Asking employer to cover childcare costs

[Totupthenumberspls]

I’ve been asked to go on a business trip for a week, is it unreasonable to ask the company to pay the incremental childcare costs?

Yes we have a child care fund where staff can claim childcare costs when attending conferences. It’s worth asking if your employer has such a thing.

Wow so many negative responses. OP I think you're victim to a lot of people who have never worked in a male dominated workplace.
Why on earth would DP suddenly be able to leave work early for 8 days (I assume OP usually does pick up and DP works later). Many work places don't simply allow for time in lieu because your DP has work commitments to leave an hour or so early. He would likely have to book a half day for 8 working days which is a ridiculous expectation.

£300 is a big incremental, I think my thought would be, are you being paid for the overtime out there? Because surely you should be subject to additional pay for having to be away from home for 10 days. I don't just mean a per diem of £30 or something rubbish like that.
You should be being paid for the inconvenience of being away from home for so long which should cover the additional cost of childcare AND your expenses. If not, I'd approach your manager about this and just be honest. You're happy to do the trip and DP is fine with pulling the solo parenting for a long length of time but he cant leave work early and the extra expense is going to mean the trip costs you money and you feel you should be reimbursed for these costs. A reasonable employer would consider this I feel.

Can't cope? What if her husband is in the military? Or a teacher? Or works for the NHS?

Not every adult can just rearrange their jobs to facilitate their partner's job.

Well he’s not because whilst it ‘won’t be easy’ it’s not impossible. And if he were a bit of wraparound care wouldn’t cut it.

Exactly parents don't realise how much extra work is done by childfree people and how they don't get anything for it

Actually they could be covered by indirect discrimination

On what grounds?

Just leave the dog home alone then? In both cases the result is additional expense it’s nothing to do with the child’s wellbeing

Agreed. The OP doesn’t want to go on this trip at all by the sounds of things. But if next time is a career boosting, exciting trip she might miss out when they offer it to the men first

Were they really planning on paying you no extra for all the extra hours you would essentially be at work for?

If you are incurring costs as a result of an unusual 10 day work trip, then no matter what it’s for you should ask for remuneration. That’s what OP has done.

And if you can’t go because you can’t arrange xyz then you can’t go - some things will be covered under the equality act giving a measure of protection, but really it’s not good practice to send an employee on an extended work trip if they don’t want to go.

Then all staff going should receive remuneration or overtime pay. The OP said she works in the office 9-5 so it’s really not clear what the extra childcare is for. Actually just sounded like she didn’t want to go

Try it and see a or some sort of compromise msy be a possibility

Horrified by some of the comments here. For a 10 day trip away, a lot of employers I know would offer to pay for additional childcare to wrap around the other childcare that already exists. Nothing to do if man or woman or husband or wife travelling, being away from home for an extended period and having every pick up and drop off and evening and x2 weekends with no other professional or personal commitments is frankly asking a hellava lot. My o/h’s work offered the wrap around as an expense while he was on a 10 day trip. I needed to expense x2 evening babysitting to go to my university lectures to pass my own exams. Everyone who travels gets offered that at that employer. We didn’t take the piss, just used what extra we needed and gave receipts. We don’t have family nearby and our friends all have kids of their own to be doing the juggle with. Imagine if your other half was a shift worker or also had long commutes etc. Or you were a single parent. It’s a juggle at the best of times with 2 working parents so for a very fair question OP and many companies do and should have this in their travel policy.

And start looking for a new job

If your contract allows for this eventuality then yes, you’re being unreasonable. It’s not up to your employer to ensure you have childcare in order for you to do your role - it’s up to you to cover that. You presumably don’t ask them to pay your day-to-day nursery costs, so why should they pay the extra? Especially if your husband can take care of things anyway?

This is coming from someone who was in a very similar situation this time last year. My contract states that my employer can ask me to work anywhere in the UK as required by the business, for an indefinite period, and anywhere outside of the UK for up to a month. I’ve worked there for more than a decade and never had to travel anywhere outside of my base London office or working from home. March last year, with a 4yo at home, I was asked to go to Paris for 3 nights. I’d never had a single night away from her before, never mind 3, but I sucked it up because it’s there in black and white in my contract. Just because it hasn’t happened in the decade before, doesn’t mean it never will. My husband managed just fine. I’m sure yours will too. I appreciate 10 nights is more than 3 nights, but the principle is still the same, so if it’s not something you will be able to manage again in the future either, then perhaps you need to either look for a new job or renegotiate the terms of your current contract

Hi,
I think simply due to your contract you cannot expect them to pay. Guess it can’t hurt to ask though!
I can’t help but be confused by your extra expenses. You work 9-5 so surely they already have to go to at least an after school club. You are away 10 days…so this would be over a weekend as well so a maximum of 8 school days. £300 extra on top of the wrap around care you are already paying for 8 days? My wrap around would total £115 for 8 days, obviously you are already paying some due to your working hours. I mean I’m probably missing something I’m sure. Maybe you have quite a lot of children which is fair enough.

Well not really - if you were a keen gardener - you wouldn’t ask your company to mow your lawn while you were away on business would you?

I think it's because (at least in the posts I've read), you've not made it clear why it's so difficult for him to work more flexibly while you're away. If you'd said he works in a care home / milking the cows / ambulance/ etc., then it'd be easier to see that he'd find it more difficult to change -esp if it's something like care, where they're probably seriously understaffed. As others have said, you can but ask. They've asked you to go, it sounds as if they feel no-one else can do it, so ask

This is actually pretty sexist of you to assume this and to assume that a wife would be able to cover. I wouldn’t have been able to as I work full time. We had to manage and get extra cover if he was away.

I’m baffled by some of these responses.

i think there’s absolutely no harm in asking at all. I’m a single parent now but when I was married, a 10 day trip would’ve meant my husband had to take annual leave. That would then mean we wouldn’t have enough annual leave between us to cover the school holidays. do there would be a knock on effect.

I think I would approach my
manager and say this trip will cost me £300 in additional childcare fees over and above the norm. Is there any help you could give me so the business trip doesn’t leave me out of pocket, or would it be better for someone else to go. Let them decide which option they’d prefer and go from there! Good luck x

There are loads of jobs where that level of flexibility isn't feasible from a staffing perspective.

The company wants OP to travel and she shouldn't be financially penalised because of that..

On the odd occasion that DH or I were asked to go away with work, the other had to flex their hours to cover the other’s childcare responsibilities and they would either take some leave or make up the hours in the evening to balance it out.

i don’t believe it’s reasonable for a company to cover your childcare costs, they employed you on the basis you could provide some flexibility when required as per your contract.

If you don't need to go, why are you then
Obviously your career means more too you than your child does.

"Why are so many people focusing on my DP? This isn’t about him.
Im amazed so many people think it’s ok for my employer to request I go to the back and beyond of somewhere like Chad and pay for the inconvenience for 10 days"

It's 10 days. If it is part of your role, as in an important networking or training or a business deal that YOU need to do and needs to be done in Chad, then it is something you should be able to do. I cannot fathom why you would think this isn't about you DP. It is 100% about your husband, because what you NEED in this situation, depends on what he can provide. When my husband goes away, I generally manage our childcare with the childcare we have in place anyway, plus an extra day of before school and after school with the childminder for £20. When I am away, my husband asks to work at home for a couple of days so he can see our child out to school and be in the house when he arrives back. Assuming your DP is a competent parent, my first thought is you would never need to ask this question because your DP would be fine handling 10 days childcare. Your question about what your employer should cover is IMPOSSIBLE to answer without knowing about you DP. IF you NEED to go on the trip and your DP is doing a utterly non-flexible job (like a doctor say) then you are in a situation where you HAVE to spend lots in childcare to go, and it is ok to ask work to pay. If your DP is competent and has the flexibility to provide the extra childcare, then you can go on the trip without needing funding for something you don't need. If your DP has another reason not to have the kids, maybe he is ill or a bad parent, then that is more complicated.