Childcare options for 3 under 3!

[NoMoreWineForMeThen]

I'm considering my return to work (albeit a little too late as I'd decided I wasn't going back but have had a last minute change of heart) and just can't decide on what the best form of childcare would be for almost 3yo DD and 1yo twin boys.

Currently DD has a full time place at a private nursery although we were considering moving her to the local pre-school nursery in Sept. Pre-school would incur no cost but only available mornings or afternoons and of course no nursery during school hols. This would have been fine if I was SAHM but perhaps not so practical if I go back to work?

I'd ideally work a 3 day wk and wondered whether a nanny and pre-school combo would be the most cost effective and practical solution for us?

How much would a nanny (live out) change to look after twin boys 3 full days and drop off/pick up DD and care for her before and after nursery. Of course it would be three children for 3 full days during school holidays.

Is a childminder for all three a better option, although I'd guess it would be difficult to find a good minder that has space for 3?

The last resort would be to put all three into the private nursery but my salary wouldn't cover the full cost of this so it really is a last resort.

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Sorry, should have mentioned that we're in the Birmingham area.

once you have 3 children a nanny is the far cheaper option, esp when all young

also easier as you only need to get yourself ready and go to work, the nanny will sort out the children, where as with cm or nursery obv you need to get them up/dressed and take to wherever , then go to work, so more stressful

plus sort out the childrens washing, prepare meals and leave house in general tidy state if possible with 3 under 3

salary's vary depending on age/experience and obv area - i dont know Birmingham but if you look at other jobs on say nannyjob to get a rough guide, but im guessing anything from £8-12gross ph

a cm would need to have no under 5 to take yours- maybe a newly registered one would be free

So you can work out a likely budget, allocate £10 gross an hour for the salary you would offer (the employer sets the wage, nannies either apply for the job or they don't).

Start and Finish times?
Multiple hours per week by hourly rate, add employers NI, payroll admin fee, expenses kitty, mileage allowance (would nanny need to use their own car for work?).

Ah OK, so a nanny would be the way forward.

Blondeshavemorefun yes the thought of getting 4 of us ready and out of the house in time to get to work for 8.30am was one of my main concerns! Thanks for the pointer to NannyJob, really helpful.

nannynick I apologise in advance for the number of questions...

I think we'd be looking at 7am to 6pm, 3 days per week. It would make sense for the nanny to use our car if that's an option as we have a MPV to fit the 3 car seats.

How do I work out what we would pay in employers NI and what would be a realistic weekly kitty amount?

Also, how would I work out holiday allowance and when holidays can be taken?

Most nannies want a car - well I do lol - so sure driving your beast will be fine :)

mr a's fab calculator will help you fiddle with figures

Fwiw I would happily take on a job with your ages though sure some nannies wouldn't as tbh it will be a demanding job but very rewarding

Love twins - on my 4th set of baby twins :)

Kitty - twins won't costs anything for m&t etc so maybe £50 a month and see what happens / can always up it when they are older

Mr Anchovy's tax calculator is good. You can have a play around with figures to see how much you can afford to pay and it will give you how much you will need to pay in employers ni. A lot of nannies when asked their salary expectations will quote a net figure, so look at the calculator to see what the gross would be. Always agree a gross figure, especially for a part time job as she may have another job elsewhere which usues her tax free allowance.

Kitty wise - that can be for you to set how much the nanny spends. You can ask the nanny to search out low cost and free activities if you want to keep the costs down. I nanny 3 days a week. I have an annual pass to a local farm that is open year round and has soft play as well as other indoor activities (think it is around £180 per year) We go swimming once a week/fortnight which costs £4 a go. We go to storytime at the library every week which is free. When the weather is good we go to the woods and the park a lot. We don't tend to eat out as I usually pack up a lunch and snacks. I would have thought a realistic kitty for 3 small children would be around £15 per week - then weeks that she spends less would mean a bit more money for a bigger outing every now and then.

If you are going to get the nanny to use your car consider the age of the nanny. An under 25 can be eye wateringly expensive to add to your insurance.

Good information here about holiday allowance. It is usual for the employer and nanny to split the holiday entitlement. So you take off bank holidays and each split the remaining time to choose - though it is legal for you to stipulate when all holidays are taken.

You also need to consider sick pay. Most employers will put SSP into the contract and use their discretion to pay for any sick leave.

Kitty wise - it varies. In some areas there are lots of free things, in others there are little especially in Winter when spending a long time outdoors may not appeal so much... Splashing in muddy puddles, playing in the snow are of course fun winter activities.
2.50 per child per day should be sufficient and on some days will way over what is needed especially when babies, but as they get older then costs increase. It also depends what is to come out of the money, late notice things for pre-school/school, food/drink, softplay?

Minimum holiday is 5.6 x days (or hours) per week worked. So 2 days is 11.2 days, 3 days is 16.8 days, 4 days is 22.4
You can not round down, you can round up and you can give more days. You can dictate ALL leave taken but it is better to let your employee have some choice if at all possible. So if you know you won't need Childcare Xmas-new year you can choose those days, then let nanny have choice in the rest - they need to give you advance notice of when they would like to take holiday. Equally if you don't want them taking holiday during academic term time, you can specify that.

Thank you, this is all really helpful info and give me plenty to think about and to look further into.

Wish I'd have considered a nanny when I went back to work after having DD, would have made my life a lot less stressful I'm sure!

if your able to consider a live in nanny, do let me know

i'd love a role like yours and one of my best friends lives nr bham

ilyvkids out of interest, would a nanny live in for a 3 day per wk position? How would that work? Would we need to make the position FT?

We do actually have enough bedrooms so its not out of the question but only 1 bathroom. Would a live in nanny expect a private bathroom/en-suite?

depends if you mind the nanny living in all week, maybe they would go home/to boyfriends other 4 days - maybe they dont have that option

Hmmm, perhaps full time would be a better option and theen we could utilise the additional days? Does having a live in nanny reduce the rates as you are effectively providing board and lodging?

Yes live ins are cheaper / tho some may not be happy with shared care/ mum being around 2 days a week and may limit your choice of nannies as sure ideally you want a nanny with lots of experience though these nannies may want sole. Charge jobs

But as all so young be nice for the mum to have some 1 2 1 care with each child

Plus 5 days with 3 under 3 is tough going so may put some nannies off

Personally I love working 3 or 4 days but not 5

A live-in nanny is cheaper, but probably not so cheap that it would be worth employing someone for 5 days instead of 3.

You can have a live-in nanny for 3 days a week. It would be a good idea as your start time is so early. Live-out nannies generally prefer to start slightly later as they have a commute to factor in as well. I imagine a live-in nanny only working 3 days would find another job for the other 2 days or study part-time or similar. Just like a live-out nanny would really.

A live-in nanny will normally have 1 or 2 nights babysitting a week factored into their wages, so good if you need to work late, want to take an evening class/do a hobby or spend a lot of money on babysitters.

Having a stranger live-in your house is a big decision though, make sure it's something you'd really be ok with. If it's something you don't mind, it'll be good in the future, once they are all at school as an au pair would save you a fortune.

Plus as I said I'm assuming you would want an older more experienced nanny as have 3 under 3 then say a 20yr

Many older nannies may not want to live in if have own place

I have 3 dc under 3 plus 3 older dc. Ours are 12, 11, 8, 2.9 and 19mth twins.
We have a nanny. She has all 6 during holidays and then term time she does school runs and has the 3 little ones (2yr old does 2ams at nursery)

We employ her full time, although I am about quite a bit. We have a farm so im in and out most days (except mondays when I teach violin at a school so am gone all day) some days im able to go pick up the older DC from school and leave littlies with nanny or vice versa. I love having the nanny around as it means I can spend more 1-1 time with each dc.

Kitty wise we give our nanny £40 a time then she just lets us know when its runing low but give her more in holidays when she has all 6. Although our nanny dosent tend to spend too much as there is always plenty of free entertainment on the farm. like the time ''silly daddy fell down off the trailer, he went 'splat' like that in mud....its so so funny!'' (2yr olds highlight of the week!). She dosent have to look after the eldest 3 too much as they usualy choose to help out on the farm and are pretty independant.

For obvious reasons she drives our car vehicle I dont think many nannies have a vehicle big enough for 6 dc 4 of whom need child seats!

We pay for a 50hr wk although I do always try and let her go early if I can some weeks this may just be an hr or 2 and others (like today) she gets a whole afternoon.
We all simply adore our nanny and cant imagine being without her she makes our life possible and keeps us functioning (and organised). As our 11yr old puts it ''X is like the jam on the bread, the cherry on the cake and the cream on top the milk'' (meaning she makes good things absolutely perfect) he wrote this in her christmas card which made her cry.