AIBU regarding Nursery Fees

[SilentEm564]

DH and I recently went to view a nursery.
We were told it would be £250 per week for DS to attend 3 days a week.
We thought it sounded like a lot of money! I was more hoping for £200 for 4 days.
We picked it because it was the nearest one to our house, so nothing spectacular about it.
We live just outside of London.
Would some other posters mind sharing how much nursery costs for them please? I'm now left wondering if my original cost expectations were unreasonable? It's hard to judge because a lot of nurseries don't put fees on their websites.

£1800 ofsted outstanding.
Central London.
No milk and nappies included.
But all lunches organic and prepped onsite my the chef.

£56 a day in the North East - I’d expect to pay considerably more in London. My nursery isn’t the best and there are more expensive, but the cheapest I’d found was £52. This includes the provision of food but not baby milk or nappies.

£55per day all inclusive. Outstanding nursery is the East Midlands.

£1500: for twins in outskirts of oxford for 3 days. This was two years ago so fees will have gone up. Nursery was absolutely brilliant and well worth it. Ballet classes, horse riding, music session, forest school, trips out. They had a ball. This was breakfast, cooked lunch and light tea. No nappies as went in toddler years.

I pay £225 pw for a full time childminder 7.30 - 18.00 in London.

We pay around 900 for 3 days a week for our 2 year old, which works out at around 250 a week if you consider that we still pa during August holidays etc as they spread the cost into even installments across the year.

This includes 3 proper meals cooked on site, snacks twice a day, all nappies and wipes.

We are at the very edge of north London.

It's going to be £50 a day for my ds in the east Midlands. That includes food but not nappies or wipes.

£60 a day plus £5 for lunch in the north west. We have since found a child minder who chargers almost a quarter of this and with much better ratio of kids to adults!

£47 per day (8-6) including meals and snacks. Not including nappies and wipes.

In the west country.

In the north, ofsted outstanding nursery, 7:30-6pm £52 per day. We’re looking at a lovely childminder who is also ofsted outstanding but more flexible and cheaper!

I think at thatage it was £85 a day including food and nappies

(That was west London )

We pay £50 a day (8am-6pm) in north east london including meals, snack, nappies and wipes, for an excellent nursery that's recently got rated outstanding so will go up soon

plus we still have to pay even when its closed

£67 a day part time £62 a day full time

South east

Not including nappies

£28 a day in the East Midlands.

About £950 per month for full time at a Reggio inspired nursery in the country side not far from where we live. We are in the Midlands.

£690pcm for a one year old for two days a week, 7:30-18:00. Includes food but not nappies. It’s a really nice nursery, with lots of outside space (we live in a second floor flat so really wanted DS to have access to a garden).

Pickups are tight - DH has to leave work early to get there on time. But the only nursery with later opening hours locally just felt like an impersonal cattle pen. This one feels caring and nice.

I haven’t read the full thread so sorry if someone’s already mentioned, but have you thought of a childminder? I pay £3.50 an hour including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. £35 8-6. Nursery equivalent would be £60+ round here in the midlands.

My dd pays £1180 pcm for full time place 8.30am-5.50pm in Bristol and she would get fined £1 per minute if she were to be late to collect. The nursery shuts on Public holidays Xmas, Boxing day, New Year's Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday. She buys own nappies, cream and wipes. Fees will be going down when gets free hours but will still have to pay £10 per day for food. It is a rip off how much food can a 3 year old eat?

60 a day, Ofsted outstanding. In Essex

37/day including all meals, breakfast too, but no nappies. I looked round lots, they ranged from 35.50 to 45 pounds a day, but the holiday policies varied (4 weeks off for free, to one week off at half price, which does make a difference).

One was 68, but it had a 1:2 ratio in the baby room so was a justifiably different proposition as all the others were 1:3.

West Midlands. Thinking I must live in a bargain area now!

£37 a day childminder.

North Wales

Somebody asked if a nanny would be cheaper - not if you only have one child, need care for 10hrs+ per day, and the nursery includes three meals a day plus snacks (and/or nappies). £80-85 per day isn’t bad for that - I can’t imagine how these nurseries charging £35 per day are breaking even!

It’s different if you are talking about pre-schoolers, but for babies and toddlers the staff ratios are so low that costs are bound to be high. Childminders who charge £3.50 per hour presumably have more than two babies in their care...