To wonder how people actually afford childcare

[roweeena]

So I should of thought of this before I got pregnant but I have a 3 month & 27 month old. Thinking of going back to work in Sept when they will be just shy of 1 & 3.

Contacted nursery under my work - 2 days a week for the both of them will cost £1020 per month!!! Dread to think how much full time would cost.

I was full time before and DS was in with a childminder but we have moved now and this nursery seemed so handy. Just going back 2 days a week now and going to have to also work one weekend day. Just can't afford to go back to work for more than that.

We have no family close by who can help out. Both myself & my husband are in quite reasonable jobs (in fact in my job people always assume I must be loaded - media reporting). Just wondering how other people actually afford childcare for two.

Ps I know DS1 will qualify for free 15hrs from the Jan but it doesn't seem to make that much difference as its only term time & 3 hrs a day (pretty useless for working mums)

[Zone2mum]

I thought paying for 2 at nursery was bad (we were exceeding our income paying for that) but it was only for 9 months, mercifully. However, paying for after school care/school holiday care is turnin out to be crippling too. Thank goodness there is a parental leave option so at least we can do some of it, but of course it's unpaid so hardly an easy option financially. And it expires after children are 5 so not much use once the last child hits that milestone. Childcare is a nightmare, but I don't want to e forced out of the workplace and in any case, we can't actually afford to live on only 1 income, especially when job security is non existent.

[Mia1415]

My childcare is £250 per week for my DS. I want to cry every time I pay her! But as a single mum I don't have much option but to work FT.

[theborrower]

Not managed to read the whole thread, but ...

We have no free childcare. We have arranged flexible working (compressed hours, weekday off) so that DD is only in nursery 3 days a week. We have a HH income of £42k but live in a city where the cost of living (housing) is expensive. We waited until DD was 3 before conceiving DC2, who is due in the summer. That way we won't have 2 in nursery at the same time. There's no way we could have afforded that. There will be just a few months when there is a crossover but we're saving extra on our childcare vouchers (which are a big help) to pay for that.

I remind myself that it's not forever, that these years are the most expensive (surely??). It would be nice to have a holiday, but we can't afford it. We just accept that we're making sacrifices.

I do sometimes wonder where our money went before having a child though - why were we not on exotic holidays every other month??

[Mimishimi]

£9.60 sounds about right - only slightly more expensive than the $10-12 the childminders in inner Sydney charge. What makes it even harder is that they are limited by ratio requirements to only something like 3 children if they are under three. They can take on more older children. Because there is so much demand/so little supply (as childminders tend to be more flexible than centers), many are just refusing to take on babies and toddlers because of the ratio requirements. This is the age group which needs that one on one family type care the most though . A nanny costs approximately $200 a day.

[didireallysaythat]

OP YANBU

But I hate to warn you that at least you can usually find childcare for children before they start school. I wasn't prepared for a complete lack or before or after school care. Where I work most woman are full time while their kids are 3 months to 4 years but as soon as they start school, wham bam they have to go part time because getting to work at 9:20 and leaving at 2:50 isn't a full day in anyone's books.

All of a sudden private schooling makes sense - If you've paid for nursery it probably costs the same ?

But who can afford the costs for two ?

[Artandco]

She's around Gloucester road

[bigkidsdidit]

Bloody hell, where? When I was in balham it was only £6ph, and that was only a year ago!

[bbcessex]

Artandco... wow - that really is a lot for a child minder. I can justify paying XYZ for our nanny because she is working solely for me, can adhere to my schedule, and can actually take a fair bit of the pressure away from me whilst I work (children's laundry, homework, projects, friends for tea, club runs etc.).

£9.60 per hour for a CM is the top rate I've heard so far.. she must be doing very well, especially as that is per child and her ratios would allow her to look after multiples. (good luck to her, I hope she's good for that rate!).

[Artandco]

I'm in London. The nearest childminder I know charges £9.60 an hr. she has a waiting list

[annieorangutan]

Im down South but not near London. Its same price in midlands though. I think something like 67% of mums work so thats 1000s of kids being brought up in childcare so it is cheaper most places. Its crazy that its so expensive in London.

[Blondeshavemorefun]

omfg annie thats so cheap, can i ask what area you are in?

[annieorangutan]

I could have 2 in childminders for 6 quid an hour. They are only about 3 an hour with food here.

[bbcessex]

I agree with blondes.

Childminders here range between £5 - £7+ per child, per hour.

My nanny works out at around £11 per hour gross. It's actually a less costly option than a Childminder, but as my DC are older, the flexibility and the options for the children also suit our family better than a CM. You have to be able to offer the nanny a substantial amount of hours though, as usually its their main job (although some do nanny-shares).

You can't get away from the fact though - you have to have a pretty substantial family income to be able to afford childcare (certainly in the South East).

It's a real problem - if you are in a lower paid role, there is the real likelihood that you just can't work because you can't afford it, especially if you are not a two-income family.

We lose some valuable talent in this country because of that.

[bigkidsdidit]

That's each obv, that's standard here but I've seen nannies ask for 10ph do couldn't work it out. Maybe people negotiate price with them. Thanks anyway :)

[drspouse]

I don't think a nanny would be cheaper than nursery for us if we had a 2nd - partly because of paying for nursery through my pay packet before NI.

Our CM charges more than bigkid's though but part of the reason we picked this CM is that she will do school runs when DS is older, so if/when we have a 2nd that would be very helpful with one at the CM and one at school.

[Blondeshavemorefun]

bigkid - its generally cheaper if have 2 children, esp 2 small ones, but obv area depends, my area a cm is £6/7.50ph per child so if have two then £15ph and also depends on age/exp of nanny and what they earn

if you did have a nanny say just over nmw if first job/young then would be £6.50/7 gross and would be less even with employers ni etc

wow at £4ph, keep her

[bigkidsdidit]

Blondes I would love a nanny, I have two but pay £4ph to my cm. how can it be cheaper to get a nanny?

[drspouse]

We use a CM one day a week and nursery 3 days currently. CM is actually more expensive per day because

a) she works longer hours (we chose her for her flexibility to work longer hours and a few extra days occasionally, and she's near home not near my work so DS is with her longer than he is in nursery)

b) she would charge slightly less per hour if we had a full or nearly full-time place.

c) as it's a workplace nursery I can pay the whole cost before NI, and we could do that however many days we had. I do get childcare vouchers on top of this, and so does DH, and we use those to pay the CM, but we couldn't get the whole cost of a 4 or 5 day a week CM through that, I don't think, not even between the 2 of us.

My workplace nursery is lovely and stimulating and he adores it but their flexibility and hours are a pile of pants.

[Blondeshavemorefun]

i have always said that those who work and have childcare costs should have the cost taken out of their gross salary and then taxed

maybe the vouchers need to go up from £243 a month pp

Im a nanny and yes get well paid, tho i feel i do earn my money, but for a nanny earning £12/13 gross an hour,on 11hr ish day works out about £7k a day childcare costs over the year

with 2 children a nanny is the cheaper option, esp when have 2 little ones, im at the top range of salary (22year exp im old lol ) but younger nannies and nwoc can bring down costs to maybe £5/6k a day

yes outgoings like bills/mortgage are the same whether you work or not, so some have to think they may take home £20+ a week after paying childcare, but if they didnt work then as one poster pointed out they would still have the same bills

basically as long as your childcare is slightly less then what you earn, then some will carry on working knowing in 2/3/5yrs time they still have a career and their leftover income will be higher

[HappySeven]

Thanks, fidget, you may be right. It was just the OP gave the impression she would bring home more than she paid out and that's what I didn't get. Maybe she does get tax credits but as a GP I doubt it.

It's definitely not easy though. I do work 3 days which I find a good balance for me and my family. The childcare costs are obviously not good but it is getting easier and I see it as a way to keep my foot in the door of my career.

I don't think I could have returned to my job if I'd stopped entirely and I know someone who is really struggling to get back in the workplace after 10 years at home. She's not in my line of work but she's now divorced and could do with bringing in some money and not relying on her ex for maintenance.

[AnnieLobeseder]

Melonbreath - you don't think childcare should be subsided because it would't have suited you personally?

[Laquitar]

OP i agree that childcare in uk is very expensive but yoU do have more options than other parents.

You have a well paid job and you have choosen to buy a 4 bed house in london. I ll be flamed for this but in my book a 4 bed house for a small family is a luxury.

You can hire a live in nanny since you have the space (not au pair, a nanny). This will be much cheaper -and easier too- than nursery. Other families cant do this due to space issue.

Also 100 pounds pw on food for 2 adults and 2under 5 who are at nursery is not exactly 'frugal'.
I ' m not having a go at you btw.

[Laquitar]

OP i agree that childcare in uk is very expensive but yoU do have more options than other parents.

You have a well paid job and you have choosen to buy a 4 bed house in london. I ll be flamed for this but in my book a 4 bed house for a small family is a luxury.

You can hire a live in nanny since you have the space (not au pair, a nanny). This will be much cheaper -and easier too- than nursery. Other families cant do this due to space issue.

Also 100 pounds pw on food for 2 adults and 2under 5 who are at nursery is not exactly 'frugal'.
I ' m not having a go at you btw.

[Manchesterhistorygirl]

Childcare costs are on of the reasons I decide to be a sahm, by the time we'd paid for nursery and after school club we would use up all of my wages and part of dh's. This was before we factored in petrol costs, lunch, tea, etc. I also worked a rolling roster as my employer refused to allow me to return on my fixed days contract citing business reasons. Dh wage was multiples of mine, so it would have made no sense for him to go pt to allow me to earn a crap pt wage, despite the excellent perks my job came with re: travel.

Whilst I was on mat leave and wondering how we could make it work, I was offered voluntary redundancy so took it.