Private Nursery to Expensive !!!

[kayleigh25a]

hello,im a single mum, my daughter has just turned 2 and i was told that id get 5 free hours childcare, turns out thats wrong unless the child has learning problems, so i went to my local playschool / group and its £18.50 for the morning 7.30am til 1pm or £16.50 for 1pm til 6pm...

i only work 5 hrs a week thats £20 after income have taken rest of it. which means i can only put my child in 1 day a week. why cant any1 help regardless of how many hours you work????

anyone else feel this is a problem

Most LA's give funding from the age of 3, (the term that starts after their 3rd birthday, where you then can receive 15 hours of pre-school, nursery, accredited childminder per week.

I think the 2 year old free nursery was targeted at the very poor initially.

It also sounds that you have gone to a private nursery rather than a local playgroup/pre-school. Contact your local school or Family Information Service to find any other playgroups/pre-schools or look here

try again

here

hello all the pre schools around my way you have to pay and that justs for 2-3 hours. playgroups are where i have to stay like mother and baby groups, thank you

Nrseries are expensive IME

I paid £43 per day fro mine

Maybe try a childminder?

Your local authority will be able to provide you with a list of registered providers

I you are only working 5 hours a week, why are you wanting to put your child into nursery for more than 1 day per week?

And if you are only earning £5200 a year why are you paying tax & NI? I assume you are under 20 to be earning only the minimum wage?

You will get more free childcare when your child is 3 and then more again when they go to school. And if you increase to 16 hrs a week you can get help with child care that will amount to 75% of the childcare fees.

Her profile says she's 25 so she'd be on £5.93 at the very least which is £29.65 a week.

Are you not claiming jobseekers, you can work up to 16 hrs per week and still claim a little bit more (I assume they'd make it up to the £65)

i am 25 i wanted to put in her playgroup/nursery to intereact with other children. im on income support, if i work 16hrs or more, i come off that and im then entitled to working tax credits and thats when they pay childcare of childminders, the child minders are roughly £3.50 an hour plus you have to be in contract with them and thats something i dont want

i earn £35 a week but income support take £15 off my benefits so really im working for £20 a week

If you are mainly interested in social interaction for her then could you attend a mother and child type group or arrange a playdate?

You would have to sign a contract for nursery too, so a childminder would not necessarily be any more restrictive than a nursery.

tbh if you just want your child to have some social interraction, then can't you take her to toddler groups/surestart centres. Not sure why free childcare should exist just for this purpose. You must have loads of time to take her to these things?

the nursery she's in doesnt do contracts, i pay when i drop her off in the morning and if she dont turn up or i call saying she's not coming, they dont mind. iv looked into mother and baby, but i have to stay with child,so she sees me and she wil keep running to me making sure im staying plus ex partner and his mother have her on the days these meetings are on and im not about to battle thru solicitors to changed them. thank you x x

we do go places but its cost, like today when to playmania paid £3.50 to get in, we stayed 45 mins as older kids were playing rough in the toddler area and kicked my daughter. when i complained i had no refund. also just coz im on benefits dont mean i have loadsa money and can do allsorts with her, i want her to be without me, she's been with me everday for the past 2 years, i want her to have confidence without me

Try your local surestart children centre, there are courses you could go on while your child is in a free creche,ours run a great photography course, cooking or theres various parenting or educational courses all are free.

Even if you do sit with her at a mother and baby group she will begin to move away from you and explore the room when she feels ready to do that. IMO its too soon to worry that a child cant be confident on their own when they have just turned two.

my daughter goes to the local playgroup and i leave here there for 2.5 hours it costs £7.50 per session