Childminder costs

[movingmamma]

What should I expect to pay a childminder for looking after my 12month old daughter? I also have a 3 year old that I was thinking of sending to nursery as she needs more interaction with other kids. If I ended up sending them both to a childminder, would I pay double?

It varies but is usually cheaper than a nursery. I pay £4.50 plus all meals and snacks and nappies etc.

There is often a sibling discount of 10% or so.

My childminder is £40 for 8-5, inc all food but not nappies.

You pay per child. Childminders are self employed so set their own rates.

Most childminders I know ensure all children in their care are well socialised and they all work to the eyfs the same as nurseries.

I pay £4 per hour per child, no sibling discount.

£5 per child per hour where I am.

5 per hour typical in my area and rarely sibling discount.

Are you looking at care all day or just a few hours in morning or afternoon? You may find that some will offer a day rate rather than hourly.

I give a small sibling discount, especially if it's for full time/long hours. Costs vary depending on where the childminder lives. Roughly what area are you in?

The children I look after get lots of interaction with other children. We go to lots of groups and meet up with other childminders and their children too.

We paid £4/hr for one cm n then £32/day for 7.30-4.30/5 for another this is over past 4yrs n both Inc meals first didn't charge for her hols but did for ours, second charged 50% for her n our hols.

You pay per child n for us cm was cheaper than nursery we did a mixed week initially 3 cm n 1 nursery then 2 of each and nursery was £47/48 a day for 7.30-6 we used til 4.30/5 though.

So May be a mix may work for you even if using funded hrs it's it only 15hrs term time so we just used 12hrs of it over the 2days it saved a bit in term time but certainly wasn't worth using the extra 3hrs instead of cm on another day.

A nanny would charge per family but would be more expensive overall than a cm but may break even slighted cheaper than nursery for 2.

Berkshire here. £60 per day per child. We go out and socialise with large groups of Children nearly every day.

It's almost pointless to get a figure from a childminder in a different area (no offence intended to the OP or any of those who have replied). The reason I say that is that going rates are SO local. I'd say around here probably about the same as HSMM, but know that 5 miles away in one direction you could be looking at £40 a day and 5 miles the other way it could be £80. Rates do follow housing cost to a certain extent, but also demand. If you live in an expensive commuter belt area you might have really high mortgage or rent but also a lot of demand from highly paid commuters. The only way to gauge what is reasonable for your area is to ask local childminders what they charge or fellow local parents what they pay (and remember to look at the whole package = meals, trips, leave etc, not just hourly or daily rate) and of course consider the quality of provision.

Exactly Jinxxx. I know CMs within 2 miles of me who charge less, but charge for holidays and don't provide meals. Everyone is different and provides different facilities. OP look at as many as you can and make your decision on what seems right for you and your child.

Thanks everyone... great info. To clarify, I'm in Crouch End, North London (N8). Any idea of how much I should expect to pay there?

I'm not too far from Crouch End and pay my CM £6 p/h. This includes all meals & wipes but not nappies. I think £5-£8 is the norm for this part of London but as other posters have said it's a good idea idea to ask around. When I was looking I found quite a variation e.g. a few charged at the upper end of £8-£10 in areas like Stoke Newington.

Also, have you had a look at the councils list of OFSTED registered childminders? You should be able to download the document from their website (Google childcare providers in Haringey or Islington - sry always forget which borough N8 falls into!).

We are very lucky in that there are lots of great children's centres close to where we live and the CM takes her mindees to a different one most days so there is a lot of interaction etc with other kids but I'll probably think about nursery when my child is around 3. Good luck!