To think someone MUST be profiting from private nurseries?

[SprinkleofSpringShowers]

Nursey saying that the free hours cripple them. My bill has gone down by £200 from £940 to £720 for the 15 free hours. My child is booked for 3 days/30 hours (not that he’s ever there 30 hours) I don’t really understand how they are struggling so much when any shortfall in the funding is just made up by parents.

The branch we use charges £73 a day now. They’ve open two new sites in the last year. Can’t be doing that badly can they?

Also think it’s really poor taste when they seem to pedal this image they’re struggling and the staff are likely paid NMW and the directors turn up in 2 year old Porsches.

Sorry this is totally off topic and I hear you.

Just looking at your figures, are you sure they're correct and you're getting everything you're entitled to? By my calculations...

You use:
• 30 hours a week / 3 days per week
• 1,560 hours per year

Without gov support it costs:
• £949 per month
• £11,388 per year
• £7.30 per hour

15 hours per week free childcare:
• Term time only, 38 weeks
• Over 52 weeks = 11 hours per week
• 570 hours per year

After 15 hours free:
• 990 hours a year to pay for
• £7,227 per year = £602.25 per month

With 20% tax free childcare:
• You pay £481.80 per month
• Gov top up £120.45

Yes and honestly I picked one of (if not the) most expensive nursery locally because the staff are brilliant. Id love to see them better paid.

I have offered them babysitting on the side - I pay £17p/h for a sitter but the nursery won’t allow it! Yet they all have second jobs in the co-op etc!!

A girl I know used to work in a nursery (now works as a nanny) and she said the owners lived in amazing huge houses in the extremely nice village down the road (outskirts of Beaconsfield so not cheap!). You're not wrong at all, the money is going somewhere and it's not to the hardworking staff who look after the kids!

It's the same with Nursing Home owners.

But if they didn’t charge it on they would be taking a hit. I don’t understand your point? Both nurseries my children went to have since closed down because they simply couldn’t afford to keep going.

For people who are annoyed at the owners...well we live in a free country..if you think they have it so good, why don't you start up a nursery and see how easy it is. Very easy to sit back and criticise. They might come from wealthy families, or have wealthy spouses or heaven forbid run a good business and make good money. I'm very grateful to the owner of my grandsons nursery...she runs a really good show. And my grandson benefits. I think she is wealthy but good on her. She's making a positive contribution to the area. Nobody is forced to using her nursery.

I’ll swing round yours in my Porsche and let you know how skint I am.

Not all nurseries are shouting about how poor they are.

Good thing I didn’t post about them all but specifically my own and my own experience of them.

Yes just like private care homes, nursery owners are raking it in.

School nurseries and private nurseries are funded differently. School nurseries get more per hour per placement. Schools don't need to pay VAT like private nurseries do. Comparing private nursery with school nursery isn't an accurate representation.

Under 2 are 1:3, 2-3 are 1:4, 3 and above are 1:8 however this doesn't take into account enhanced ratio needs for SEN.

Nurseries need to pay staff, rent/mortgage, insurances, ofsted registration, training fees, admin (computers, tablets, printers etc), run cars if doing before and after school provision or for trips out, resources and toys for the children, equipment such as climbing frames, food, food hygiene certs and training, cots, tables and chairs, buggies, books, utilities, caring for garden such as new plants, mowers etc.

My point is there is a whole host of hidden costs in running a nursery and the funding the government provides isn't enough to meet all these costs which is why many small independent nurseries are closing or concerned about running costs.

Spot on here! And they moan like crazy about how skint they are while setting their prices with the wind. Experience with my grandad - "Oh he's cantankerous? That'll be an extra £100 a week"

Yes, care homes are very similar. I would avoid them at all costs.