Childcare dilemmas!

[Midge25]

We moved to our current location (Notts) in 2008 and our dd, about to turn 4, has been happily settled at nursery f/t since she was 6m old. She's due to start school in Sept and our thoughts have turned to how to manage child care after that time. We have no relatives locally who can help out. Both of us work f/t, and whilst I could request a reduction in hrs to cover the period between the end of school and the end of the working day, the schools locally all have breakfast/after school clubs. The worry for us is the school holidays.
I've been doing some research and would be grateful for people's views re childminders vs nannies. A lot of childminders locally don't seem to work hols, but the nanny option appears more expensive and am not sure if we can use the Busy Bees style vouchers we currently obtain to go toward nursery fees.
Has anyone faced this issue? Feel a bit overwhelmed and panic- stricken....

Have also been thinking about taking dd out of nursery and starting her at the childminders'/with the nanny prior to her beginning school so she has the chance to get to know them....

The breakfast club/after school club may take the childcare vouchers. A childminder will usually take them. A nanny (if they are registered with Ofsted) can take them. So, that sort of makes that particular aspect less of an issue.

Whilst the schools have breakfast/after school clubs if they don't provide childcare during school holidays then how useful are they really to working parents? A childminder may provide childcare 48 weeks of the year, a nanny would provide childcare for around 46 weeks a year (a full time nanny gets a minimum of 5.6 weeks holiday a year, like other employees - it may be described as being 4 weeks plus Bank/Public holidays but only if they work 5-days a week).

"lot of childminders locally don't seem to work hols" - is that what you have found by asking lots of local childminders? I would be surprised if some of them didn't work at least some of the school holidays. Were you asking about holiday care only, rather than before & after school care plus then also school holidays?

You will be getting holiday from work (if you are an employee) so you will need to co-ordinate your holiday time with when your DD's school holidays fall. You and DH/DP could arrange your diary's such that you have some time off together and other time off separately - so you cover more of the school holiday care of your DD between you, thus possibly meaning you could cope with just using the breakfast/after school club.

Is a nanny financially viable? It is an expensive option for care of just one child.

5 Day Nanny cost Calculation (GoogleDocs: Spreadsheet)

Thanks for this. Whilst I haven't spoken to any childminders yet, a significant proportion of those I've seen - in my area - on Childcare.co.uk have indicated they don't work holidays which is what's made me panic a bit. The same site pointed me toward some nannies although lots seem to be students looking for part-time work on an hourly rate, so not salaried iykwim ... A bit more casual than that.
I would be concerned about what would happen when they graduated though...

Of course would want to co-ordinate holidays with school hols and DP where I can. However even if we took holidays completely independent of one another they wouldn't cover all the school hols...

Have you asked your council about holiday clubs? Ours run lots (usually in leisure centres)

Midge part time student nannies might have less hourly rate but still are employees so payroll and Paye/nic. I would be very surprised that they weren't employees and suspect hmrc would share my view (so risk of big fines for you if didn't operate correct tax withholding).

Ask the CMs directly, some might be flexible. You only need one! Or you could get temp nanny for each long holiday?

Or au pair?

nannies are employess old thread but still valid.

The au pair idea sounds good too.

Even part-time nannies will want to be on salary. See Is an after school carer an employee as an example. Sites like Childcare.co.uk just give an indication of cost - it often does not say if that is Net (what they expect after tax/ni deductions) or Gross (before deductions) which you as the employer need to know.

You will probably be wanting someone who is committed to the job, so you don't want an ad-hoc arrangement, such as you would with an evening babysitter.

Contact your local Families Information Service for a full list of Registered Childminders in your area.

Worth checking with the after school club whether they run anything in the holidays. DD's does and she loves it.

Also worth investing what the local council offers. Ours does a full day club at several local leisure centres with sports, crafts and swimming. Some of the nurseries round here also run school holiday clubs too.

What will work best does very much depend on your DC's personality though. My DD is very outgoing and loves the busy environment and mixing with older kids at ASC. My DN is generally much more quiet and shy and really struggled with it after a full day at school - since swapping to a CM she's much happier.

Thanks for this. Whilst I haven't spoken to any childminders yet, a significant proportion of those I've seen - in my area - on Childcare.co.uk have indicated they don't work holidays which is what's made me panic a bit. The same site pointed me toward some nannies although lots seem to be students looking for part-time work on an hourly rate, so not salaried iykwim ... A bit more casual than that.
I would be concerned about what would happen when they graduated though...

Of course would want to co-ordinate holidays with school hols and DP where I can. However even if we took holidays completely independent of one another they wouldn't cover all the school hols...

Oop... Double post!

Thanks loads for all your suggestions. I am awaiting an email from the FIS ... Will they know about holiday clubs too? I guess if the holiday club is run by the school it'll be them I need to contact... Although still waiting to hear which school dd has got a place at ...
Totally forgot about holiday clubs!

Holiday clubs. The Local authority childrens services may have details although alot seems word of mouth. DD also comes home from school with leaflets for them prior to a holiday.

eg in our small town DD's dance school runs a holiday club, there are football ones, the local nursery runs one. All these take from age 5.

School aftercare also runs one in August.

The one run by the school and the nursery one take childcare vouchers.

We will be in the same situation next sept with DS. We too do not have family near by at all (minimum drive of 7-8 hrs or 12-13 hr flight away). We are hoping that it'll be a use of 3-4 weeks of summer camp/holiday club and then 2-3 weeks of family holiday time. Over here we have a choice of at least 2 holiday clubs and the cost is approx £100/week with lots of activities.

Not sure where in Nottinghamshire you are located, but if you fall under Nottingham City Council area, then this form can be completed to get notifications of holiday clubs (think this may be mostly the sports based type activity clubs).

If you are near Nottingham University, then it looks like a holiday club is run there during school holidays - Kids Camp 8.15am-5.45pm - the timing may or may not fit with your work.

SuperCamps has a Summer 2012 Multi-Activity Camp (8am-6pm) at Nottingham Girls High School.

Using a combination of Holiday Camps/Clubs you may be able to cover any weeks whereby neither you nor your dp can take annual leave from work.

Check age for some clubs. Shorter days or half days have been my experience for younger pupils!