Childcare for 3 children

[Grabaspoon]

A friend is contemplating childcare options for after she has her 3rd child.

She will have 1 at school, 1 at nursery and a toddler.

How much would a childminder cost for 3 children?

It depends which area tbh. Personally I charge £30 per day for under 5's and £3 per hour for over 5's. Your friend could try looking on the childcare.co.uk website because a lot of childminders put their prices on there and also I would advise looking early because she will need 2 under 5 places and childminders can only look after 3 children under 5 hth.

As a general figure she could try to work it out at £5 per hour for the hours she expects to need for each child, after and before school for child 1, pick up from nursery for child 2, and all day for number 3.
Possibly all day in the school hols for 3.

Its very general and probably an over estimate, but would give her a rough idea.
Then possibly she would have a salary sacrifice scheme at work that would save her £50 a month in tax or she may be able to claim the childcare element of tax credits.

This link will give pricing info for her area.

HTH :)

There are many things that need to be factored in, especially the hours of care needed and the days. Also what happens when school/nursery is closed.

Once there are 3 or more children involved, the costs of a nanny can work out cheaper than other forms of childcare, because a nanny is not paid on per-child basis.

In my area, childminders charge £4.30-£5 per hour, per child and have minimum billing for before school and after school care, also there may be different rates during school holidays.

I would estimate a nanny in my area being around the £13-£15 per hour mark once everything was added in. Thus it can be comparable or even lower overall cost than a childminder. Also has the advantage that the children are cared for at home, so don't need to be dragged out of the house at the crack of dawn.

agree a nanny is more cost effective if have 3 children,plus makes mums life easier as nanny will come to house and sort out dc

where as if you use a cm, you need to get yourself ready and all 3 dc and out of the house

some cm may not have room for 2 under 5's and may have other school/nursery runs to factor in