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)

I don't understand why it's childcare costs that prohibit full-time working: if you come home with anything after two days you would come home with more after 5.

However I would definitely second those pointing out that most nurseries can take the 15 hours of vouchers over 2 days (mine does so it must be legal) and also childcare vouchers. They would give you £486 between you and your partner pre-tax. Definitely worth it.

It's lucky as a single woman I never wanted kids. When I have looked at what my friends pay in out in childcare I am shocked. As an emergency services worker there is no way at all I could afford it, so for me it would be a choice of kids & welfare state, or no kids & job! I really do feel for anyone paying out such huge amounts.

that's the second time in the past couple of days I've come across sadoldbag's name being described as appropriate!

It is difficult. There is a light at the end of the tunnel w.r.t. nursery fees, but even when they start school you have to take into consideration that for 14 weeks of the year you will still need to find childcare, and most people don't have the holiday to cover that. And then there's the before and after school fees...

We manage it. DH can claim his £243 allowance from work in childcare vouchers (my company doesn't do that) and in our area (Cambridgeshire) the free hours are very flexible. Its approx 11.5 per week (15 hours pw for term time claims) and you can spread that over at least two days a week, which means a full day plus a little bit extra is paid for. When I first started the job I do now (3 years ago) on 3.5 days a week, DS1 wasn't quite old enough to claim the free hours so we had to pay nursery fees for both of them. The fees drop as the childs age increases (depends on nursery) and so gradually we have become better off.

Like people have said, you need to think about it long-term - I needed to stay in the industry to keep up so whilst a 'career' for me is out - I will hopefully always be able to get a job.

have you thought about using a registered childminder instead of a nursery, as in my area at least they tend to be more affordable.

my friend is one and charges £3 an hour (although again, i appreciate this will depend where you are in the country) so for 2 dcs full time at the CM (for 10 hours a day) 5 days a week it would be £1200 a month

its still not great though :( and i do agree there needs to be more help

Childcare is not a cost of having children though. It is a cost of working if you have children. They come with free childcare in the form of a parent.

Not if there is only one parent morethan? What then? Staying at home is only a choice if there are two parents and I don't think those of us who are lone parents are so unusual these days that you can make a statement like being a SAHM always being a choice.

It is three years off, but I think when I suddenly have £1000 a month when DD goes to school I will feel incredibly wealthy!

I'm a sahm. It's not presently viable to work. Least, not daytime hrs. I retrained as a beautician and do that via word of mouth where I can. I'll work daytime eventually. Just dunno what as by that time tbh..... I don't look that far ahead

Yes revengeofkarma - just don't have a second!

I didn't return to work until dd went to school and ds started nursery. Even then with a childminder, she took every penny. It was only when ds went to school we saw the money from me working.

I wouldn't have afforded it otherwise before then. I had hoped MIL would allow me one free day but her job share asked for flexible working to look after her grandchild after I asked MIL to help. Caused a major fight with dh as, he was their boss and they didn't ask him and couldn't understand why he was so angry with them.

MIL came to me when ds went to school and offered to do a day a week to allow me to work more! When I declined she couldn't understand the problem, but my childcare costs had just quartered and my hours were fine and my childminder is flexible at my changing days.

Very few people can afford two in childcare without making a loss. It's an absolute crime. How can it be possible for people not to be able to afford to work? The whole premise is absurd. But that's the reality here in the UK where childcare costs are amongst the highest in the world.

In pretty much the rest of the developed world, the governments have realised the economic and social benefits of subsidised childcare.

I had to quit a new and very promising job when I had twins. I did not 'factor in' that I may have twins. I expected one baby, not two. I already had a DD (deliberately waited until she was almost school age to have only one set of nursery fees) so I would have been out of pocket by around £200 a month after travel costs. Add to that the night wakings of two babies (they would NOT synchronise!) and all the things that needed doing, and there was no way I could hold down a full time job competently. No family help at all and PND to top it off as I was alone with them for long hours as DH worked all the hours he could and breast feeding was never ending.

I was out of the workplace for 5 years in the end at a massive financial loss. Totally buggered up my CV and the reason why I am having to do a degree as a mature student now. Even if I had decided to go back to work for essentially no return, we could not have absorbed the £200 a month so I actually could not afford to.

Some 'lifestyle choices' are out of your control .

Most things could be classified a choice I suppose it's more hobsons though surely if it's something you can't actually take up ...?!

Happyseven - if I wanted full time childcare for two children - even using a nanny at approx £12hr x 48per week - that's roughly £2500 per month. Even though I would be being paid for full time work I wouldn't be able to afford that and the mortgage.

That's why I can't go back to work full time.

In Germany i've been told state nurseries cost 25 euros per week (happy for someone to correct me if that's wrong)

It's not just parents who suffer. Businesses incur extra costs in having to recruit and train new staff when women can't afford to stay in their jobs. The career break women take means their long-term earnings are affected and the State loses out in income tax. It's astounding to me that the default position in this country is that a parent (ie mother) should just stay home without any consideration of the knock-on effect for everyone. In most of Europe, SAHMs are a rare thing because the childcare provisions are so affordable.

As for a realistic solution, OP, you need either a childminder, a nanny share, or just to accept you'll need to lose money for a while in order to keep your career on track.

sadoldbag it's not five years though, when my eldest gets his free hours I will be earning more than I'm paying out in childcare. He is 1, baby due in August (he'll be 19 months), I'll have a year of mat leave so he'll be about 2 and a half when I go back to work. By the time he gets his free hours in April it'll be less than a year of paying childcare for 2 babies. I only work 2.5 days a week.

I don't mind looking after my baby all day but I don't want to do it all day EVERY day. I am perfectly happy to say this. I do not have the patience, imagination or energy and honestly respect those who do.

HappySeven for us it was the tax. Childcare costs would be doubled if I worked a full week, but by working 2.5 days, we pay half the childcare but bring home more than half my FT wage. Therefore it was more economically beneficial to only work PT.

Childcare vouchers are actually incredibly helpful. We take the maximum available to us (£124 + £243 per month) and it makes the cost for DD's nursery (£620 per month for 3 days per week) a lot easier to swallow).

When DD is 3 she'll go for 15 hours per week for free and we'll be charged for the rest of the day and that will make things easier again!

I would shop around for nurseries or childminders because that amount for 2 kids for 2 days seems extortionate to me.

"I don't know a single woman who works who doesn't have at least some free childcare going on. Not one, not even people in highly paid jobs like GPs."

I don't. Weekend babysitting only and I don't work weekends.

YANBU.

I'm also in a similar boat, and if I go back ill be going back at loss. I don't know how we will manage but we are going to have to make it work for the long term benefit. Also tbh I just don't think I'm cut out to be a full time SAHM. I think I would always need a project on the go (however small it may be) to keep me going.

There were a few years when I was more or less working for benefits and potential career progression. I was a higher rate tax payer yet practically all of my salary went into childcare, travel and other work expenses! It is very difficult but it does get easier once they start school.

DH & I both work 4 days so DD is in nursery 3 days - that's still just over £400 a month but I buy childcare vouchers (max of £243) & that's something. We don't qualify for tax credits so childcare vouchers are only relief. DD will be 3 next July so looking forward to the free 15 hours. I'm currently pregnant but by time I go back to work DD will so be starting reception, thankfully!

Looking forward to when they're both in school & we'll have that extra cash!

Childcare costs are a joke but I've never considered giving up work - I'd find it too difficult to return to my job at my position (teacher with responsibility).

I think SadOldBag has a point tbh.
There are always those who say they have to work to make ends meet, when after childcare and other work related costs the family are losing one whole wage. That is not necessity but choice.

We all have the right to sah, wah, woh, but sometimes this doesn't equate to being able to. It isn't fair but life isn't fair.

YANBU, it's mad. By the time I've paid tax, NI and two sets of nursery fees I earn -£32 a month. That's with DS's free 15 hours. There is no way we could afford a third child.

Manic

I know loads of sp on benefit who don't work, they would be worse of working so don't do it.

FattyBumBum

I think its sad that many dhs are not prepared to share the burden and go pt themselves or even change jobs to allow their dw to continue working, it is so sad.

You have to think about the long game, though. I spent a year not working and doing the school run every day while studying. It had its ups and downs (like work), we tightened our belts and just about got by - I was the higher earner previously.

But it's not just a question of whether it is do-able month to month. I worried sick about the fact that I was not saving and not building up a pension, and about my future earning prospects. For me, the question is whether it is affordable over a lifetime. Even if you are paying to go to work for a few years, in many cases you will reap the benefits later.