Shift working

[BeQuickLemonTurtle]

Hi there,

Just exploring options for potential childcare.

My partner works 2 weeks on 2 weeks off (Wed to Wed) so would need childcare for the following rolling 4 week pattern:

Week 1 - Wed Thurs fri
Week 2 - any 4 days
Week 3 - Mon Tues Wed
Week 4 - any 2 days

Appreciate this is non standard so just wondered what the best bet was, e.g. childminder or nursery?

I’d say you’re more likely to get this agreed with a childminder but you could always try a nursery, all of the ones we viewed when choosing did require set days though.

I had a similar circumstance and the only way I could avoid paying for a full time place was with a childminder - who by the way - was absolutely lovely

Do you live somewhere where there is high demand for childcare?

If you can find somewhere with not many children - whether childminder or nursery - that would be your best bet.

Where I am all the childcare providers have waiting lists so there would be no benefit to me to let you take up a full time space and not pay for it.

Nurseries next to the hospitals near me accommodate shift patterns like this.

You'll need to pay for full time childcare and not use it all.

Our circumstances were similar at the time of looking at nurseries. We found a few that could accommodate shift patterns but many didn’t.

You’re more likely going to have to pay for a full time place. If you’re in an area with lots of shift workers you may find a childminder that can do it though.

I would imagine you’re going to have to pay for a full time place, especially as you cannot be sure which days you need.

Our (amazing) childminder would have accommodated this - she had a few children whose days were different each week, whereas the nurseries near us required set days, hence the reason these children were with our childminder. You just need to ask around and see the options in your area.

If there is a hospital near you then that is also worth a look, although our one gives priority for staff (for obvious reasons!) and didn't have spaces anyway.

I’ve never come across any childcare provider who would offer this, I think they’re quite rare. I’ve heard that nurseries attached to hospitals may do, as the majority of their customers work shifts. But outside of that it would be unusual. I think most people in this situation either rely on family, pay for lots of childcare they don’t need, or have one parent who doesn’t work or can work flexibly around the shift worker.

Can your husband put in a flexible working request to have more regular shift patterns? A friend is a (part time) midwife and her 2 shifts a week are always either a weekend day or a Monday or Tuesday. She pays for nursery for those 2 days, and if she works at the weekend her husband has the kids. Might be worth asking if they could commit to eg him never working a Friday, which would save you one day of childcare at least.

We live in an area with high demand for childcare and there were no options whatsoever that had that kind of flexibility. They’re effectively keeping a full time place open for you, because the chances of someone else taking all your ‘off’ days is very low. Depending on your income, a nanny might be able to accommodate?

My childcare covers my hours, and so sometimes we end up paying for a week we don’t need, if my husband is actually on a week off.

Sorry I also think you will have to pay for a full time space as you effectively need 5 days a week to comdate the shift pattern. When I was childminding I would be unable to offer you only the spaces you wanted each week as I would have been unable to take on another family so losing money. I have heard of childminders who offer this and would charge along the lines of full price for maximum number of days you would need so in your case 4 to cover week 2 then 50% retainer for the remaining 1.