I badly need advice on the cost of childcare

[BBBailey]

I am potentially going back to work full time (10am-5.30pm). My journey means that it will take me an hour or so to get home from the West End of London to my home in Herts. I need to know what chance there will be of me finding someone who will pick up my daughter at 3.30pm and bring her home to my house and feed her. They may even have to take her to swimming or ballet. I know an au pair would be best, but our house is really not big enough and I would prefer to have someone come for those hours. But what are the chances. My job interview is tomorrow so I need prices and some invaluable answers. Please help

all advice on this matter most welcome

What about a childminder who picks up from school and takes your DD to their house? I don't know about your local costs in west berms my childminder is £5 per hour.

I'm in Herts and was paying £6.75 an hour for exactly that including dinner

In Surrey I have paid anything from £4.50 - £7 per hour.

However, I do think you will be very lucky to find a cm who would be willing to take your DC to their after school activities.

After school nanny would do it.

Why at your house, why take to swimming? If you can eliminate those requirements, then you could use the services of a Childminder which would be cheaper than having a Nanny. If care has to be at your home, then it will need to be a Nanny which could be quite costly.

A nanny could be twice the cost of a childminder... childminder I expect may be around £5 per hour, they may have a fixed price for after-school care.

Look on HertsDirect using keyword: Childminder

Enter your postcode and it will produce a list of registered childminders. Go down the list and call them to ask about prices, if they collect from the school and if they have a vacancy for your proposed start date.

If looking for someone to come to your home... then looking at listings of Nannies on Childcare.co.uk may be a good starting place. Keep in mind that any cost figures given may be Net, rather than Gross.
MrAnchovy's PAYE Calculator will do Net to Gross. Modify the taxcode to BR, so it gives you worst case situation whereby there is no personal tax allowance allocated to the job.

Keeping the maths simple... if say it was £10 net per hour, 3 hours per day, so 15 hours per week... then at BR rate that would be £195 Gross per week, Employers NI of about £7 a week. So total cost to employer of around £10,534 a year. Plus any associated expenses, such as mileage for transporting to/from swimming & ballet, payroll admin. You would be their employer and would need to provide a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid holiday (can include bank/public holidays).

Also consider what would happen on non-school days. Would you need full-time care then? Not all after-school nannies would be able to do all day, due to having other commitments.

sorry I missed the bit about in your house. Mine go to a childminder.

smalltown can I ask which town offers such affordable childcare? I am looking for an affordable commuter town to move too.. sorry for offtopic!

Just jumping in, confused, but I live in Hitchin which is a lovely commuter town, and I've just started meeting potential childminders and they are all charging about £5 an hour, though I think there is an extra cost for a hot meal. (In fact I love the childminders here because they all seem willing to accommodate the fact that DP does shiftwork and we need something more confusing that standard 8-6 care)

I am a childminder in Herts and charge a set fee for afterschool (£17 per afternoon, per child)

smalltown and BellaCB thanks for the childcare cost indications for your commuter towns. That is what I was afraid about. I would love to move out from London to a commuter town, but cannot afford the same mortgage, the same childcare costs as in London and increased commuting costs altogether. That's life, I guess....

I am a child minder in Scotland its £3.50 per hour