Am I missing something- nursery cost and workings 3 vs 4 days ?

[Wispagold11244]

Starting to plan another child and already thinking about nursery costs before ttc. Obv with cost of living want to make sure the numbers add up, it's doable and I can prepare as much as possible.

I'm wondering whether anyone has been in this scenario of working out whether to return to work 3 or 4 days a week, and returning to work 4 days a week makes such a small difference financially?

At the moment, I work 5 days a week 5.5 hours a day. The salary is 30k FTE and part time equivalent for 27.5 hrs with my pension contributions is £23,571 take home roughly £1630 a month.

I have found a nursery near me where they stretch the full time hours full year, 24 hours a week. You can use these for afternoon sessions or use them for any sessions for £2.50 an hour. (The £2.50 charge then also applies to all hours)

With DH and I's take home and outgoings, if I were working 4 days a week nursery would be roughly £450 a month (32 hrs a week, 8 hrs each week unfunded) we would have £1034 left each month for spending money each, kids money and some savings.

If I were to do 3 days a week, (24 hours) as the funded hours cover this although my wage would drop from £1,379 (4 short days) to £1107 (3 short days) the nursery cost would also drop from £450 a month to about £200 a month, as I would be paying the £2.50 charge x 24 and tax free childcare.

So nursery would be £250 cheaper, my wage per month would also be around £220 cheaper so DH and I would be losing £30 from our earnings-outgoing calculation.

But I'm finding it hard to believe that working 1 less extra day a week will only leave us £30 worse off ? Has anyone also found this ? Seems almost too good to be true as it means I get the time home with little one plus easier during school holidays for Ds1.

I am also checking with nursery that the costings I have worked out are accurate! A neighbouring nursery who charge for the full day (10 hours) works out at roughly £500 a month for 3 days, £750 a month for 4 days (Inc tax free childcare!) But the more expensive nursery do provide nappies and wipes and includes 2 hours extra a day, so I think that makes a huge difference on cost.

Any insights would be appreciated

I won't pretend to have verified all your calculations, but in general terms the penalties for working fewer hours are lower pension contributions and impact on career progression. Going part time usually means people won't promote you. The few hours worked, the more impact. If you aren't looking for career progression and can afford to top up the pension a bit extra, it could be a good way to go. Only you can decide that.

It's because you're tipping over the point of the funded hours covering it. I would guess the sums would look very different if you did 4 days vs 5 days (or in fact probably 2 days vs 3 days would also look different).

It is a relatively short time they are at nursery (compared to your whole career), although it doesn't feel like it at the time, so it depends if you would be able to easily jump back up to 4 days when dc started school if you wanted to, or if you might find yourself trapped on the lower hours and wanting to earn more money.

This in spades

Luckily my work have been super flexible with my first. I've been there 13 years and have done 5 full days (9-5), for 6 years, then had my Son and have done various working hours (eg 3 full days, then 4 full days, now 5 short days) over the years.
It's office based and there's many branches where I live (legal) so I would be open to moving offices if I had to

Also without specifically checking your maths,
It is a combination of you using the free hours so the additional hours are the only paid for ones, and the way personal tax works in that you don't pay tax on the first (is it about) £12.5K, so the "per day" salary is better working fewer days.

Yes, you are paying less into your pension, but not necessarily taking a hit on your career. Another thing to think about - which you'd know with your employer as you already work PT - is how good they are at limiting your work to the amount they pay you. When you drop one day a week, many employers still expect you to do 5 days work for 4 days pay. When you go down to 3 days, it is generally easier to set boundaries about how much work you actually do.

I had a period where I worked less as it made financial sense when my children were very small.

I found it frustrating as I didn't feel like part of the team, but I don't regret it as that time with my children was precious.

I am still part time now but not as part time.

It is hard to get the balance.

@supercalifragilistic123 yes I get the team vibe too! Last time I went part time all of us were part time so it was ok because we were all the same, but this time we have a couple of full timers so I may feel like i miss the action on some days! But then like you say, time with kids is precious x

It wasn't so much of missing the action, that was a given! It was that I didn't feel that I was present enough that my opinion counted for team decisions etc. I also missed lots of the team meetings and teaching bits because they weren't on my working days.

I was working about 0.5fte I'm now more like 0.75fte and I don't have that same feeling. Although I do still miss team meetings sometimes!

I do work in a completely different field to you though (healthcare)

Any other insights welcome :)

I would consider the longer term costs in terms of career progression as well. How different or not will your salary and working life be in 5 or 10 years for the various options? Is there something you’d miss out on (training, education, networking, opportunities for secondment) if you are 3 vs 4 vs 5 days.

When I went back after my first, nursery cost us £1100 a month. My take home was £1200 a month. Me working 5 days a week basically brought in £100 a month.

But in that time, I was able to finish a postgraduate degree. Take on some extra opportunities, develop and complete a new research project, network. 5 years later, when I started back after my 2nd mat leave, I more than doubled my salary. I wouldn’t have been able to do that working only 3 days a week because some of that stuff I wouldn’t have had time for.