To be really surprised at cheap childcare?

[HelloFrogs]

We have just put our name on a waiting list with an outstanding-rated childminder for a 3 day place next year for when I return to work.

She has advised 30 funded hours will cover the cost of our place entirely in term time. If we want to pay a small daily fee for consumables we can, otherwise if we send lunch and snacks there is no extra cost. The only thing she charges for is school holidays but will spread this pro rata across this year. It works out at less than £150 a month. I am really, really surprised. To me that seems amazing for 3 days of 7:30-5:30. All the nurseries we’ve been pricing up do use the funded hours but it doesn’t impact price very much- the fees are so high to start with!

what’s her day rate during summer hols?

how far down the wait list are you

Not starting until next year. Just like most childminders but when you spread the cost of the 13 school holiday weeks across the year, it’s 150 a month

yea but what’s day rate during holidays?

I know you’ve phrased it as an AIBU, but I don’t really see the AIBU here.
We’ve no idea where you live, for a start.
Rate paid to childminders under the 30 hours scheme is set by the LA, and usually £3-£5. If it’s £5 for her, she’s offering for £50 a day, which is great, but not unusual in some areas.

On the holidays, if that’s £1200 a year for 13 weeks, that’s less than £30 a day - which is brilliant. But… many childminders have fixed holidays where they’re not available, so it may not be 13 weeks. Still sounds good though.

But, no-one can say without knowing the actual costs and going rate in your area.

This would be the same with me.

When did you last work as a childminder? Your figures are outdated.

I don’t know why I was expecting it to be around £400-500 for this. Nurseries are so expensive comparatively.

what’s the day rate?!

Holiday care is 150x12 =1800

Holidays are 14 weeks -4 assuming annual leave.

So 1800 ÷10 weeks ÷3 days is £60 per day, which is perfectly reasonable in most areas near me.

It does exist. My DC is just about to start at an outstanding ofsted rated nursery in a lovely area and his funded hours are completely funded/free. Top up is £15 total for the term for consumables. I’m putting them in for an extra 5 hours at £6.50 per hour (lower with tax free childcare).

Downside is that it’s term time only but we’re lucky in that we can make it work with holidays and grandparent support.

We have found similar. I'm always gobsmacked and some of the nursery bills people have to pay. We pay roughly £160 a month for 4 sessions a week for our 2yr old. We get charged a small amount per week for consumables and we have to pay for 1 session a week the rest is funded. Ours is also an outstanding nursery but we live in a very cheap part of the uk which I think makes a difference.

Obviously the government are paying for your childcare so it's not cheap over all. It's not always a great deal for the childcare provider.

I hope this continues but with more funding to the provider.

I agree the funding rates are pretty good at the moment but it is keeping up with costs that is the problem. A regular increase is needed to avoid passing costs on to parents.

There are positives and negatives to both settings. Childminders may still take your child if they are ill, nurseries have strict policies surrounding illness (in my experience). Childminders may be cheaper, but the settings I viewed were not as comprehensive as a nursery setting. Additionally a good nursery will do the reception year with your child, the year before the leave for school, so they arrive with a good grounding in learning - a childminder may do some of this, but equally may not. Equally, a nursery setting will get the child more prepped for a school setting than a childminder will. I honestly think you probably get what you pay for. Have you done site tours for all options? The differences in cost are fairly obvious when you do!

Never, that’s internet “research”. Happy to be corrected - can you share the reality if your username is what it suggests? That would add more to the conversation.

Between £5-£10 is more usual now obviously depending on location (London is higher) and age of child, it goes down the older the child is.

I think some.parents are definitely sold on the 'polished' set up of some nurseries for sure.

Yep, some places are fully funded.
Mine both attended a pre school 9-3, 5 days a week for free under the funded hours. We had to send a packed lunch and £10 per term for fruit at snack time.

We then paid £25 per day during school holidays for 10-4pm, could do every day, no days or some. Was brilliant.

Just bear in mind that as a childminder she won't cover all the school holidays as she will have her own holidays, it's worth asking if she knows when this will be, as it's sensible to try to book your own holidays at same time as will need to be off anyway

I can only speak for myself and the settings I viewed, but they were worlds apart, as were the prices (this was back in 2019). Friends of ours opted for the childminder route and both children (maybe coincidentally) seemed quite behind other children when starting reception. We also preferred the idea of there being many children for our kid to hang out with, there were lots of play dates and party invites too. It’s really about what works best for you (working schedules etc) and your kid.

I think there's probably a correlation in there somewhere but maybe not the way you're thinking. I can only talk from my experience of course. I've been a cm for 15 years and many children start with me as babies and go to a preschool or nursery the year before school with my blessing.

Those who don't, or who start at nursery and move to me, often don't thrive in those settings for a reason. I have one little boy who is just so painfully shy and lacking in confidence at his preschool that he didn't speak or engage. He recently moved to me and mum says he's a different child. I'm the right setting for him. Yes when he starts school in just over a year he may still be 'behind' but that's not because he's with a childminder.

Nursery are more expensive because kids can go all year round whereas you have to pay on holidays. And I worry a childminder would be unwell and then you’re stuck

. Friends of ours opted for the childminder route and both children (maybe coincidentally) seemed quite behind other children when starting reception.

Meanwhile my children both attended a childminder and were both ahead of the children who attended local nurseries. The local nurseries were staffed by very young school leavers with poor education grades who were particularly bad on things like phonics, whereas our childminder was a well educated woman in her forties.

We have a similar set-up with an outstanding CM. She does SO many incredible activities and outings with the children. Fantastic value for money. We will move little one to the school pre-school maybe 1/2 mornings or something like we did with our older ones the year before starting reception so they become familiar with their classmates and move up together. But I think small nurturing settings are so beneficial to little.ones. Ours love the CM so much. And had been invited to several parties which is plenty for a little one lol.

Not quite sure “behind” is the correct word 🫣. Children at nurseries will already be used to the school type environment/institutionalised so most transfer to school almost seamlessly. Children in childminders are more used to lower numbers so need to transition, but that is exactly what reception/P1 are for and by the end of first year at school those who had more time in a more flexile, individual environment may fair better.

It all depends on the child. Ds went to nursery as we needed the hours and we didn’t want to work around CM holidays/sickness etc, but would have preferred a cm if they could have accommodated our needs.