What would you do? Childcare & returning to work one

[Returntoworkoptions]

I am just thinking about our childcare for when I return to work next autumn. A way off but necessary to forward plan as some settings are full till 2026 now!

We currently have a childminder lined up. She is OFSTED Outstanding, highly sought after and truly lovely. The only place she has though is for a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It will cost us minimally as we will be eligible for 30 funded hours from 9 months plus. The childminder will then spread the cost of the non-term time hours across a 12 month period. It works out that we are paying around £200 a month for the three days. She has confirmed this.

My parents / DH will have little one on a Friday depending on the week. DH works shifts so his pattern varies, but he’ll usually have a couple of weekdays off.

We thought, great, I’ll have Wednesday as my non working day.

However, I’ve had a chat with a colleague who has recently come back from maternity leave part time and realised we have a predicament. It makes most sense for me at work to have my non working day be a Monday. If not, it goes against me slightly as I’ll have to work back some of the bank holidays whereas if Monday is your day off you get extra annual leave, or something? I’m sure someone on here will know what I mean even though I’ve poorly explained it here.

I really like the childminder but it’s just frustrating that she only has a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday place. I wish she had Wednesday available instead of Monday! Can anyone think of any other options? I don’t think we’ll find anywhere else as trustworthy, and cheap!

Bump!

Does the childminder work Wednesdays but she is just full on that day? I would take the risk with her if so that Wednesday becomes an option later on down the line. You should have built have a large pot of annual leave + bank holidays Can you use holiday to cover the Wednesday?

You'll just have to go with it and have Wednesday off

I could, and/or DH would probably be around 2 out of 4 Wednesdays

Yes, sort of. Remember not all the public holidays fall on a Monday so it can be swings and roundabouts.

I work Wed-Fri. My pro-rata public holiday entitlement is added to my annual leave. As I don't work a Monday I have those hours to take at another time. However as Christmas and New Year (4 days for me as I'm in Scotland) fall on my working days I'll need to take those hours off my leave entitlement. Hope that makes sense.
If you work a Monday it only really unfair if Christmas and New Year also fall on a Monday.
I wouldn't change my day off to a Monday for this reason alone, especially if it meant missing out on excellent childcare.

So you will be working 4 days a week? A normal year has 8 Bank Holidays. If you are 4 days, you will be entitled to 80% of BHs, so approx 6.5 days. Depending on when Christmas/New Year falls, you might have to make up 1.5 days from AL. However if you have a DH that works shifts, your work might agree to you swapping a day and working a Wednesday once or twice after a BH to make the time up.

I would stick with the CM. It's worth it to have someone you are happy with.

I’d go with it and have Wednesdays off and ask her to let you know if a Wednesday comes up so you can swap the days. To be honest though I’m not sure it overall makes much difference.

Are you sure you will get extra leave for the bank holidays? Often it’s turns into hours and added onto annual leave, so you only end up with extra if bank holidays fall on your days off and sometimes the deficit comes out of your overall total. Next year 50% of bank holidays are on bank holidays but the rest aren’t.

If your childminder is as good as you say she is then I would stay with her and work around when she’s available. A good childminder is the next best to looking after your child yourself and worth accommodating.

As @ghostbusters explains, it all basically comes out in the wash. I wouldn’t give up a brilliant childminder over this - they’re worth their weight in gold. Don’t make your life more complicated over a non-issue - you’re already contending with shift work and family childcare.

Monday is the best day in terms of pro-rata leave as you get more choice when to use your allowance but it’s not the only way to do it and there are pros/cons.

So for, assuming you did 0.8 you’d get 6.4 days of bank holiday allowance.

For 2025 there are 8 bank holidays: 4 fall on a Monday, one Wednesday, one Thursday, 2 Friday.

Working M,T, T And F would mean you’d need to take 7 days of leave but you’d only have 6.4 days so you’d be half a day short. It’s not a disaster.

Working Tuesday to Friday would mean you’d take 4 days to cover bank holidays and have 2.5 days to take as you please.

If you can get childcare you're happy with, just go with being off on Wednesdays. I used to have study leave on Wednesdays and it's a great day off, really breaks up the week.

This is right, but OP should definitely double-check they don’t use the annualised hours method of calculating leave, which is pretty standard now (certainly it’s been true of the last 3 companies I’ve worked for). Using an annual hours leave allowance there’s no disadvantage to working Mondays.

I’d take the good childcare for the days she offers.

I wouldn't change for this reason, I found Wednesdays to be a great day off when I returned from mat leave as its a good mid-week reset

I would not complicate things and have the Wednesday off.

When I worked PT we got a pro rata bank holiday allowance added to our annual leave, if we were supposed to work the Monday we had to book a day annual leave but if Monday was a non working day we could book a different day with the BH allowance. So you didn't get extra holiday really it just felt a bit like you did? Is this what happens at your work? If so I really would just take the Wednesday off. Some years you will get lucky with Christmas & new year anyway

Also I used to have Wednesday off and it was great to have that break in the week to catch up with laundry and food shopping and stuff like that!

I think you might find Wednesdays the better day off in practice. I wouldn't pay much attention to the minor bank holiday inconvenience.

Honestly just suck it up! It’s really not that big a deal and some weeks you’ll have Monday and Wednesday off - yay! So hard to find good and inexpensive child care.

I've had various days off over the years, I don't like having Mondays off as a lot of meetings happen that day, or you start the week on the Tues and feel behind already. The annual leave issue isn't that big a deal if you're working 4 days a week.

Next year 50% of bank holidays are on bank holidays but the rest aren’t.

All of bank holidays fall on bank holidays.

A good childminder is worth working a less ideal day of the week.