to wonder how anyone pays for holiday childcare with more than one child and no family help nearby???

[ssd]

i can't believe anyone except maybe lawyers or other proffessionals can actually afford to work during the summer when the have MORE than one child and NO free childcare in the form of granny etc.

this issue prevents me from working in any sort of decent job, instead of a crap paid term time only job ( i have 2 kids and no free regular childcare)

how on earth do people in my situation do it?

I do as you and work a term time job but I see it as a joy not a bad thing, I get to make a difference, earn money and still be with my children in the holidays. I feel very lucky to be in that position.

Well its no surprise so budget over the year

EightiesChick.....needs must, but after 7 days with 5 kids I needed my holiday!

Agree with Lizzylou. We have two children and put aside a monthly allowance through childcare vouchers to pay for holiday clubs. It's the only way we can afford to do it. We're mid-range earners.

We also look around around for better value clubs. Some of the bigger chains, eg Supercamps, are really expensive and it adds up quickly when there is more than one child.

SSD I was managing like others on here, colleagues and I pooled our annual leave and booked holiday, so we could share childcare. However after the fuss over the two police women our employers asked us not to do this.

I then managed to childcare share with a friend, returning the favour in kind with her children, till another Mum at the school threatened to dob us in so my friend would be fined for looking after dd through the week

It is only this year I gave up as culmative events, and changes to dh's job were making life too difficult to continue

I am a SAHM to 3 kids but childcare swap with several working mums on Inset days as well as school holidays.

Pros for me:
I can use the friend coming round as a bribe for good behaviour.
At least one of my kids has a friend round so they will not be arguing with their siblings
We don't have a night time sitter so often get the other family to babysit in the evening instead
Sometimes we swap a day of childcare for the same so I get a day off
Another swap we've done is a day of childcare for a few hours of the other family's dh helping my dh with DIY.

Is it still the case that you can look after someone else's children in their own home without it being a problem and that it's only an issue if you have other people's children in your own home?

crazygracie I would look after the whole neighbourhood's children if someone would come and help my DH with DIY!

For a couple of years I took 3 weeks leave and DH would take 2 and for the final week they played with mates from school whose mums helped out.
We would have their kids a lot while we were on holliday so it evend things out.

I have sent them on PGL holidays for a week followed by a week off work followed by a week on a Do it for real holiday followed by a week off.

Fortunately it gets easier as they get older.

I wasn't suggesting earlier that school was merely free childcare just that it would be easier for most people to have the hols more evenly spread and as another poster said maybe teachers would prefer this too.

I use a combination of childminders and activity clubs such as Supercamps and the occasional playdate at a friends. It is tricky though as I have one who is too young for a club so has to go to CM, one who is sporty so loves the sport camps and one who is not and prefers arty crafty type stuff. Sometimes they end up in 3 different places which is a logistical nightmare.

It costs me more in holiday clubs than what I earn, I have requested some unpaid leave as it will actually save me money! I have also used some of my annual holiday entitlement. It is annoying of course but it is one of those things I have to put up with if I am to have a job the rest of the year.

it would be easier for most people to have the hols more evenly spread

I wonder how that would work in reality? If there were, for example, just 3 weeks holidays during the summer-wouldn't everyone want to go away all at the same time thus pushing the prices of holidays up massively?

I agree teachermumof3 but it would mean (for us too) an even spread of 2 weekers meaning more chances throughout the year to go away or recover properly from term time.

ssd your boss will save money if he or she starts a childcare voucher scheme! Any pay paid to you as vouchers not only will you not pay tax or NI but the employer won't pay employers NI either. The cost of paying a company to administer the scheme is lower that the NI saving. The max amount each parent can have paid each month as childcare vouchers is £243. For 2 basic rate tax payees the tax and NI saving is 2 x £243 x12 x 31% [20% tax and 11% NI] = £1808. Speak to your HR or finance dept.

Honeydragon and others - the previous Government intervened to confirm that reciprocal childcare arrangements are not regulated childcare.

it also depends how old your children are - younger = more expensive generally
my local council runs practically free sports camps for kids over the summer (ie £3 to £5 per day) but they need to be at least 5 and sometimes 8 to be able to go
we split the holidays between dh and I, then the extra days are farmed out to the grandparents (we drop off on the weekend and they drop them back again a few days later)
this year I'm considering asking a teenager to look after them for a few days, take them to the park, make sandwiches for lunch etc. that will be a lot cheaper than paying for each child at a summer camp (ie £30 for the day vs 3 x £30 for the day)

ssd I don't know who you work for ... but if it's a small firm and hence they don't want to do a full on childcare vouchers scheme with someone else administering it, they can just pay your designated provider £243 a month and put it through the books as a company expense.
They have to send the provider a letter to say they are paying them in lieu of your salary, and then you have to drop the relevant amount (I think it's £200 but might be wrong). If you look online you'll find out the relevant information.
I run my own company, and my company pays me partly in vouchers - the reality of it is that my company account pays my CM £243 a month. It's all government approved, and was set up so that small businesses could do this for their staff without the overhead of a whole scheme being administered at cost by someone else. The only other law is that it must be available to all employees.

I too have no family around and have 3dc's - luckily one has been old enough to look after herself for a while now, but I juggle between school holiday clubs, annual leave etc. - now DD is 17 I can also pay her a reduced rate for the odd day. My youngest is in full time CM care so a huge expense in itself but no change for holiday time. I budget across the whole year and include it all in my tax credits. It's expensive but thankfully won't last forever!!

thanks for all replies

i've asked my employer about vouchers but they said they aren't willing to do them................................

Ssd- I assume you didn't work until your children reached school age? Otherwise you would be jumping up and down in sheer relief that holiday care for school age Children is significantly cheaper than paying for childcare all day every day all year round for 'pre-schoolers!

You need to look at things over the course of the year. I pay before and after school care and holiday care for 3 children. Yes, august leaves 'me out of pocket- but that compensated for by all the other weeks that I make a profit. Also, every worker has a holiday entitlement- so this can be taken when your children are off school too. Very much Cheaper than when mine were at nursery and it was full rate 50 weeks of the year whether your children were there or not.

I DO think theres a genuine debate to be had about childcare costs in the UK. But I also find from experience that many women who have the luxury of being a SAHP until their children start school are sheltered from the realiy. If you have always worked, the point they start school is when you breathe a sigh of relief at costs going down. If you've not worked since having kids, it's the point at which you realise it's not all roses!

That should be sheltered from reality

P.s I'll also just add that I don't think using grandparent is the ideal answer at all. It seems nice when you see people seeming to get free care on tap- but it's very restricting for grandparents to have to keep themselves available for all the school holidays. I have in laws within fairly easy reach but wouldn't dream of putting on them in this way. It was our choice to have children, and we just accepted that while they were at nursery all my earnings would go on childcare, and that once they started school we would still have to fund before/after school care and holidays. The grandparents are for visiting or staying with for pleasure, not simply as free babysitters

ssd - for the holiday weeks fro which you have to pay childcare cover, yes, it is v expensive. But you have to set that against the fact that both you and your DH are working year round and the childcare costs enable that. DSon't just see it as set against the summer weeks.

If you add up all yours and DH's income over the year and deduct the childcare costs, doesn't that still come to more overall than if you only earned in a less well paid term-time job?

Take what hol from work you can in the school holidays, and on those days offer to have playdates from other working families - then ask them to offer playdates on other days you are working.

We do a lot of reciprocal holiday cover with school friends.

I#ve always worked since having kids, but as i earn only minimum wage i haven't paid much in childcare ever and me and dh try to work it between us

i think you need to earn a certain amount to pay for or even save up for the summer holidays childcare and i just don't earn enough

i'm not moaning (well trying not to!!), my life and my choices and all that, just very interesting hhow others manage without getting a lot of free help

oh and janey i agree with you about grandparents...

I agree with blu. Surely even if both parents are on minimum wage jobs, once you factor in all of the hours which are effectively 'free childcare' (yes I know that's not the purpose of school but you know what I mean) and you factor in both sets of parents holiday entitlement, how can you possibly have less money over the whole year after paying holiday care than you would on just one income? The sums don't add up to 'me! Unless you have children in private schools with ridiculously long holidays (in which case money is clearly not an issue) or you have chosen to have a very large family (in which case again, presumably money isn't an issue)

I would be really interested to see an actual breakdown of costs .I honestly find it hard to believe that anyone can be worse off by working all year round. And if for some reason you are, then you're really just in the same situation as thousands of working parents of under fives, who spend several years working at a loss. I know it's hard to stomach, but you just have to view it as a temporary measure until your kids are older and one by one will need less care

We have 2 dc and no outside help whatsoever. I take 2 weeks alone, dh takes 2 weeks alone and we take 2 weeks together which leaves us to manage the other hols as singletons as we dont have enough other leave to take off. I only work 3 days a week which makes it slightly bareable. We do not pay for childcare.