that the 30hrs are truly funded. If they said that every child would get a £4.5k voucher per year for example, parents would still be ecstatic. That is less than 30hrs funded for 39 weeks at £4 an hour....

I think it's only natural to feel like this and it applies to so many situations. I really feel for the students who just missed out on the 3k a year uni fees and so had to pay 9k per year. Similar as a poster said above, with local IVF funding - as this is a major postcode lottery and just seems so unfair on so many couples.

When is it likely to take effect from?

I think those that only got 15 hours free the year before school in the late '90s & I think it was none before that might be even more miffed. Thankful we got 30 hours for our eldest (at 4, not 3 ). There was little in the way of after school clubs or breakfast clubs either once at school.

The one bit that is worrying me at the moment is that there seems to be some talk about the tax free childcare scheme going in return?! We still use that for wraparound care.

15 hours has been available for a very long time. I got it and I am in my 40s - I don’t think it was called “15 hours” though - just “nursery” as it wasn’t childcare in the way that it is now - just early years education for 3 year olds.

It didn’t become 30 hours though until incredibly recently. My 9 year old only got it because we live in a “test” area. The first kids to get it universally are the current Year 4s.

We got no free childcare - it didn't start until 2010. And it wasn't cheap either!

I'm happy for the current generation though, it's good for the economy, good for women's careers and good to have choices / options.

Sorry but you can moan about something that was entire your choice. You chose to have 2 kids knowing you’d have to pay for their childcare

You're right, eldest only got mornings at nursery..

Put it in perspective OP, you’ve already had a lot more support than many of our children did. You’ll get free school meals for at least three years which my children never got.

My dc were also born just before Labour started giving every child free money to set up a savings account so we missed out on that too.

Some people missing out on things that others benefit from has always happened.

Swings and roundabouts OP. You would have benefited in some other way that others won’t have due to when they had kids etc.

In the meantime I don’t think it’s so straightforward, I am doubtful that the govt will be able to pull this off without some casualties - watch this space.

I don't envy the younger people. One of my friends is a civil servant who works in housing and he says that based on current trends and the fact it's so hard to build new housing, the London housing problem would have spread to the whole of the UK and the average renter would be spending 70% of their income on rent. No longer 50% which was the norm in London but 70%. Dual income would be a necessity to prevent actual starvation in those circumstances as even top up benefits would not help the middle income. So 30 hours free childcare is needed as the sums wouldn't work otherwise... Plus the high mortgage rates means that it is harder for younger people to buy property even if house prices dip unless they have a decent deposit.

I am 30 and bought 3 years ago and can see how hard it is for people even 5 years younger than myself..I guess the beneficiaries would be people like me who managed to buy (and are of childbearing age) but at the same time, a lot of us who bought doer uppers would be contending with high refurbishment costs as well as higher mortgage rates.

This 100%. The Government don't pay enough as it is to cover the 'free' hours. Parents are having to top this up under the guise of extras & food etc.
This will only work if the Government pay the proper hourly rate to childcare providers - and not half the cost they think it is.

You might end up feeling lucky that you had a childcare provider to pay in the first place. This could lead to a LOT of settings closing and/or providing less safe care if they relax the ratios.

I was curious about the ratios, surely if they're having trouble recruiting and retaining staff, expecting them to do more work is just going to make staffing issues even worse. Pretty sure we all know it's not like they'll increase funding enough for childcare workers to get anything that resembles a fair and appealing wage for the increased level of responsibility.

Typical tories really, sounds good on paper but in reality I doubt many nurseries will offer it, you won't be able to find a space even if they do as many have already closed as this support is too little too late. It is good news if it works, but sadly as with most of their initiatives they don't actually address the core issues.

I'm with you OP.

It's perfectly possible to still feel sad & frustrated whilst at the same time being pleased for others that something looks like it will be coming. Long overdue.

And to those talking about age gaps... that might help short term cash flow, but it the long run, you've still paid out ~the same net total, just more spread out.

In our case, my age, previous mc and that we could use savings to cover the one year of hellish double fees meant for us it didn't make sense to wait. And actually we received a sibling discount. That's not the point.

The point is the astronomical costs.

And I agree with pp, I worry for an already challenged sector if more parents will expect funded places. Finding staff is tough enough already.

Will there be enough childcare places? Will nurseries and childminders be allowed to charge extra? I have missed out on this funding too, but had to pay top ups for he 30hours as I work more than 30 hours a week and my childcare provider would not stay open on just the Gov funding.

Oh I do hope not. We also use it for wraparound and holidays.

Unless the Conservatives have planned this properly, unfortunately I can only fear that it is going to make childcare problems much much worse.

The 30 free hours already in place has been a huge financial problem for nurseries as the contribution from the state just isn't enough.

Unless they plan to contribute more than they have been per 'free' hour, many nurseries will go under.

As there's already a problem finding childcare for those who can afford it, things are about to get worse.

I don't trust the government to fund this properly. It's a vote-winning publicity stunt.

The devil will be in the detail. Be happy for those who benefit. You cannot imagine Boris Johnson ever doing this, given how he has abandoned at least one of his children.

I paid £20k to have my kid through IVF, putting me in a similar financial situation. I assume yours was free?

It is what it is. I know why you feel like this but you have to appreciate what you have got.

I know a lot of fellow nursery workers who have said they will walk out if the ratio is increased and I don't blame them.
People are getting too excited too quickly without thinking about how it will realistically work.