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 do get your point OP. My youngest is 2, so will likely be 3 before this is implemented, so no benefit to us. We've spent £45000 on childcare so far for both children. We have a bigger age gap so we could afford it. It is gutting. I also am still bitter about university tuition fees- if I'd been a year older I wouldn't have paid any. My sister got student grants. I got loans to be paid back. It's a similar sinking feeling.

However, I try to focus on what I did get. I didn't pay £9 grand tuition, just £1 grand. I did get 30 funded hours. We get child benefit because we both earn hust under £50k pa. And we happened to move when stamp duty was lowered. And the biggie, for us, is that we are old and bought a house before prices went nuts. And that's saved us more than childcare costs. So, on balance, we've done ok.

I think for me, childcare particularly stings. Not sure why, I think trying to work with small children is really tough, then loads of your wages go on childcare, and you feel like you are going through all that stress and hassle (juggling careers and sick kids) for hardly any pay. It's so overwhelming at times. I hope it does help at others, I really do. Although I'm waiting (somewhat cynically) to see how or if it will be workable. Our lovely nursery has staff vacancies it can't fill already...

@WoodsTreesWhere well, quite. We spent over £35k to get a baby. I’m sure most people on here had a nice bit of sex and away they went. No crazy expense, 100’s of appointments, (expensive!) drugs in every orifice, side effects, mental health crushing disappointment, pressure on your relationship etc

The postcode lottery of IVF is ridiculous and really unfair. At least the subsidised (lm not saying free as it’s not!) childcare is not a postcode lottery

@Chewbecca

That's incorrect, you got 12.5 hours in 2004, enough for pt nursery (dd went mornings)

And it's still not announced! He's talking currently, lots of assumptions being made by journalists

I have to agree with this. I know many who had a large age gap because of childcare fees.

Have you factored in the long term financial impact on your career and pension?

It is what it is. My kids are now both at primary school. So yes I missed out. However, when I was paying for nurseries the mortgage rate was lower as was the price of energy and food. It’s all swing and roundabouts. I also think the shit is going to hit the fan as many nurseries are buckling under costs. The one my youngest went to has recently closed as the manager said it wasn’t worth it anymore. I think they will have to charge the parents extra to keep them open.

We could only have one child because of childcare costs (older parents so couldn’t have a gap), so that more than stings tbh!
We are too old now so it is what it is. But I did cry yesterday. It’s 2 years too late.

We are entitled to zero under the new guidelines due to being higher earners. Which I’m very grateful for, but our £3200 of monthly nursery fees is a lot.

Will only start to roll out from April 2024 as 15 hours. September 2025 before 30 hours.

It's a long way off isn't it! I guess they've decided that those of us who already have DC have already made our decisions...

I feel bad admitting to feeling the same; I’m so happy that other people will benefit from this but having counted down the time I’m now gutted it wasn’t introduced a year or two ago.

i think it is perfectly fine to feel gutted at missing out while at the same time being pleased that other people can have this?

Other threads on the subject are a bit batshit really.

It's not even going to happen, the 30 hrs are due to be phased in some time after the next election. Who knows what the political situation will be by then

Yeah, it's still a long way off.

3.48 From April 2024, working parents of 2 year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare per week, benefiting parents of up to 285,000 children.
This will be extended to working parents of 9 month to 2 year-olds from September 2024, benefiting parents of up to 640,000 children.
From September 2025, all eligible working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3 years will be able to access 30 free hours per week.

It will be interesting to find out how this will work in reality

• will it be properly funded to stop providers closing down?
• what is the impact of changing ratios for 2 year olds from 1;4 to 1:5
• where are they going to find all of the staff and premises required to deliver the promise of 30 hours from 9 months plus wraparound care for school children?

Lots of promises but can they deliver?

Envy is normal sometimes. My friend was envious of me because it took me 10 months to conceive, she was told she’d need IVF. I’m envious of her because she’s got family support and despite her baby being a year younger than DD she’s had multiple nights out with her husband while her parents watch the baby. We’ve managed one night out in 16 months. She will benefit from this funding more than I will, so the delay to her conceiving might be of benefit in hindsight but she might have still preferred not to go through that. You win some and you lose some.

It’s not going to come in for ages. So for our 16 month old we will get the 15 funded hours in April, 9 months before the 30 funded hours would kick in. It’s not going to save us thousands. I’m also worried how nurseries are going to be able to make this work. I’m looking at those people who have missed out on this scheme and thinking at least their nursery stayed open. I’m hoping I can get DD through nursery before the shit really hits the fan. This isn’t a green light for me to have another child because childcare will be more manageable, it’s a quit while I’m (possibly) ahead scenario.

There’s also a general election happening in that time and all of this could be reversed. I would focus on people who are going to start trying for another child now because of this announcement but may find this scheme scrapped by the time they have to actually pay those childcare costs.

All very good points. No one knows what’s round the corner -there could be better things and worse things. Especially with a General Election coming over the horizon

We won’t qualify at all, because DH earns over the threshold. Ironically I work in a nursery.

I know just how fortunate we are to have DH’s salary but it smarts a bit that DSis and DBiL qualify because neither earn over the threshold, even though their combined salary is significantly higher than ours. I would like to see it allocated based on household income. It makes (temporarily) more financial sense for DH to get a lower paid job so we can access the funded hours, and that isn’t how it should be.

or could he move to 4 days per week then back up later?

Didn’t even think of this! Definitely something to consider - thanks.

Overall, though, it’s a stupid system when it is better to work less than contribute more.

It’s the consequences of individual taxation, which is good in other ways, I guess!

Will there be enough childcare places though? I've a feeling there might not be.