Childcare questions. Please help

[Cathcat41]

Hi. First time upcoming mum at 41 years old. Was told I couldn't have children so this is a huge and welcome surprise! I'm at a loss as to how to pay for childcare though. We both work but himself doesn't earn enough to support all of us on his own. I am only going to be getting SMP so will need to go back to work after the 9 months or so. We live far away from family so my question is what can we do? Do child minders watch 7 month olds? Can I get help with paying for childcare? (As far as I can see that's a no due to us both working ) why do people who don't work get help with childcare when it's woman that do work that need the help more? I'm so confused and stressed about all this. Any advice is welcome.

Hi, yes childminders can care for 1 x under 1 the age they take them from will depend on the childminder. Most take from really young, it’s best to phone a few local to you to see what your options are. Baby spaces go fast. There is a scheme called Tax free childcare this is where you pay 80% of childcare fees and government tops it up by 20%. Then once your baby is 3 you will get the 15/30 funded hours which covers 38 weeks a year.

What Apple said. It could be (like in our case) where childcare is more expensive than your actual income so you might have to do a mix of part time/compressed hours . Childcare should be free for everyone (my very own opinion).

Hi,

Yes Nurseries & childminders will look after babies. I'm not sure of the ratio for childminders, but at my son's nursery they take them from 3 months & up to 10 babies in the Baby room. My son started at almost 8 months, due to the same reasons of only
Having SMP. We also could not live off my partners salary if I stay at home, but too be honest going back to work was one of the best things I did. It really helped me feel more myself again. I work 4 days a week & really cherish my time with him on my days off. In terms of financial help, unfortunately there isn't much help for working parents. There is tax free childcare, where the government will pay 20% of your bill, up to a certain amount. & then once they turn 3, you will get 30 hours free childcare.

In terms of getting help to pay for childcare it will depend what your household income is. You can check your figures on a website called entitledto.co.uk

If you earn too much to qualify, well you earn too much!

Start saving now. Take advantage of tax free childcare and investigate any options you and your partner have to use flexible working. If you both compressed hours over 4 days and one worked Mon-Thur, the other Tue-Fri for example you'd only need childcare for Tue/Wed/Thu.

I've spent around £70,000 in childcare (nursery and wrap around) since 2007.

We didn't get any help for childcare. At some points the childcare fee was the same cost as our mortgage and that was only for three days per week!

Given that you are 41 (congratulations on pregnancy BTW) you are more likely to be well established in other areas of your financial life (pension/housing etc).

Good luck.

You'd think at the age of 41 I'd be sorted with all those things. Unfortunately life has not dealt me those cards. Thanks for the advice though. The whole childcare policy needs to be fixed.

Can you and your husband work flexibly? Both work longer days so you can take days off or work around each other in some way? What industries are you in?

Or partner of course!

He is a project manager in a charity and I work as a technician in a school. We both earn JUST over the threshold to receive any help from the government but we live in a very expensive city. It just doesn't make any sense to me how women who want to work are punished.

Its difficult and you might find for a few years you're basically both working but only really seeing one salary come in. Can either of you go part time, sometimes that can help juggle the finances?

You get the tax free childcare thingy, someone better at explaining it will explain it all, and that helps some

You've got to get out of the mindset that it's the women who are punished. You're both in this together and it's your equal responsibility.

Can he increase his hours 4 days a week so you only need 4 days of childcare? Some nurseries and childminders will do term time only too.

We live in a very expensive place and at the time earned just enough to not qualify for help. You'll manage. We did. You kinda have to.

The policies do need updated yes, but that too needs money from somewhere (normally raised via taxation) but unfortunately that change won't happen quick enough for you.

At least you'll be able to have term time working only. That's a longer term advantage.

If you haven't already it's time to set out some basic agreements about household income and expenditure. As you didn't get pregnant without any help...childcare is your partner's responsibility too.