Impossible to go back to work?

[Ivybows]

I have 2 preschool dc, I'm a sahm through circumstance more than choice although I have enjoyed it and I'm greatful that I've had this time at home with the dc.

I had planned to look for work once dc start school, this is now just a few months away- will probably be part time for 6/12 months.

So my issue is if I return to my previous field of work I'd work roughly 8.30-3.30 meaning I wouldn't be able to do the school run, I'd have to find and pay for wrap around care which is pretty thin on the ground in my area and would cost a minimum of £70 a day for the 2 of them. My job role isn't a highly paid one.

I'd hate to never be able to drop them off or pick them up but I'm not sure if this is just the norm?

So how does everyone else manage the school run?

Are there any breakfast clubs or after school clubs at the school. Usually much cheaper

There is a breakfast club they can access when they start school full time, no after school club unfortunately.

Breakfast clubs are great for term time but then you’ll still have to pay full days for childcare in school hols. Can you do a part time job so you get the best of both?

We used before and after school care on the days needed at the school. Was less than £10 per day. £35 each seems way OTT for a few hours care. Are you sure that's right?

£70 a day for wrap around sounds a lot if your working hours are 8-3.30. I'm outskirts of London & paid £6.50 per hour per child to childminder - if you only need a couple of hours a day would expect to be less than £30?

And you may be eligible for childcare tax credits to help with cost

I think sometimes it depends if the wrap around care is school run or not. Our schools don't offer it but the local preschool do as a separate company. For 1 day before and after school it costs about 17 quid

We only have 2 nurseries locally that offer the wrap around. So I'd drop to nursery at 8, they'd drop them to school for 9 and collect at 11.45 and take them back to the nursery until I collect by about 4pm. £35 a day.

Then when they have full time places in school it would be drop to nursery at 8, school 9-3 and nursery until around 4. One charges £18 for this the other £25.

Oh yes these are private nurseries, the transport fee pushes up the rate so it's higher than a straight forward hourly rate.

I returned to my normal role after maternity leave and found that was ok as nursery hours were longer but once they started school I left that job partly because I hated not being able to do the school run, go to assemblies etc and the holidays were a nightmare for me with childcare as eldest has SEN so can’t attend regular holiday clubs. Friends use childminders or after school clubs.

Mine need childcare 2 days a week as the other days are covered between me and dh.

They go to a childminder after school from 3.30-5.30. I'm lucky that home work and cm are all close so I take a (very!) late lunch hour and use that to pick them up from school and drop them to cm.

Are they going to pre-school or full time school?

Have you asked in the school office what other children do? You might find that they hold details of local child minders or know that the YMCA will collect from the school, for example.

I think this is the problem though in some areas if the schools don't do wrap around care. Then childcare can be prohibitly expensive. It's one of the reasons why I wanted the DCs to go to the school they do as they do great wrap around care. The other local school doesn't and private breakfast club would be £17 a child not £4.

We used breakfast and after school clubs. DH would drop them off at 7.45 on his way to work and I’d collect them at 6. We used holiday clubs to cover the time when we ran out of annual leave.

Are you absolutely sure they have to be FT before you can use the breakfast club op?

I only ask as I assumed the same with ds1 then discovered a few months in that the school were happy to take nursery children as long as they were 'self sufficient' enough and could queue and get toast/cereals etc. It might be worth an ask?

@olenna it's a nursery class in the school, they go there part time usually until they start the reception year.

There are no childminders that collect from this school, from what I can gather from friends and parents at playgroup others are relying on grandparents and dads to share the load.

Dh works away frequently so although he will do his share when he can I can't rely on him as he often gets called away at short notice.

Ah didn't realise you were talking about wrap around a 3 hour nursery session.
Have you looked into wrap-around childminder? Or do the private nurseries accept 30 hour funding & ditch the 3 hour/day school nursery? Or hold out another year until dc are full-time school?

@houseful I'll definitely double check that, at least then it would just be the afternoon to cover.

I’m pregnant again so we’ve not yet got to this. But when we were looking at it, my hours would be similar to yours but the children would need to be in childcare for at least a further two hours to allow my travel/prep time.
We decided it wasn’t worth it, I’d earn marginally more than the childcare but for us that money wasn’t worth the kids always being in childcare/school.
It’s personal preference basically.

Private nannies can sometimes work out cheaper as they’re on an hourly rate, so £10per hour but for 2 children is obviously cheaper, plus they can be more flexible in terms of school runs/times

Everyone is responding as if you meant school 9-3. Not the 3 hours funded nursery.
Just wait a year before you go back.

@waddling that's the decision we made when in a similar situation to you. I've been off for 2 years now and while I don't regret it I underestimated the effect that not working would have on my mental health and I'm concerned about how taking another year off would impact my chances of returning to work.

Even if I wait until they are full time I'm still going to have the issue of never being able to drop off or collect, just wondered if I'm being a bit soft and it's the norm?

OP do you not qualify for 30 hours nursery if you go back to work. You don't have to be working full time to qualify for it, just more than a certain hours a week. My twins qualify and they do 9-3 Mon-Fri and I do not pay for it as it falls under 30 hours.

Do you know anyone locally with similar age children? Two families at church have a nanny share between them which makes it cheaper.

Yes you are too soft. I don’t mind not doing the school run at all. But if you go part time won’t you still be able to do a few days a week? If you are full time, can you do one day from home so you can at least drop off that day?

Depends on your commute however. Next door dad works full time and does drop off every day. If you work is very local you can probably get into the office around 9.