AIBU for wondering why the government assumes 12 year olds don’t need childcare?

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Hi folks,
Looking at Tax Free Childcare and I see it stops when a child turns 12.
www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare
Can I ask what the heck working parents with 12 year olds are expected to do in the summer and why there is so little provision for that tricky bit where they’re pretty independent but you really don’t want them sitting around the house all day on their own?
DS is 12 and it looks like summer care will cost me £125 a week. Normally I’d apply accrued childcare vouchers, but the summer camps are not registered for childcare vouchers. The ones that are registered won’t take him because he’s 12.

I'm sure we were all left alone at 12 in the 90s/2000s, what has changed?

Surely at 12 he can stay home for a few hours or go out with/to his friends?

For the record DS is pretty independent and is home alone most afternoons, but an entire summer excluding about 2 weeks?

There's a difference between "at home for a few hours" and at home from, say, 730am to 6pm five days in a row. YANBU.

Because unless there is SEN issues, a 12 year old can be left unattended for periods of time by a working parent as per NSPCC guidelines. Although I'm very pro summer activities these are a luxury rather than essential need.

@Sparklyring for 6 weeks?

I mean it wasn't the most enriching summer, my friends and I were mostly bussed to school so I'd just spend summers reading, on the computer or watching TV but we weren't in any danger.

Most 12 year olds don't need childcare. They are sensible enough to be trusted to stay at home or see friends for a few hours whilst you work. If your 12 year old isn't one of these children then you need to be working on developing his independence. I'm sure he would love to chill out all summer than go to a summer camp where there are unlikely to be many if any children his age.

You might not want them sitting round the house all day but at 12 they should be starting to learn to be more independent and the government have to draw the line somewhere. There isn’t unlimited money. If you really aren’t happy with him being left can you not comprimise on 2-3 days holiday club or whatever then a couple of days home alone?

@blackcat86 ‘unattended for periods of time by a working parent‘ but the entire working day, 5 days a week for 6 weeks.
Seriously.

I’m with you OP. It’s so easy for people to say, oh go to friends or grandparents, but actually if you work 9-5 and are out of the house 8-6 potentially, do you just leave your 12yo on their own for 10 hours a day 5 days a week? What if they live rurally or don’t have many / any friends, or any friends who live close by, or friends whose parents don’t want other kids round at their house all day, or handy local fit and able grandparents. It’s a long time to be by yourself and I think plenty of adults would get a bit lonely on that basis.

Days at friends houses, annual leave, asking a relative. Suck up the fees? So it's not 6 weeks worth.
There are options but it's tricky. The registered holiday clubs in my area take them up to 14.

@Littlefroggy, the childcare voucher system allows me to continue to accrue childcare vouchers so there obviously is money, but no older child camp will accept them.
There is a disconnect somewhere along the line.
Why are summer camps not registered for childcare vouchers/tax-free child care?

Quite terrible to expect a parent fo pay for their kids.

And also don’t really see the issue with being left at home around maybe sorting some clubs and time with mates.

Following with interest as I'm dreading the 6 week break for this very reason.
I've heard other parents of similarly aged kids express the same concerns about occupying them for so many weeks on the trot, so OP is not BU.

No grandparents or relatives, his school friends seem mostly to live out of town.
It’s not a nice way to spend a summer.

Is there one of these near you? They go to 15.

You said you were looking ahead - does that mean your DC is much younger than 12?

The ‘age 12’ limit is a way of putting ‘primary school age’. Things change considerably once they move up - including levels of independence.

If you think that they will be very bored, then look on to things like sports based courses (very cheap of even free by your council?) and find a good listings of what’s on.

You don’t need to drop off and pick up, so it doesn’t matter whether the hours are that good a fit with your working ones

Are any of their friends in similar circumstances!

Some summer camps do accept childcare vouchers - eg PGL. Not cheap though.

Well next year he can get a job, so I expect they think he’ll manage not working this year.

By the way, it’s not that I am angry at paying for the childcare, it’s that the various schemes to help with paying for childcare: childcare vouchers and tax-free childcare do not assist here at all.
So rather than using the vouchers I have saved during the year to pay for the summer childcare I now have to pay £750.

How much leave can you take, to break it up? Could you take leave in chunks so a day a week for 5 weeks and one week off would only be 10 days of leave. Our local library has some clubs for children in the summer (free), there might be church groups that would take an older child. Mine will be 12 and still at primary school so still a child in my view.

@BWatchWatcher You said 4 weeks, 6 weeks holiday excluding 2 weeks. Surely a 12 year old would be mortified at being sent to a kids club? The ones I know would be. Can he not get the bus places himself? Play at home on a console? Watch movies? Play football? Read? See friends?

@BWatchwatcher have you thought of taking annual leave to reduce the number of weeks that your son will be on his own? Does he have friends with working parents - can they meet in the afternoons?

But do shop around as our local camps accept kids up to 12 and do take vouchers. I know because I've just checked....I thought they did as my friend uses them. (This provider has multiple locations across our city).

My DD is 11 and she spends the odd day at home on her own when I'm at work- she bums around eating everything and playing video games; I leave her with a few jobs a day (hoover, walk up the shop and get milk etc).

I book my annual Leave in a different way now- rather than booking 10 days as two solid weeks I tend to break it up a bit so she's not on her own for a whole week at a time.