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?

[quote Tillsforthrills]@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.[/quote]
The difference between the nanny and the childminder rates doesn’t seem enough really when you consider that the childminder will likely have a number of children so their salary will be multiples of that.
Obviously there are some overheads like insurance, food, nappies etc but of course far, far less than a nursery which will pay a substantial rent as well as managers and whatnot.

I don’t think I’d be happy paying £10 an hour to a childminder considering they likely have 2 or so kids full time and maybe an extra one as school wraparound care and holidays.

Prices are what they are, but I don’t think I’d be thrilled to pay a childminder £10 an hour.

I totally begrudge it. Not enough is done to support mothers going back to work. Child care is way too expensive.

I don't think anyone should have to pay more than 500 pounds a month for full time child care. It should be subsidised by the government.

We pay £58 per day for nursery…. it’s a struggle to cover this cost despite both having reasonably good jobs.

I would LIKE to have heavily subsidised childcare but that isn’t going to happen for a while…. Roll into 3 year old funding!

Whilst childminders may well be looking after maybe 3/4 children so does receive fees from each parent/set of parents why on earth would they work for say £3.00 per hour instead of £9. ? All the children have different needs and £3.00 an hour wouldn't cover what the childminder pays out.

@notthemum

Whilst childminders may well be looking after maybe 3/4 children so does receive fees from each parent/set of parents why on earth would they work for say £3.00 per hour instead of £9. ? All the children have different needs and £3.00 an hour wouldn't cover what the childminder pays out.

No one suggested £3 an hour did they?

I’d expect a childminder and a nanny to earn a similar salary taking everything into account. So £10 seems too much an hour considering they’d be taking in £25 an hour averaging 2.5 children compared to the nanny’s £15, which seems relatively little? The childminder’s overheads - so insurance, food, nappies for maybe half the children say, £4 an hour? They’re still out earning the nanny by a decent amount which seems unfair.

I’d suggest more like £8 an hour to the childminder and £16 an hour to the nanny makes more sense.

We pay £91/day in London. That’s very normal around here and in the Home Counties we are looking to move to. I think governments should be subsiding childcare far more like they do in other European countries. It’s not about what I think is a fair wage. It’s far more complex, as economics with more women working needs to be taken into account

£15/h for a nanny, plus she picks up extra hours cleaning and housekeeping (voluntarily). Live in.

@thewhatsit

Trying hard to see your logic, and failing.

How would it be ‘unfair’ for a childminder who is probably caring for more children, is self employed, to outearn a nanny? Please explain how that’s ‘unfair’ when a nanny is presumably working from her employers home, has he taxes dealt with and is not running a self employed business?

@Fretfulmum

I really agree with you. The government needs to step in if parents are struggling.

Sadly though many don’t see that and resent the childcare providers on low pay.

@notthemum

I agree. The logic people have is so entitled and astounding. A person looking after three young children would be working very hard for each child. How anyone can reason that they should earn a max of £8 per child because they’ve decided to look after 3, versus looking after 1 child and getting £16 per hour is beyond me 😁

DS goes to preschool, but a day per week he's looked after for 2h afterwards by a local teenager (DH or I am in the house too, but working). We pay £10 per hour - she's not a qualified nanny or childcare worker, it seems fair (I think/hope!?).

@namechanger2222

I totally begrudge it. Not enough is done to support mothers going back to work. Child care is way too expensive.

I don't think anyone should have to pay more than 500 pounds a month for full time child care. It should be subsidised by the government.

How much would a full time child cost per hour for £500 per month?

That would mean the provider or nursery would be paid an absolute pittance.

Why should they, so that you can work and earn your profit?

[quote Tillsforthrills]@notthemum

I agree. The logic people have is so entitled and astounding. A person looking after three young children would be working very hard for each child. How anyone can reason that they should earn a max of £8 per child because they’ve decided to look after 3, versus looking after 1 child and getting £16 per hour is beyond me 😁[/quote]
Well no it’s about overheads- the cost to a childminder each time you add a child doesn’t go up 100 percent. Let’s say they run a car to ferry the children around that costs the same whether you have one or two children in it, same with electricity and gas.
Regardless it’s a silly argument “you begrudge people earning a lot” - no one does, people begrudge paying more when the costs already run into thousands. It’s like saying do you think check out staff should earn £15 an hr to cover the rise in the cost of living?!

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

you’ve picked petrol, gas and electricity as the overheads?

food, wear and tear of a persons home, equipment, toys, taxes, unpaid sickness, unpaid holidays, and many more

And each time you add a child, what would go up 100% is the hard work and responsibility

The thousands I’ve paid, are actually a lowish hourly rate that entails hard work and long hours

When we had a childminder, £10 seemed great per hour for what we got and we valued her work

To me it’s interesting that as career women, we’re outraged at the cost of expensive childcare. But happy for lower earning women to be treated unfairly, not happy if they make a profit from caring for our children. These women, as seen on this thread, are told what they should earn as a maximum by women who would rather profit from their hard low paid work. It’s ironic.

Stop blaming or begrudging providers making a living.

Start blaming the government.

Our nursery is £70 per day and the opening hours are 7.30-6 which works out at £6.66 p/h. Ds is there from 7.30-4.30 which in reality means it costs £7.77 p/h. 3 meals and 2 snacks included plus a variety of activities. I do find it expensive as our monthly bill is high. When broken down p/h, I do see why they charge that but it annoys me that they pay their staff so little when I pay so much a month. The staff are just great and I have 100% faith in that they care for my ds very well. My friends dd is there also and she has the 30 hours funding and still has to pay £32 a day.

@User135792468

I guess that’s an issue people struggle with, with the larger chain nurseries. The profit is going to the top.

At Christmas time, end of term for our DS at nursery a few years ago, we made sure to be very generous with the nursery staff, especially his key worker. One of them had three sons as a single parent, working with other peoples children to take care of her own materially but she still didn’t earn much.

And yes, the monthly bill seems huge but when broken down to hourly, you realise it’s not a lot.

We pay £56 a day for nursery in the SE. This includes food but not nappies.
So, about £5.60 an hour for the 10 hours, but the nursery is slightly more expensive per hour if you just go for a morning session or afternoon session.

I don’t begrudge it, it’s just a necessary cost, and it’s comparable to other nurseries in the area. Obviously in an ideal world it would be cheaper, but then I don’t want the staff to be paid less so it is what it is.
I do think the tax free childcare allowance should go up in line with costs though, the amount hasn’t gone up since it was introduced 5 years ago, but childcare costs have.

[quote Tillsforthrills]@OnlyFoolsnMothers

you’ve picked petrol, gas and electricity as the overheads?

food, wear and tear of a persons home, equipment, toys, taxes, unpaid sickness, unpaid holidays, and many more

And each time you add a child, what would go up 100% is the hard work and responsibility

The thousands I’ve paid, are actually a lowish hourly rate that entails hard work and long hours

When we had a childminder, £10 seemed great per hour for what we got and we valued her work

To me it’s interesting that as career women, we’re outraged at the cost of expensive childcare. But happy for lower earning women to be treated unfairly, not happy if they make a profit from caring for our children. These women, as seen on this thread, are told what they should earn as a maximum by women who would rather profit from their hard low paid work. It’s ironic.

Stop blaming or begrudging providers making a living.

Start blaming the government.[/quote]
If you read my full comment that’s exactly who I’m blaming- I said no one begrudges people earning more people begrudge being able to afford it themselves. And just because someone works in an office doesn’t mean they necessarily clear much more than the person they are paying to look after their child, so you can give up that narrative.
The fact is this country- mainly thanks to the media and right wing press- like to think of the elderly as the struggling not the working family. The idea that “your child your choice your cost” has been drummed into the public domain for years,m. Increased childcare provisions are not vote winners- unlike say inheritance tax and letting baby boomers keep their million pound houses!

I would say £7 per hour, so £63 per day. It's currently £94 per day in London.

£72 a day for nursery. It works out at nearly £1600 a month. It’s pretty much pushing the limit of what we can afford to pay, but the (lovely, hardworking) staff are still paid NMW. So no I don’t feel happy about it!

What I would like to pay is an amount that allows me to work for minimum wage and still be better off. Unfortunately if I’m working for minimum wage that would mean the childminder would have to work for half of minimum wage! Hence why I was unable to work for years until free childcare was available.

What I would like to pay, and what good childcare is worth are different things!

I would like my childcare to be free.

For DD I pay;
£3.60 an hour for a local charity run playgroup.
£58.50 per day in a private nursery.

For DS
£5.50 for breakfast club
£8.50 for after school club

I used to pay a childminder £3.50 an hour.

I think childminders/nannies etc should have a decent salary. But given that they are employed because a parent is working, it isn’t realistic for all of that parents wage to then go on the childcare.

I think instead of funding free school meals for all children in key stage 1, more should be done to provide working families with childcare support.

I paid £14 ph for a nanny, £10ph for a childminder, £25 for after school care and £90 pd for nursery. I don’t begrudge the staff/employees their wages but I do wish that childcare was subsidised as it is in many other countries. I don’t earn a lot so almost my whole wage goes on childcare & travel.

@Troublesometooth

I think instead of funding free school meals for all children in key stage 1, more should be done to provide working families with childcare support.

Hold up- please don’t remove my free school meals- it’s the only thing we get over here , for 3 year’s anyway