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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what you pay for before and after school care? Astounded at the cost

76 replies

thinkingmakesitso · 25/08/2015 21:51

I have a 6 & 8 year old and it is the best part of £500 to put them in before and after 5 days a week Shock. And it doesn't even start early enough for us...

That is more than my mortgage and is just not affordable. STBEX has been providing it up to now, but the tosser has been asked to leave his accommodation and has no job, so may need to move back to his parents, 90 minutes away.

So I will need to pay all this myself and will get nothing from him either. My other option is to let him move back to the spare room but I really can't face that either and feel it would confuse the children and lead to an unpleasant atmosphere.

But those fees I just can't believe. How do people afford it? Why do people talk as if once they reach school age childcare is no longer much of an issue? I can pay it, just, but it will be the end of treats/having any savings/ feeling that we are 'comfortable'. Sad. I get all the tax credits I am entitled to btw.

AIBU to think the cost extortionate?

OP posts:
bigredtractor · 25/08/2015 21:54

Our childminder is £7ph and after school club is £7 per 3 hour session. We're in a big Scottish city.

littleducks · 25/08/2015 21:55

No before school options available Sad

After school club on school site is £7.50 for first child then £5.50 for siblings until 5.45pm.

Price hasn't gone up in past few years. ..in fact that makes me think it might do in September or January coming.

Alterego1965 · 25/08/2015 21:56

Childcare vouchers? Tax credits? Would they help at all?

Hard isn't it?

We're just outside London and it'd be £160pw to cover 8-6. Not really much food in there either.

hibbleddible · 25/08/2015 21:56

Around here it's about £10 per day per child.

Your ex doesn't sound like that much of a tosser if he has been providing all the childcare so you can work.

bedraggledmumoftwo · 25/08/2015 21:57

I thought tax credits gave you up to 70% of childcare costs. You may be getting all you were entitled to, but if you now have childcare to pay you may find you are entitled to more.

LikeIcan · 25/08/2015 21:57

Sounds very reasonable to me - I'm assuming you're having 4 hours of childcare a day? works out at just over £3 per hour per child. That's cheap.

MarchLikeAnAntAndKickJeffreysB · 25/08/2015 21:57

Would a childminder be any cheaper?

ApparentlyImDoingItAllWrong · 25/08/2015 21:59

£270 per child for a 4 weeks-in-the-calendar month, so £540 per month for my two.

Its not as if we're living anywhere expensive either, I'm up North in a fairly run down, cheap town.

Original poster
thinkingmakesitso · 25/08/2015 22:01

He is a total tosser actually - it was the very least he could do and now he can't do it (probably) with less than a week's notice. All because he couldn't find a job he 'liked'. My work provides food, clothing, shelter for the children - the ones that are his as well as mine.

I earn too much to get any money for childcare, I have checked. How do vouchers work - I have looked at that but it seems fiendishly complicated. Does anyone know how much it brings the cost down. I am starting to panic the more I think about this.

OP posts:
JenniferYellowHat1980 · 25/08/2015 22:04

That does sound expensive. I hope tax credits can help as suggested above.

In Wales breakfast club is free but doesn't start until 8:15. There's no after school club and no free school meals either.

Our local childminder charges £3.50/hr and is very flexible. I think the nursery after school clubs are more expensive.

EddieStobbart · 25/08/2015 22:04

That does sound high but we don't have a breakfast club option which might make a difference. I pay around £320 a month for 2 in after school club five days a week.

BarbarianMum · 25/08/2015 22:05

It's just under £10 a day per child at our school, drop at 7.45am and collect at 6pm so a similar cost to yours. Pretty typical I would think.

Maybe instead of inviting your ex back into your spare room you could take in a lodger?

hibbleddible · 25/08/2015 22:05

If he was providing both before and after school care it would be pretty difficult for him to find a job. There aren't many school hour only jobs, and lots of parents after them.

The voucher system is pretty simple: just ask your employer if they provide them. You get £243 a month tax free to use on childcare.

amarmai · 25/08/2015 22:05

since he doesn't have a job , can he pick them up after school and go to your house with them? That way you pay for am care and he does not stay overnight. Any neighbours whose children go to the same school as yours and want to make some $$?

JenniferYellowHat1980 · 25/08/2015 22:06

Are you going to be able to afford to work as many hours as you currently do given those circs?

bamboostalks · 25/08/2015 22:06

£6 from 7.30 and £16 till 6 so £44 for 2 kids per day. No sibling reduction. £220 a week. £880 a month. North London.

onlywhenyouleave · 25/08/2015 22:08

I pay £10 a day per child for 50 minutes in the morning (including breakfast) and then 2.5 hours after school (including snacks). Compared to the £35 per day I was paying to nursery, it is significantly cheaper!

superram · 25/08/2015 22:09

£4 breakfast club from 7.45. £18 childminder until 6- does give tea. Next sep I will be laying £220 a week for 2 children :( more than nursery

hibbleddible · 25/08/2015 22:09

bamboo is that a private school? That is shockingly expensive!

Shinyshoes2 · 25/08/2015 22:10

After school club is £10.00 until 6pm....they pick them up from her class, walk her about 15 minutes to the after school club , help with homework, give her a sandwich and a drink
Breakfast club is from 8.am, we drop her off, they give her breakfast then walk her to school, I think that might be £5.00... I've never used the morning one.

I'm in Essex

bamboostalks · 25/08/2015 22:10

Can't pay less for earlier pick up either. Private provider working with/for school. No alternative offered by school. Club in centre beside school. Activities pretty poor. Quite homework or reading. Small snack provided at after school. Plain toast (only butter allowed) and cereal for brekkie. It's a rip off.

mandy214 · 25/08/2015 22:10

Where do you live OP? Ours is around £8 per child for breakfast club I think (from 7.45) and then £14 per child for after school (until 6.30). But I think for 5 days you'd get 10% discount of 2nd child. So about £210 per week for 2 children.

We don't need to use breakfast club and use an after school nanny (£10 per hour) and after school club.

But you can use childcare vouchers (not sure when the deadline is for joining the scheme) and our provider spreads the payment for 38 weeks over 12 months if you pay by direct debit.

bamboostalks · 25/08/2015 22:10

State. Borough of Enfield.

Rosieposy4 · 25/08/2015 22:11

Vouchers save you the tax so a big saving. Does your employer not offer the,?

mandy214 · 25/08/2015 22:12

North West. State school.