To think childcare is completely unaffordable?

[Sweetpea5]

i have 2 little ones and was hoping to send them to a childminder when I go back to work. I have been to see several childminders in my not very glamorous part of London and its going to cost between £50 and£60 a day which will be around £550 a week. So basically my entire salary will go on childcare. One of the childminders will also have one other child and 2 afterschool kids, the other will have one other childand one aftercschool.

How can it cost so much? How do people afford this?

They do though, millions of people afford childcare, so it must be affordable for them.

Have you worked out what benefits you are entitled to?

I don't know the details but you can get a lot of your childcare costs covered if you're on a low salary......

They have better paying jobs? They live in cheaper childcare areas? They space their children so they only have one in nursery at a time?

That's £50-£60 a day per child??
No sibling discount? Have you checked local nurseries?

What about a nanny share ?

Help with childcare costs

How much help you can get

You can get help with up to 70 per cent of your childcare costs - subject to a maximum limit in the amount of childcare costs you can claim each week.

If you pay childcare for:

• one child, the maximum childcare cost you can claim is £175 a week
• two or more children, the maximum cost you can claim is £300 a week

This means that the maximum help you can get for your childcare through tax credits is:

• £122.50 a week for one child
• £210 a week for two or more children

But you won't necessarily get the full £122.50 or £210 a week - the actual amount you get will depend on your income. The lower your income, the more tax credits you can get.

What income limits apply

There is no set income limit for help with childcare costs. But as a general guide, if you?re a couple with one child, paying £175 a week for childcare, you'll still get some tax credits if your annual income is as high as £41,000.

Indigo - I think I am on a good salary though. I get £2400 approx per month. I will get childcare vouchers which means I dont pay tax on £243 of my salary per month (or something like that).

Justfecking - yes per child per day. I looked at nannies but they seemed about the same cost but with less experience and qualifications etc.

Siamo - yes, youre right but hI dont know how they do it. I earn a lot above an average salary.

Sounds like the maximum limit does not come anywhere near to actually covering 70% of the cost of childcare in many parts of the country. I reckon you would have to earn 30k for it to be really worth your while working with 2 young children.

check out child tax credits as you should get some help. Its still expensive unfortunately. Could you work part time as you would deffo get more help with childcare then via the tax credits. Good luck

Nurseries are much more expensive in london I think. In Manchester where we are, a full day costs about £35. I know that a friend of mine sends in her LO 3 days a week in london and pays more than it costs for a full time place up here.

Also my work place does a salary sacrifice scheme as it is an on-site nursery. So instead of £243 pounds tax free I get the full amount taken out pre tax out of my wages, so it saves quite a bit of money.

I assume returning to work is important to you either for your own sanity or for the sake of your career. Therefore childcare costs are just something you need to suck up at this stage. If you have a partner remember half the cost effectively comes out of his salary. Children grow and the payment costs of childcare become less. Lots of women return to work and the household income reduces because their salary doesn't even cover childcare costs but they see it as a cut worth taking. So compared to them you are ahead already! Good luck in finding suitable childcare though - I think that's a hard one going by threads on here.

How old are your kids? Are they nursery age yet? If so, it may be cheaper if the CM only has one of them for half a day. Otherwise it's getting a nanny which isn't a whole lot cheaper, or an aupair which can be much cheaper.

i agree with you - i gave up work when ds2 was 6 months old as even on my pretty good (and well above average) salary, after childcare (and with no entitlement to tax credits because of joint household income) i wasn't taking enough home to make it worthwhile - basically i'd have earned next to nothing for 5 years until he started school

DH and I have a reasonable joint income and we can only afford to pay for one CM at a time, hence our children are 4 years apart! We could have paid for two, but that would take up 2/3 of my monthly salary which I was not prepared to do. It is expensive, we pay over £1,200pcm, but when you work out the hourly rate it's not much at all.

FYI, a qualified nanny is between £8-£9 hour net. Approximately £12hr gross. How many hours per week do you need cover?

yes it is too expensive

Thanks for the linkindigo I will have a look. I dont think we will get any though.

My little ones are 2.5 and 1. When the older one is over 3 she'll get 15 hours a week nursery free so that will help.

Yes hocus I think I just need to suck it up until they are at school. My dh salary will cover mortgage, bills and food, mine will cover childcare so we will be able to pay for everything, just. Thats on 2 good salaries though, I can not understand how other people earning less in london do it. I supposeone of them has to stay at home, or else space out thekids more than we have although bit late for us on that now:)

I guess it depends on where you live. Where I am (East Anglia), it's reasonably affordable. A friend is a childminder and charges £30 per day per child, with a discount for siblings.

Do you have any family nearby that might be able to have your children for a day or two a week to cut down your costs a little, OP?

Do you have any friends or family who could help out with childcare. My DD is in nursery 3 days a week and the other two days she is watched by friends. This keeps costs down.

Banana, about 45 hours. I think though that a nanny will cost a bit more and you dont get the benefit of them being regulated in the same way, and th kids dont get the benefit of getting out and living in a new environmentiwth other kids during thr day. Does htat make sense?

No family around, wish I did:(

they either

dont work
work and earn enough to pay childcare

simples, also dont forget once they are both in education it gets easier

My DP is SAHD for this very reason, why work when you never see your kids and only have £100 left over

how is £50 a day £500 a week!? Where do you work?!

An awful lot of people can't afford to go back to work

Which is very sad for those that want to

You however are keeping your career ticking over, and long term it will work out beneficial to have worked these years for almost free. Because when your kids do go to school you'll still have a career - and hopefully at some stage a pay rise.

Long term view......

did you not think about this before you had 2 kids! embrace poverty x

Your last sentence is exqctly what im thinking porcamiseria. Its going to be difficult to be motivated in the office for pretty much zero cash.