Childcare for a student nurse - nanny, au pair or childminder?

[mightyevs]

Hi

I'm having some trouble trying to work out childcare for September when I start my nursing degree and hope you may have some suggestions.
My husband works abroad for 2 months out of 3 and I don't have any family that are able to help me. My options would be a nanny which is a bit expensive but hopefully flexible to work standard hours when I'm in university and then shifts (6am-3pm or 1pm to 10pm).
Do you think it would cost more than £1000 a month to employ a nanny in south wales?
The other thing is we wouldn't need someone very much when my husband is home, do you think this would cause a problem?
Our other options are an au pair or a childminder during normal hours and maybe a babysitter to help for the less sociable hours.
I'm really looking forward to the course but will be more excited when I can arrange childcare!

first port of call is to talk to uni and find out how they run the course - each uni runs nursing differently. (am a nurse). Some unis will do theory and practice in the same weeks and others will do blocks of theory and then blocks of practice.

once you know this you'll be able to plan better. with cms you'll be stuck for the late shifts as most don't work past 7. you'll also find you may pay for a place rather than actual hours so could pay for more than you need.

au pairs need to live in and probably a better and cheaper option if your dcs are at school. might work well if you've got an onsite nursery at uni that you could use on the days you are in uni and then use aupair for practice days (assuming these all happen in the same week)

you are going to have to consider what happens for night duties and weekend working as these will form part of training too. also you have to work with your mentor for the majority of time you are in placement so this may dictate your hours of work.

How old are the kids?

Thanks both

My boy is 19 months old.

The course is 7 weeks study then 7 weeks clinical practice. We don't need to do nights in the first year and don't think this will be too much of a problem as two friends (who work full time so couldn't help in the day) have offered to stay over my house when I have to do a night shift!

I think if he's that young you'll need an au-pair or a nanny.

Baby sitters (reliable ones) could be hard to find for the amount of times you'd need them for. Plus what would you do if you were on an early and the CM won't start till 7:30 or 8:00am. You won't find a baby sitter who'll come at 5:30am.

You may find a nanny who is willing to do a set amount of hours a month rather than a set amount a week and be paid a monthly salary you would need to pay her even if not needed when husband home.

£1,000 a month would be ok for a 40-50hr week depending on nanny's experience and quals.

perhaps a nanny with own child would be best as may be more willing to be flexible and do different hours.

or if you had a live in nanny you could easily pay £250 net a week for 60hr live in.

sorry lindseyfox, but i dont think £1000 is enough for a daily nanny

even at minium wage of £5.73 40 hours care a week would cost £995 /month and that is at minimum wage and you would have to pay employers NI contributions on top, making the cost to you over £1000 a month.

all the nannies i know earn a lot more than min wage!

also if you employ a nanny you would need to pay 40p per mile (or provide a car) and pay for toddler groups and activites during the day.... bringin the total even further away from your desired £1000

If you wanted someone to start at 6am or finish at 10pm then again expect to pay more for unsociable hours.

Maybe you could find a local nanny with own child (and partner) who could then bring her child with her, during day hours and her partner could care for her own child in the early / late hours

i appreciate you are in a very difficult position and wish i could offer you more productive and useful advice, but i cant actually think of a solution
thinking again maybe you might be able to find a live in nanny.... which would solve the random hours BUT would prob cost even more as you would be providing all the nannies food everyday rather than the shifts she works

Have you space for a live-in nanny? That would be the easiest most flexible option. I don't know how much live-in nannies cost in Wales (you could try looking at job adverts on nannyjob.co.uk to see what local jobs are paying). Live-in nannies are exempt from the minimum wage so may come in under the £1000?
Other than that a combination of au pair and childminder with the au pair getting your child up and dressed and delivering to childminder then picking up and dealing with teatime/bedtime if necessary (but you would need to be careful with choice of au pair as many have no childcare experience at all and in general au pairs are not the best choice for non-talking age children).

min wage depends on age of nanny and min wage is gross so potentially could pay £5 net an hr no problem esp if nanny has own child, this isnt based in london either so not top wages.

so £5.73 min wage as a gross wage isnt too far off what the OP wants to pay.

No I wouldnt work for that salary but someone with nursery experience looking for first nanny job would and/or a nanny with own child.

Its def an employers market at the moment.

you cant get 40 hours a week for £1000 a month though, if paying £5.73!

Thank you all for the advice and suggestions, much appreciated. I think I may have solved the problem as a childminder close by contacted me today to say she may be able to help as looks after another child who's parents work shifts. Also my friend's mum may be able to help for the times I have to work late so finger's crossed it will all work out in the end!

fantastic news

hope it all works out!