What sort of childcare do I need?

[MrsMattie]

I'm thinking a childminder, but am open to any suggestions/comments.

I'll need someone to mind DD (who will be 16 mths old by the time I go back to study/work) 4 days a week, roughly 8am-5.30pm, but there will be some days when my mum/DH will be able to pick her up a bit earlier. They'll also need to pick my reception-age DS up from school at 3pm at least 3 days a week and have him until 5-ish, too.

Would I be best off with a childminder?

Should I get an au pair (only have a very small room, not en suite, although our house is big, big garden, near tube in nice area of London).

is nursery even an option? Not really when I've got a school age child that needs picking up, too...?

Not sure we could afford a nanny, even live out...

What do you reckon?

How much are you looking to pay for any of these?
And where in London - (what zone) are you?

We're in Zone 4 of London, but near the tube and 5 mins walk from a busy hugh street, in a nice area with lots of local ammenities.

Haven't thought about cost yet, but have totted up that childminder fees would probably be in the region of (£300 a week for both my DD and pick up of my DS, possibly slightly less dependiong on childminder - but we do have a limited choice, as only a couple of CMs do pick ups from our local school)....so wouldn't want to pay any more than that.

I'd be reluctant to leave my DD full time with an au pair, and don't think it would be fair on an au pair anyway...but nannies seem so expensive.

Nursery for DD and and au pair to pick up DS?

Hmmm...

excuse random brackets, sorry!

are there any after school clubs that your DS can attend?

Childminder - if you can find one who will have both children (we were never lucky enough to find one with matching vacancies). Or childminder for little one and au pair for schoolie. Mostly, au pair's are better with children over the age of 3.
At one point we had our youngest child in nursery and older one had an au pair type arrangement to do school run, but we ended up swapping to a live-out nanny (and then a nanny-share) which was very expensive but worked better most of the time.

Maybe a aupair plus? You could pay 150 a week. Some aupairs have really small rooms. And at least you would be able to have some housework help i.e ironing.cleaning .

No@purplepurple. Unfortunately, no after school clubs round here.

It's so complicated, isn't it? Argh!

Maybe a nannyshare?

at the nursery where I work we run a before school club and after school club for the school across the road. they are taken to school and collected by nursery staff

so parents of a baby and a schoolie can drop them both off at 8 in the morning and pick them both up at 5.30 in the afternoon from the same place

are there any nurseries that offer the same service where you live?

Nannyshare could be good, yes@Supernanny19, but I thought maybe 3-4 days is too much, ie. I'd be looking for someone who only needed 1-2 days to share with.

I don't think any of the nurseries or schools do that kind of thing round here@purepurple. Sounds good, though.

i wouldnt leave a 16mth with an ap or a mothers help as sc, its hard to find a cm when you need school runs as well

i am sure that you could find a newly qualified or a few years exp nanny for that amount a week

£300gross for 4 days and those hours is about £7.50gross or about £6nett about £242 nett

sure nick will be able to sort out actual figures

i do nursery for my preschooler and cm for my school age.. I couldn't find a cm that could have both plus one that schoolage child would be happy with. This way may seem more complicated but I find it easy (so far) to manage. Nursery always open and cm can have schoolage child in school holidays or I take leave.

An au-pair/mother's help/live-in unqualified nanny - are all the same thing in my view. The difference is in the job description, what duties they actually do.
I would not suggest any of those option as being suitable, given the age of your DD.
A live-in newly qualified nanny may well be an option, especially if they have lots of babysitting experience/childcare experience. As they are live-in, there is no requirement to meet NMW regulations... so you can offer what salary you like. I would expect that you could offer from £200 per week upwards - but that isn't the 'total' cost as they are live-in!
A live-out nanny in London I would expect will cost you £400-£500 gross per week for those hours. However it is an 'employers market' I feel at the moment, so you may find that there are more nannies looking for work, than there are local nanny jobs... so you may be able to get someone to agree a lower wage. Minimum would be around £240 Gross, but I expect that applicants would not consider it until around the £300 Gross per week mark.
You won't know for sure until you start advertising. You could start advertising on sites like NannyJob and Gumtree - state the salary at say £300 Gross - and see what kind of applicants apply.
Consider what help with childcare costs you can get - for example, does your/DH employer offer Childcare Vouchers? If so, a Registered Nanny can accept those vouchers. The savings are not huge, though it could save £1000 a year.

A Childminder is the other option, again they can also take Childcare Vouchers. London Childminder rates can vary quite a bit, some areas are quite high. Look on Childcare.Direct.Gov.uk for an idea of costings (some childminders list their prices, other's don't).
For example (per child costings, selected from random childminder listings):
Southfields £55 per day
Wimbledon £60 per day
Abbey Wood £25 per day
Chiswick £70 per day
So depending on where you live (Abbey Wood and Chiswick are both Zone 4 according to Wikipedia) the cost could be quite different.
Collecting your older child could mean another £15-£20 per day I would expect.
Keep in mind what childcare you need during school holidays... a nanny could work most of the school holidays, where as a some childminder's may only do term-time care, others will do all year round.

If you will be studying, then look at what tax credits you are entitled to whilst being a student. Again that financial help can be used to pay a Registered Nanny, Registered Childminder or a Nursery - but can't be used for un-registered childcare.

Why don't both children need the same amount of care - DD 4 days, DS 3 days?

I think for £300 a week you could get a nanny to do 4 days (40hrs) and it is an employers market you might not get a nanny with 10yrs experience in childcare but you could get a nursery nurse looking to move from nursery to nannying who has a few years experience.