Moving to UK, childcare cost questions

[Ukreturner]

I am British but haven't lived in the UK for 20 years and I have little idea of how life would be there with young children. My eldest two children would go into year 2 and 4 I think but my youngest turned 3 in October so he wouldn't start school until sept 25? What options for childcare would we have and what would the costs be like? Dh would be earning 80k , I wouldn't be working for the first few months until we are settled and then I'd hope to find something part time. What do people do for after school and holiday childcare as we wouldn't have family close by to help out? Would life for a family of 5 with that sort of household income in the North west be comfortable or a struggle? I know housing costs are high and we'd have to rent for a few years. We don't have extravagent lifestyle, run one car, no takeaways, rarely eat out, camping holidays.

Not sure about nursery costs these days as mine are older. For after and before school i use the school provision so worth checking the school for the eldest if they provide this. If not you may be able to find a childminder that can take them and pick them up. Breakfast club is £4 here and after school club between 12-15 a day depending on pick up time. Will vary area to area.

School holidays i use a mix of family/holiday camps etc. Holiday camps can be around £50/60 for a full day.

In my experience (and I live more north so south will be more) nursery fees are generally somewhere between £60-£80 per day - this covers a range of areas close to where I live. I think all 3+ year olds are entitled to at least 15 hours funding per week and some are eligible for 30 hours though you often have to pay a supplement on top of this for meals, nappies etc depending on what is provided. It’s also worth seeing whether you’d qualify for the tax free childcare as you can get 20% paid by the government (up to a certain amount) if you meet the criteria.

Your 3 year old will be eligible for 15 funded hours. If you use a term time only preschool, that’ll be 15 free hours a week, plus small costs for snacks etc. If you use a private year round nursery it will be more like a subsidy - nurseries are in the region of £60 per day. You can also use a childminder, normally cheaper than nursery but many don’t take the funded hours. Once you’re working the funded hours will increase to 30.

After school care - either school clubs (“wrap around”) or a childminder. Childminders who collect from school are normally in very high demand!

Holiday childcare - there are normally lots of clubs around. Some will be school hours, often there’s an option to extend to 8-6.

Once working you’ll also be eligible for tax free childcare - you pay money in to an account, government tops it up by 25%, you pay the childcare provider. Any Ofsted-registered childcare should take it, some holiday clubs are not Ofsted-registered.

If your DH goes over £100k then you won’t be eligible for the 30 hours or tax free childcare. Worth bearing in mind! Also as he earns over £60k you won’t get child benefit, but you can register for it and tick a button that says you don’t want to receive the money - this will give you the National insurance contributions, and have your kids in the system to get NI numbers when they turn 16.

Would the free hours be for 52 weeks or only term time?

It's twice the average income! If you aren't working don't worry, move then look for a part time preschool, 15hours is free. Childcare when you are working once at school is usually either a childminder or school based wraparound care. Many parents decide that at least one parent will work part time anyway.

Termtime only(39 weeks). Some settings will spread the equivalent total hours over 52 weeks though, if it is a fulltime setting.

I would definitely want to work but I think I'll need 6 months to get us all settled. I'm also realistic about the level of job I'll be able to get after being out of the UK jobs market for so long. So, I'm not sure my wage will contribute very much and then with childcare to pay 🤔

I would definitely want to work but I think I'll need 6 months to get us all settled. I'm also realistic about the level of job I'll be able to get after being out of the UK jobs market for so long. So, I'm not sure my wage will contribute very much and then with childcare to pay 🤔

You will be very comfortable indeed

Where we currently live dc3 is already in full time school and then wraparound childcare is very reasonable. There's alot to think about.

This is reassuring. I've been shocked at rental prices though and we'd have to be saving for a house deposit.

My little boy went 3 in November.

3 year olds are entitled to 30 hours free childcare but you will still end up paying some extra costs.
My son goes to a private nursery so we still have to pay for some additional hours and for lunch/dinner
I think pre school nurseries are the cheaper option but obviously they are closed during school holidays which was no good for me unfortunately

Each nursery works a little bit different so maybe just research the good ones in the area, they will be happy to work out costs for you etc 😊

It's important to note they are funded and not free, depending on the setting.

They aren't allowed to charge top ups on the core elements, but if they provide anything over and above the most basic e.g. nappies, wipes, food, etc. there will be a cost for those on top, in addition to the full fees for any hours you may want over the 15 funded.

Some state schools have a nursery/preschool attached

it depends which part of the north west, I live in the NW and childcare at school, breakfast club is £5.50 and after school club is £7.50 per day, the nursery children use this too, it’s the same price and you’ll get 15hours free childcare for your youngest and then it’s £15 per half day of nursery.

everywhere differs in price though, nursery / preschool attached to school seems to be cheaper than a regular nursery setting.

Would after school clubs, breakfast clubs etc give any sort of sibling discount or should I count on those costs x3

Ours don’t do a sibling discount but do a weekly discount if you book all sessions in a week. Holidays clubs in my area are fantastic the local trampoline park £85for the week, including food and activities, craft, movies and snacks/drinks

My kids would love a week at a trampoline club!

I'm in a different area, so it may not apply, but where I am after school club is so over subscribed that they don't need to offer sibling discounts, and some people have to resort to after school nannies instead. Very expensive, but with three DC it might be worth exploring the cost for comparison.