To really think there needs to be more help available for childcare

[pinkcreamsoda]

I am looking at nurseries as I am really hoping to have a baby in the next eighteen months.

I earn 45,000 a year so I know I am luckier than most. This translates as about 2400 monthly pay.

Nursery is 1200 a month.

It’s a lot!

I think there is a lot of help available already but I’m very lucky to work for a good employer and I think more should be done to encourage employers to be more family friendly.

Assuming that you intend fertility treatment I really would not have two embryos put back if you’re going to be a single parent.

Childminders are often a cheaper and more flexible option and offer a bit more continuity for your child. If you find a good one they are worth their weight in gold.

That nursery sounds like it’s almost £7ph. Surely you could find something cheaper than that?

You can also get childcare tax free if you earn under £100,000 so it wouldn’t be quite as much as you think.

If you have children, surely you expect to pay for their childcare? I really can’t understand people who expect others to fund their choices .

I agree with you. I'd rather every family got completely free high quality childcare for 1 or 2 children. It would help society across the board, and then there would be less need for child related benefits.

You can get UC on a salary of £45k? Jesus actual Christ.

I'm CFBC and enormously supportive of working mothers/parents, but...sorry, that's taking the p*ss.

When mine was small there was virtually no childcare at all, let alone help with it.

You can get UC on a salary of £45k? Jesus actual Christ

Who said that?!

I think nurseries must be very subsidised in Germany, where I live
That seems to be the case on the European continent:

I've no DC, but a colleague told me they pay only Eur 110 per month, for 5 days ft care, as they both work ft
That's per child - their DC were about 3 and 5, which in Germany means neither had started school

They certainly aren't on benefits of any kind - on 6 figure salaries

You should also look at the schools in your area - where we lived there was no before or after school provision so we had to taxi DS1 from one place to another. You may need to factor in moving to somewhere there's after school provision when you get there, or reducing your hours (if you can) to pick up after school (nursery hours are 8-6 minimum, school 8:30-3:15 ish).

It all costs. Welcome to Parenthood.

Someone said so on the other page former but I really don’t think it’s accurate.

Of course I expect to pay for childcare hence why I am looking now, to ensure I can afford it.

Think yourself lucky that nowadays you can have a year’s maternity leave (so nothing to pay for the first year) and then free hours at age 3. So that’s only a couple of years you’re paying the full whack.

When I had my first, maternity leave was 12 weeks and there were no free hours. Unfortunately (from the childcare point of view) we had a September baby so we paid full whack from when she was 12 weeks old until a fortnight shy of her 5th birthday.

Seriously, I know childcare is a big financial outlay, but there is way more help nowadays than in the past

Well yes momo, I do ‘think myself lucky’ but at the same time I am not paid in this period of leave remember.

Full time care is expensive, there is no getting away from it. I would look at childminders.

Did you post about your situation about a week ago?

I agree with you OP, i have not conceived yet but we are already looking at costs so we are ready. We earn 78k jointly. I understand what some pps are saying but when you bust your ass doing 50hr weeks and giving 4 figures to tax/ NI every month it's a bit of a joke to then give an extra 1k in childcare. Especially when some people who take advantage of the benefit system don't pay at all!

A childminder will be slightly cheaper and you will get 30 hours free when the child turns 3, also look into childcare vouchers. Not sure about UC as it appears to be a bit of a minefield.

Well you don’t need to take a year off! The point is, you’re making choices. And those choices are within much broader parameters than for those of us who had babies 20 or more years ago

Can you start saving half the cost now over the two years before you have the baby? Save £600pm now, then use that to halve the costs from age 1-2 and 2-3 before the funded hours start?

Hey @pinkcreamsoda - you sound like you are doing some sensible planning. And yes it’s effing expensive, even for two parents. Our nursery - which we also had to sort out in advance because provisions where we live are poor so it is oversubscribed - is going to cost about the same. I will also spend a lot of my maternity leave unpaid as our company mat is poor. Yes you can technically have a year off - but I certainly can’t afford to!

But you can't expect to have a child and maintain your same standard of living. It doesn't work like that. I, like many others, worked for almost Jack shit when I had mine because my entire wage went on child care give or take a couple of hundred a month. But I remembered that I wouldn't get another job With such good benefits if I left, I wouldn't have the contributions to my pension, I wouldn't have the personal security.

Oh, and there were no childcare vouchers when I had mine or funded hours and tax credits has only just come out and we qualified for £46 a month.

That's life for most parents and as a single parent that is a very expensive decision you need to weigh up.

It's both very cheap and very expensive. When you consider it's direct care of your most precious thing, it starts to look like a better deal. Plus a lot of nurseries have been struggling and/or going under because of the free hours arrangements. Not sure what the answer is but there isn't an easy one.

I hate this elitist attitude of "don't have kids you can't afford" if that were the case only the happily married with decent salaries could afford that. The problem is with wages and the cost of childcare. Society wouldn't function without low paid low skilled workers to do menial jobs (I am one of these people) and working full isn't enough money to live off. That's not the workers fault.

By saying "if you can't afford kids don't have them" you are basically saying 70% of the country can't do the most natural human instinct and have children. That's a worrying attitude to have. Having children is natural not something that should be reserved for the upper classes.

I really can’t understand people who expect others to fund their choices

Mmmm like the child won't need NHS or schooling, perhaps they won't need dentists either?

Maybe that child's tax will pay for your care when elderly?

What comes around goes around

Especially when some people who take advantage of the benefit system don't pay at all!

No one gets free childcare. Tax Credits fund a maximum of 70% of the costs, based on income. Funded places for two year olds is early education, not childcare, and has restrictions on it (fifteen hours per week for 38 weeks of the year).

I agree with the OP and one of the posters above. I do believe that the UK should heavily subsidise childcare as they do in many countries in the continent. It keeps women in the workforce and gives them financial independence. I've seen so many smart women drop out of work or work way beneath their talents because of prohibitively high childcare costs here. Everyone loses when you disadvantage a whole tranche of the population in this way. My Danish and French friends are aghast when they hear what we pay here. I don't think we should just 'suck it up', I think the system needs to change...