To ask what you like to pay per day for childcare

[Tillsforthrills]

In your opinion, how much should:

Nannies be paid per hour (excluding or including their tax)

Childminders be paid per hour (considering their self employed status which means their hourly rate is much less when costs have been factored, such as their holidays, sickness, food, wipes, nappies, entertainment, toys, tax etc)

Nurseries - with having to pay staff, overheads

Considering the very long hours that accommodate parents travelling to and from work.
It’d help if you state where you are as fees vary so much.

When my friends and I discuss our childcare costs it’s accepted that it works out expensive each month. Do you begrudge the fees?

What area? How qualified? Unsociable hours? Very vague question.

Title should say ‘What you would like to pay’

On an hourly basis please. Not monthly, or daily as it can be misleading.

@Shiningpath

Not really, if you’re referring to nannies you can state how much for an inexperienced or experienced.

I don't have a figure I'd like to pay, but I can tell you that I pay 14/hr for our nanny and that seems fair to me.

@Shiningpath

Ive put in original OP that fees vary greatly so to feel free to state where you are in the country if you wish.

Our nursery is £65 per day for my 3 year old. It is a huge expense for us but we use a wonderful nursery where my son is happy, well cared for and learns so much.
I don't just see it as childcare but also a great learning environment which nurtures him and it's worth every penny to me despite the fact that I struggle with the costs.

@SoftPillow

Thanks for contributing, that seems the usual rate in London.

@anxiouswaiting

Thank you, yes it really does seem worth it.

Is that based on a 10 hour day, so £6.50 per hour?

@Tillsforthrills

I'm not in London but she's very experienced so worth every penny.

In London we paid less, but for less experience. I found it easier to recruit in London, there were many more applicants.

Ds doesn’t have childcare yet

But from September he will be eligible for nursery which is subsidised by the government. He can go 7am-12 for €80 per month or 7am-5pm for €160 per month. If you receive benefits or low income it reduces accordingly down to €0 potentially.

For ad- hoc childcare/ babysitter we have just found someone local who we may start using soon for odd evenings out. She charges €20 per hour. I’m happy with this for 1-1 care. It would be too expensive to pay for full time hours though

In London, our nursery when we left was £77 a day - when we started there it was £65 a day. I saw an awful nursery which was c. £45 a day and a nursery for £110 a day. I think 65 a day was manageable for us; the increase helped us decide that we will not be putting my youngest in nursery until we get free hours when she turns 3.

I have no idea what I'd like to pay but when I go back to work I'll be paying £2k a month for two in nursery full time. We don't get the 10% discount as husband earns over £100k. It is what it is and I don't begrudge it as I don't believe their margins to be huge and it enables me to work and keep my independence. I am however contemplating a nanny as I'm wondering if it will work out as a similar cost whilst we have two needing full time care. I'm in Northern Ireland. We are from home counties and I believe it's even more expensive at home.

You’ve asked 3 different questions there:
How much would you like to pay
How much should they be paid
How much do you pay

Is it the last one that you want an answer to? Are you a childminder?!

What do you think is an appropriate fee, OP?

@BungleandGeorge

Why would you think I’m a childminder

The question is what are your hourly costs and whether you think it’s a reasonable hourly rate or not.

I have an au-pair at the moment.

@SoupDragon

What I’ve paid:
£10 p/h to CM
£15 to nanny p/h
£12 to Nursery

In London. I was happy with those rates and think they are reasonable.

Ok hourly rate ours was £6.81 an hr- but my child was in a nursery it wasn’t one to one care.

@WhyYesYABU

As your DH earns well, it may be a good idea to look for a nanny as you say, then she could do wrap around or help with collections at nursery and school. With lots of play dates so they don’t miss out on the interaction at nurseries/CM’s.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

Yes when there’s lots of children nurseries can charge less than private nannies, not always though. Nurseries here cost around £120 per day.

I used to pay, 8 years ago, approx £10 for a 3hr session.

BUT... the nursery was subsidised by DHs employer. They paid no rent and utilities, parents provided lunch, nappies etc. The main cost to the parents was paying for the staff.

Not in the Uk, for nursery we pay about €2.20/hr (price is based on your earning but ranges from about 0.60 - €3/ hr) we paid about €1.20/hr for my first child before pay rises and the nursery provided nappies and food. Obviously these prices are very good and make childcare and consequently women returning to work affordable for all. However we do pay high social tax in general and nurseries are government subsidised so it's not as clear cut as they're just this cheap.

I pay £70 a day for DS2, and about £20 a day for DS1 to go to the same nursery, but with the 30 hours funding. It's a great nursery and I don't begrudge it at all but I do feel lucky to be able to afford it. I would like the staff to earn more money than they do (I know they only get slightly above minimum wage) but it's hard to see how that could be done without higher government subsidy as a lot of families would just stop using that nursery if they got much more expensive - it's already the priciest in our area and a lot of people I know didn't even consider it for that reason. I don't think the local market supports fees that are much higher.

Do you begrudge the fees?
When I paid for nursery a few years a go for 1 child in London if worked out at about £21,500 a year.
I did kind of begrudge that. I know they have overheads but presumably that is similar to what the average carer was getting paid?- and the ratio was 1 to 4. I suppose the big one would have been rent on the building.

I work as a nanny on a self-employed basis. £15-20ph depending on how wealthy the family is.

[quote Tillsforthrills]@anxiouswaiting

Thank you, yes it really does seem worth it.

Is that based on a 10 hour day, so £6.50 per hour?[/quote]
7.30am-6pm so 10.5 hours. Includes 3 meals which are mostly made from scratch and 2 snacks. I think it's very good value.