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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder if this is the average cost of wrap around care at school?

101 replies

Whokilledrogerrabit · 03/07/2023 12:16

My son is about to start school in September. We've had his parent information session where I found out that breakfast club is £3.30 per day and after school provision (until 6pm, which is what I would need) is an additional £11.20 per day. So I'd be spending £14 per day on childcare for my eldest and my second would also have to be put into nursery (he's only 6 weeks so I'm currently on may leave) so that would be another £64 per day. How does anyone account to work with £80 per day cc costs?!

AIBU that the schools wrap around car is pricey, or is this the going rate?

OP posts:
EmmaOvary · 03/07/2023 12:20

OP, when is your mat leave ending? Am I right in thinking you don’t need the wraparound care until then?

As to the costs, they do vary, but those sound about right. Could you use a childminder for your youngest who might be able to do drop offs and pick ups for your eldest too? This may be cheaper than nursery+wraparound.

pumpkintits · 03/07/2023 12:20

We pay £5 for breakfast club and £12 for after school care. It used to run until 6pm and during covid they changed it to 5:30pm (which makes getting there in rush hour traffic so much more stressful) but never reduced the price.

Not sure if that's about the average price but the school my husband is a governor at has wraparound care that is much cheaper. £2.50 for breakfast club, can't remember how much for the after school club but not that much.

Temporaryname158 · 03/07/2023 12:21

Your before school is cheaper than mine and the same afterwards.

this is unfortunately what childcare costs!

Charmer7 · 03/07/2023 12:22

Yes that's the cost at my school. However, you should be able to pay using your tax free childcare account (I transfer an amount to the school from each of my kids tax free accounts and it's uploaded onto the schools' wrap Around care website as a credit) so remember will be about 20% cheaper.

Sissynova · 03/07/2023 12:22

It really doesn't sound that pricey compared to the full day of childcare.
Remember the childcare will be paid for with the tax free account so it is a lower amount you're actually paying.

Giltedged · 03/07/2023 12:22

The wraparound cost doesn’t sound too bad to me to be honest. Nursery is expensive but it isn’t forever and at least they are fed there!

JanesBlond · 03/07/2023 12:23

Here it’s £3 for breakfast club and £8 for ASC but at my niblings’ school in the same town it’s £6 for breakfast club and £13 for ASC so seems to vary quite a lot - annoying as you can hardly shop around.

SnacksToTheMax · 03/07/2023 12:23

Our (zone 2) London breakfast club is £5 p/d and Afterschool club is £12.50…

anyoneforasandwich · 03/07/2023 12:24

My sons' old primary charges Monday to Friday during term time 07:30 am to start of school £5.15, Afternoon Sessions Monday to Friday during term time End of school to 6:00 pm £12.30. Childcare isn't cheap.

CarrieO · 03/07/2023 12:24

Ours is £6.50 for breakfast club and £16 for after school club, so £22.50 per child per day.

We’re in the south east, near but not quite London.

Dildoslag · 03/07/2023 12:25

Mine is £4 for breakfast club and 14.50 after school. Use tax free childcare to get it down a bit

StackBlocks · 03/07/2023 12:26

It’s a similar cost at DC’s school and I live in a cheap part of the country.

TippingTree · 03/07/2023 12:26

That’s about what we pay, £14 per child for after school. That does include a hot meal which doesn’t always seem to be the case judging from these posts in the past.

Before my younger one started school she went to a childminder who also dropped/picked up my eldest from school. I’m not sure it worked out that much cheaper but it made my life easier dropping and picking them both up from the same place.

Dont forget to look at tax free childcare if your eligible https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

Tax-Free Childcare

What Tax-Free Childcare is, eligibility and how to apply

https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

rolypoly836 · 03/07/2023 12:26

£4 for bc and £12 asc here

Tarantella6 · 03/07/2023 12:28

Ours is £15 for afterschool club and about £6 for breakfast club. Nurseries are close to £80 per day. Hampshire.

One of us does drop off every day so we don't use breakfast club. I only work 33 hours per week so I finish at 2.30 3 days and do the pick up. So we only need two days after school club and I'm not actually that much worse off financially for dropping a few hours.

Nightmanagerfan · 03/07/2023 12:30

Ours is £5 for breakfast club and £17.50 for after school club. Zone 3 London. I also pay nursery for the youngest. See it as an investment in my future career

IceCreamWithSprinkles · 03/07/2023 12:32

£6 for breakfast club (which is just childcare, doesn’t actually offer/allow breakfast), and £16 after school.

We used a childminder rather than nursery, and that was £7 per hour.

Childcare is just insanely expensive I’m afraid! But as others said, you can use tax free childcare (or vouchers if you get them) to offset some of the cost

Mysleepisbroken · 03/07/2023 12:32

2.50 for breakfast club and 5 for after school, but only until 5. Ours is much cheaper than most.

LBOCS2 · 03/07/2023 12:33

We're £6 for breakfast club and £11 for ASC (cheaper if you only use it until 4.30), south London.

I WFH so we only use after school club, they give them a warm tea at about 4.45 and it works well for us. It's about the same as it worked out when they went to a childminder.

redskytwonight · 03/07/2023 12:42

They sounds fairly normal costs.
If you have a partner, can you juggle your working hours so that one can drop off and one can pick up, at least some of the time?

(I am wondering whether to point out that holiday care will be even more ...)

PoePoePoePoe · 03/07/2023 12:44

Ours is £4 for before school club (not breakfast) for an hour and £11 for after school (snack not dinner) until 6pm so that sounds about right from my experience.

Ours is very oversubscribed too and has a long waiting list, something that’s worth exploring if you don’t think you’ll need it straight away as it may be you can’t get in if you wait.

Kennahevabescut · 03/07/2023 12:48

It gets cheaper when free hours kick in. Don't forget to factor in tax free childcare which reduces costs a bit too.

Low earners can access a lot of support via universal credit. Many many people do basically work "for nothing" while children are under 3, because the value of working is far more than just the immediate financial impact - you are banking pension contributions, gaining experience, holding onto a job/avoiding a CV gap. It really is a short window and it massively pays off in the longer term when children are at school.

Nordicrain · 03/07/2023 12:51

ours is £4 for breakfast club, and £10 for after school (till 6), so the same.

Whiterose23 · 03/07/2023 12:51

That sounds about right to me. We’ve been paying around £20 a day for breakfast and after school club.
We’ve just paid our last month of wrap around care as our youngest goes to secondary in September. A mixture of emotions but mainly, thank goodness child care payments are over.

HalloweenOnChristmas · 03/07/2023 12:54

£7.50 for breakfast and £10.50 for ACS. We use it twice a week to do long days - so I start at 7am and pick up DS at 5.30pm. Then we alternate late starts and early finishes twice a week and grandparents collect him on a Friday.