Budgeting advice

[Nojustalurker]

Not yet ttc but we are looking to move house so we need to factor in future child care costs.

How much would a childminder charge in the north east? I would be looking at term time only with occasional days in the holidays for continuity.

Thanks for info.

Not too sure if the pricing would be too different from East Anglia. Here it's approx £3.50-4 an hour + £2 a day for meals. Generally you get the weekly amount and multiply it by however many weeks the childminder chooses to work (48/50 normally) and divide by twelve. I currently pay £720 and that's a bit cheaper than normal. That's 48.33 hours a week. You can get tax credits towards this and Childcare vouchers from your salary. X

Thank you. I could only find the prices of nursery online but I know I would much prefer a child minder.

Local family information service may be able to give you an idea of average fees. They will be able to give you a list of local registered childminders who you can then contact to ask about fees.

Childminders are much cheaper too generally. I think at first a childminder is best. I went with a nursery and it was never definite that she would be dropped off with the same people, or even someone that she had seen before. That upset us both a great deal at times. Once she was about one and a half I switched to a childminder. The only reason I didn't go with a childminder was because they could be doing anything in their home and I'm overly cautious.

I paid £840 a month at the nursery. My current childminder is £720 and she has handed in her notice. The alternatives are £706 and £768 a month. I might have said that in my previous post