How much does childcare cost?

[hollowtree]

Just that really. If you use childcare, what does it cost you? What type of childcare do you use? Ages of DC would also be useful, thanks everyone!

PS: totally clueless FTM here

It will vary depending on where you live. I'm in NI and a daycare place ie all day care; four days a week was c£800 per month. But that was a few years ago.

wips that sounds a lot! Or is it relatively cheap? I don't know!

It varies hugely so I don’t think this will help you. When I was in London I paid £95 per day for nursery. You could get cheaper and this was in a very expensive area. Now I’m in the SE and it’s £70 per day. Cheaper for over 3s because of different ratios and you get your 15/30 hours free too.

What area do you live in?

Lules yes I see what you mean... basically I am trying to weigh up whether it actually would make financial sense for me to return to work. I earn minimum wage as a waitress so I'm guessing not!

DS is 4, in private Nursery 3 days a week. He gets 30 free hours so now costs us about £250 a month.

Midlands, on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire boarder

Depends where you are and age of child. Ratios are smaller for younger children so generally more expensive.

Tis now that sounds doable! Might have to wait a couple of years then!

My maternity ends in March... might have to beg the GPs I think! Or not go back

I was paying £650 a month for DD but that was 8am - 6pm five days a week

We qualify for the 30 hours but no nurseries offer it near us so using 15 for DS age 3.
3 year old about £400-500 per month for 3 days
2 year old £700 ish
Depends on how the days fall in the month hence it varies a little.
Small nursery in south East.

Take a look at a few and get an idea of prices and what you like. Prices will vary even within an area. We could have got a cheaper nursery but much preferred the one we are using.

Hollowtree, if you can I would. We were paying the full price for the 3 days until January last year, about £600 a month and it was crippling us! We considered taking him out a couple of times but kept at it because he loved going so much.

It just doesn't seem worth it all... I just used an app to check prices in our area. After childcare I would be earning £2.02 an hour ☹ what a depressing thought. And I would be working bloody hard for that money too

Do you have a partner? We both went part time so we could both keep our career going and cut the childcare bill.
I appreciate this isn't an option for everyone though.

It isn't just £2 an hour though, OP.

It is staying in a job, which means you won't have to look for another one. It is continuous employment from a contributions POV. It is independence, an opportunity to do something for yourself.

Many people on here keep jobs going for that reason; others feel that the time spent working and away from their DC is not worth those things. It is the individual's choice.

I'd you're a waitress and on shifts then that could prove tricky for childcare which is usually set agreed hours. Equally if you're a waitress, do you have a partner that you could work opposite hours to?

A full time nursery place in Oxon is between £1k - £1.2k but childminders are cheaper (£4/hr). Would becoming a childminder yourself appeal to you?

Also take into consideration that you will need to drop off before work and they will be there after you finish, also paying for food. When I realised this it meant I was earning nothing. For example:

I start work at 9, ds would need to be dropped off for 8.15. I finish at 5 and he would need to stay there until 5.45. So I had to pay an extra 1.5 hours and £2 per day for lunch.

Have a look at entitled to, you might be eligible for tax credits to help cover childcare

We have 2 kids. Nearly 4 and nearly 16months. They have nursery 4 ful day’s a week (8am-5.30pm) the eldest has 3 funded days but I still pay for day 4 and food on all 4 days. So between the two of them it averages £850 a month. Before the funded hours we paid £1300 per month roughly.

What kind of shifts would you be working as a waitress? Could you get some evening/weekend work around your DP?

Preschool is much cheaper than nursery BTW (£23 per day for me in SLDN), but they will only take kids from 2 and it’s only open 9-3. I work nights so manage to earn a full time wage this way without costing much (sleep while DD is there).

When my twins were in daycare for 2 days 8-6 it cost £1100 a month this was from aged 1 very expensive didn't make it worth going to work but I thankfully had a supportive dh who helped.

My child minder just went up from 4.50 to 5.00 per hour. Dinner is an extra 1.50. I'm in Bedfordshire.

Midlands, nursery, about £830 a month full time. Dd gets 30 hours free which makes a big difference now but it’s still just over £500 for a full time space. Childcare vouchers helps- they come out of mine and my husbands pay before tax. It probably saves us a couple of hundred pounds a month.

What does your OH earn? If its also low you could qualify for tax credits which would help towards childcare.

@Tisfortired why do you pay 250 if he gets 30 free Hrs?
Does your child do more than 30 Hrs?