AIBU to feel annoyed about ‘free childcare’

[CoolMoose]

My 2yo has just started to receive the ‘free’ 15 hours. AIBU to feel like it’s such a joke?! He attends full time at nursery and our bill has reduced from £1600 a month to just shy of £1400 a month (£240 a month reduction). They only offer the funding stretched (you can’t just access the free childcare) and you have to pay for ‘add on’ costs. It’s £15 a day for food….a 2yo doesn’t eat that much, surely! In addition, you have to pay full fees for bank holiday closures.

I have an older child and this is definitely getting worse and worse for families even with extra government funding. When my older child was little I paid £550-600 a month for full time childcare without funding and about £150-200 a month with funding (10 years ago).

My childhood friend worked at a very pricey nursery in Surrey (think footballer’s kids) for a year’s apprenticeship. She said the food they gave the kids was all from bulk-bought tins: sliced fruit in syrup, baked beans, all from a kilo tin. Her boss told her it cost the business under £1 per day for each child that stayed for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I don't know how working parents cope. Certainly, in the low pay, high housing costs area I live in, one parent would be working just to fund childcare. To the person who asked who should pay for childcare: I think it should heavily subsidised by government if they want parents to work and there should be a sliding scale so that high earners pay the most. Other countries seem to be able to provide sensibly costed care and I hope the next government (let it be soon) will learn from them.

I totally agree that the cost of childcare is horrendously high, meaning that for anyone on a lower income it makes no sense to work.

BUT

I am also very appreciative of the reduction, even if it doesn't cover that much and I still need to pay for some aspects. They're looking after my child, there's nothing more important to me than that. If I was at home I'd have to feed her, makes no difference if I pay them for her food. And £15 a day isn't unreasonable when you consider the cost of the food AND the prep & dishwasher & energy etc. What the government give them per hour isn't even enough for one staff members living wage.

I don't think we can complain about making sure the people who look after our babies are qualified, caring people who are paid properly and able to live.

Where did you live in these countries? I’ve lived in Scandinavia and nothing could be further from the truth. They believe in making the most of an educated female workforce and provide heavily subsidised state childcare in the expectation that after the mother, then father have had their mat/paternity leave they’ll go back to working full time, making best use of their skills for the national economy. It’s why their productivity is so high. Stay at home parents are thought of as odd, and it’s not very socially acceptable. They must have one of the highest level of kids in full time daycare in the world. The childcare offered is excellent by the way. Out in the woods in all weathers.

And £15 a day isn't unreasonable when you consider the cost of the food AND the prep & dishwasher & energy etc

£15 per day could feed my whole family of 4.

My child goes to nursery and has a bowl of cereal or a slice of toasted bread, some form of lunch like curry or fish fingers etc.. and then often has something small like a sandwich for tea.

There is no way that costs £15 a day or even the £7 a day my nursery charges.

I can certainly believe that. The nursery ‘chef’ at the one I work at runs to very tight margins. For example today, ‘cauliflower and macaroni in four cheese sauce with a panko breadcrumb topping. Served with leafy green vegetables’

bollocks was it. Puréed cauliflower, basic macaroni in white sauce with some catering cheese bunged on top. No breadcrumbs that I could see. ‘Leafy green veg’- a smidgeon of cabbage cooked from frozen. Could not have cost more than 50p a portion.

So much sugar in all that too 😞
It's all about profit it seems. Staff on minimum wage too.

Think there should be more investment into authority run nurseries attached to schools instead of all these private ones. At least any fees will be put back into the nursery and may actually pay the staff a decent wage.

Just looked at our bill for daughter who is 2. In April she has had 44 hours that are
funded and 76 that aren't.
There is a charge of £44 for consumables? Total charge is
£595. Before funding it was £943 for 3 full days.
However it looks like they do not do annualised hours so I guess this will vary widely across the year. She moves to 30 hrs funding in Sept.

It’s not £15 for food, it’s £15 for all the costs associated with that time building costs, staffing and food etc.,

That's the point I made though, my bill has gone up.
The funded hours are costing me more because I'm only entitled to the 15 hours for 3 year olds spread over the year so with the top ups (so nursery can afford the funded 2 year olds) I'm actually paying more than if my child wasn't eligible for the funded hours.

They won't let us stay without using the funding as the cost for 4 days per week would be less than the funded hours with the top up they are charging me on top (if that makes sense!)

We've all felt the pain of paying for childcare from going back to work until children starting school.
As much as I understood it, dads were also getting paternity leave, so that parents could split it and time it, to reduce need for full-time childcare.
But hint. Kids are hugely expensive.
You give up your annual holidays and wardrobes and expensive luxuries.
You have 4 years of exorbitant bills.
.... But just a sec. You were already paying fulltime for child.
You're complaining because every other taxpayer is making you £240 better off each month????
The words you are looking for are "Thank you, taxpayer."

Of course, I didn't think of that. Making 30 sandwiches must take hours and I'm sure Michelin starred chefs are quite expensive.

Can't you just think oooh yay a discount from the government? Why isn't that good enough for you?

The most funny thing is that government expects mothers to come back to work because they "organised" this funding.
I can't even get a nursery place fory 1 year old, nevermind funded. Child is on waiting lists since early spring 2023 (he was still in my womb)!
And funny thing, private nurseries advertising that "to secure your place" you need to agree with 2 full days (aka "minimum") and then they'll give you some funded hours. Even if you would need only 15, you'll pay for 2 full days to get them...

You may need to grow up and take responsibility

If you cannot afford to have children, do not have children etc

That’s why it shouldn’t be called ‘free childcare’ it should be called ‘childcare support’

Why should the tax payer pay for. childcare???. I chose to have children, therefore the cost of anything to do with them is my resposibility, no one else...Should be grateful for any help, however small, no-one should feel entitled.

Having worked for 2 private nurseries. Eg a charge of £42 per day for a days care the government pay the nursery in return a total of £13!
Appauling, a blatant lie & no wonder good practitioners are hard to retain as the salary is so low.
To survive and be in ratio many nurseries have to charge more for food and the wrap around care.
Take up the cost concerns with the government. They are the ones at fault.

Ours is £23 a day for “consumables” on funded days

Have you considered a childminder? They are much cheaper I also think my child gets more one to one attention. We pay £1 an hour for consumable fees after the 30 hours free childcare. And don’t have to pay on the holidays if we aren’t sending my child there.

Yup! Our childminder bill came down from £880 a month to £220 when my son's 30 funded hours came through. It's made an insane difference to our savings account.

We don't pay for bank holidays or for our childminder's holiday days either.

Yes I found a childminder much better and suited my DS more than nursery. Also much more flexible and more one on one time.

In Spain we have public nurseries. Fees are on a means tested basis for children between 4 months and 2 years, the maximum being 395 euros per month. For 2 year olds you only pay for their food, which is maximum 156 euros a month and you have the option to take them home for lunch and bring them back after to avoid this cost entirely. School starts at age 3.

I do not understand why a wealthy country like the UK is unable to implement such a policy.

😂it is an absolute joke! It's been a while since my children were pre schoolers but I do remember waiting around for the...was it 2+ years? Or 3? Until government properly topped you up? And even then it didn't quite cover it. Childcare settings can only survive by adding the extras on top of the government funding. We stopped at 2 kids purely down to the initial childcare costs. After they start school isn't so bad but those first few years for wrap around care is just crippling.

So many other countries do childcare so much better, centrally funded with no or small top ups and universal access from a set age.

The whole system here is a shambles. It isn't individual nurseries fault, they can't operate in the way a scaled up operation could. But that doesn't make it any easier for parents.

We need something fit for purpose and this 15 hours sham isn’t it. It’s been rushed through without thought hoping to court some votes before it completely implodes because it's unworkable.