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

I pay £44 a day for my 11 month old

SE England

I use a breakfast club and an afterschool club. Breakfast club is £5.75 from 7.45 until 8.45 for one child and includes toast/cereal and fruit juice.

afterschool club is £15 from 3.15 until 6:00pm and includes chopped fruit/veg and a drink.

@Inthenightsea it depends on how your nursery interpret/ implement the funding. Ours doesn’t do 30 free hours term time, it does 22.5 hours all year around with meals on top. If your child is full time it doesn’t matter how long you drop them, their full time week is 50 hours.

@Inthenightsea good question! I think it's something like, because the 30 hours are funded by the government they only fund term time, so full fees still apply in half term. The amount per hour funded by the government is also less than the price per hour that Nursery charges.

Midlands here, we use a not for profit nursery that's run by a community cooperative in conjunction with sure start. They charge £43.50 a day for unfunded places. Pre 3 years old we were paying around £740.00 a month for a 4 day week. Now she gets 30 hrs free during term Tim so we pay full rate during school holidays, term time we pay £43.50 a week plus lunch and dinner fees which is £10.50 a week for the 3 funded days.

DS, 7mo goes to nursery, 1.5 days a week at a cost of £66. He is also care for by family for another 1.5 days. Myself and his dad both take a day off during the week, I work compressed full time hours and his dad works weekends.

We're not all that far from you in Buckinghamshire. We use a nursery and pay £61/day, that's a full day (they open 7.30 close 6.30 and can drop off/pick up any time around that). It's cheaper if you do full time but my DP works shifts and the days we need it shift from week to week so we have to pay on a daily rate. DS is 7 months but the rate is the same until they're 3. Hope that helps!

Worth factoring in at least yearly price increases too. Ours started as £38.00 a day when DD was 9 months old, its now £43.50 a day, she's 3 yrs 8 months so about £2 a day increase each year. Not massive but it does add up.

Thanks for all the help here everyone- DH earns a relatively good salary (triple what I would earn) so no point doing half and half. Also he does Mon-Fri 8am-6pm so I would have to find shifts from 7pm onwards and all weekend which would mean not seeing him!

We make ends meet as it is with a few treats so I would rather spend time with DH and DD and not have the cash to be honest. I wanted to get an idea ready for March when my maternity pay ends but to work the hours I would want I would need childcare and it's just not worth it for me I don't think.

Thanks so much for all these helpful replies xx

Its amazing in 35 messages only one mentions child-minders why is this?

Childminders are qualifies care often more so than nursery managers and way more so than the Apprentices used by many nurseries and cheap labour and often more so than the room leaders. (many have early years degree and early years teacher status too).
They are regulated and inspected by Ofsted (as are nurseries and schools up to reception) and work to the EYFS like them.
They are suitability checked and increasingly work with others (assistants and/or co minders).
Childminders and often cheaper and more flexible than nurseries who for example have a set no alternative closing time.
Yet many never even consider them Why?

I don’t use a childminder as there are non close to my work. There is a good nursery though.

Average around me in Somerset is £50 ish a day.