What do you pay for Childcare in north London?

[digitalgirl]

The three nurseries near me charge between £72 and £89 a day.

We've had a flexible nanny whilst I was freelancing for £11 per hour. But I've just been offered a long term contract so can't afford that anymore.

Looking into childminders, but seems that my area (Muswell Hill) seems to be more expensive than most.

What do you pay?

I know childminders who live close to Weybridge station (so fast train into Waterloo) and a couple of years ago they were charging £6.50 per hour or possibly more.........

I'm in west london and I am a Childminder and charge a daily fee of £50.00 8-6pm

I use a childminder in Muswell Hill who charges £6 per hour.

And I've heard that LA Fitness are apparently going to open up their creche to become available as a nursery to non-members. Not sure when this is happening though.

Thought £6ph would be what could expect to pay for a childminder.

My friend pays £6 for her nanny but she's full time.

Overall it just seems like a lot more compared to out of London.

£45 per day, or £6.50 per hour.

£50 a day at a childminder, about to go up to £55. I don't begrudge it.
Does your long term contract offer you the chance to access childcare vouchers? As that will make a massive difference if you are moving from an unregistered nanny.

Must find out about childcare vouchers.

I would be more than happy to pay a childminder £55 a day - but what do they do that's different to a nanny? Do they just have your child over while they get on with their day of chores, errands and picking up their own children from school? Or do they go to all the toddler groups etc? I imagine I will find all this out once I start talking to a few of them...

I pay £45 8-6 in West Hampstead including meals. My CM looks after my DS and a couple of other kids at her house, takes them to the park and to playgroups/softplay etc every day. She doesn't do chores or errands, she does childcare - that's her job!

Childminders have to follow the same EYFS curriculum as nurseries. They are more like the home-based aspect of nannies (including going to the park/groups) with the activities and social aspect of nurseries in my opinion.

The nurseries sound about par for me (Crouch End). If you can get an LEA nursery they are often much better and much cheaper but have long waiting lists.

Childminders - between £50 and £70 a day in our area and (IMO) better than the private nurseries and comparable to nannies in terms of quality of care - better in some cases.

Mine has a weekly routine of library visits and different kinds of toddler groups in the morning, then lunch and naps, then play at her house in the afternoon. She changes the activities every day and does age-appropriate stuff with early years learning.

It's very sweet, sometimes it will be laid out as a little shop, sometimes it will be lots of sensory stuff, sometimes musical instruments and so on.

You just need to visit some and get a feel for how they work.

theyoungvisiter - that sounds lovely! Ok, feeling a bit more positive towards the idea of looking for a childminder now. Admittedly was worried as the only person I know in RL who had a CM had a bad experience. The rest of my 'mother's network' either have nannies or DCs in nursery. My DS is super clingy and would not do well being ignored whilst carer gets on with other stuff (as my last nanny found out).

If your DS is clingy, he is probably better off with a CM because he would get much more 1-2-1 interraction than he would with a nursery (in my experience anyway). Plus there is an element of flexibility - my CM is very forgiving if the tube is delayed and I'm 3 mins late to collect whereas the nursery used to charge £££

Mine goes to nursery within a couple of miles of you. Full time is about £1K per month.

CMs can go up to £70/day - more pricy than nursery. At the £70/day end of the market they provide all the food and have a lot fewer kids on the books.

Live out nanny - depends on age/experience etc but I would estimate £450/week gross at the cheaper end and £450 net plus at the upper end.

I'm in a similar position (looking for new nanny/CM/nursery in N London!) - can anyone tell me what happens when your dc are a bit unwell though with a CM? Obviously with a nanny they just look after them at home, but do DCs have to stay home if they are ill or will the CM look after them? This is my big concern...!

fillybuster - have found that my CM is a lot more willing to look after a slightly under the weather child than nursery. If my DS has a bit of a temp, she just gives him calpol and puts him to bed.

mrsbaldwin - am amazed that CMs are a more expensive option than nurseries where you are - other way round here (NW6).

Yes DCs have to stay home.

Nursery/CM calls you at work and tells you to come and get them.

I cover this by having a helpful neighbour who will go down there on two days to pick up and look after and MIL on the other two. To note - I use the services of the neighbour and MIL every other week at the moment.

"CMs can go up to £70/day - more pricy than nursery. At the £70/day end of the market they provide all the food and have a lot fewer kids on the books."

MrsBaldwin - not sure where you live exactly but I am within a couple of miles of Muswell Hill so we can't be far apart. Up to £70 a day for CMs around here too - but the nurseries go up to £80-£90 a day or even more.

Perhaps you've been lucky with your nursery but £1k a month full time is at the medium to lower end of the scale for North London, I'd say. I was paying nearly 1k for 3 days a week, and that was not for the most expensive nursery. It does depend on the age of the child, though, as nursery fees drop the older they get, whereas CMs tend to stay the same.

Nurseries, like CMs, vary wildly on how ill a child has to be before they call, IME. Some will ring you up at the sight of a bit of nappy rash, others will administer Calpol and accept a child with a bad cold. I'm sure childminders are the same - though I've got more experience of nurseries than of CMs, have only ever used one CM but have used 3 nurseries.

YoungVisiter - was trying to avoid saying precisely where I lived - but let's just say it's a grotty area near the nice area of Muswell Hill hence the lower nursery fees (I assume). The nursery is not grotty however [she added hastily in case NNs are reading]

I agree - you could pay much more for nursery than that!

I pay 35 per day with my childminder but I'm aware that is very cheap ( whetstone)

in islington I used to pay £50 when I did one day £40 when I did 2 days

I find my childminder is fab with illness and will take my ds if he has a cold requiring calpol but not on the first couple of days of an infection but will administer antibiotics as long as I sign a piece of paper

She is amazing and my son is so happy because she does a good mixture of groups and hometime and is wonderful with him

I'm finding this thread very interesting, as I'm about to have to find childcare for mine.

How does one go about finding a childminder, and what would you say one should look for? Is it mostly gut feeling?

I found finding a childminder tricky with my first DS as I think the easiest way to find a good one is word of mouth, and I didn't know enough parents already using a cm.

Second time around I had a lot more contacts and tracked down some possibilities fairly quickly.

If that's not a possibility then depending on where you live, the first stage is probably to have a look on your council's website where they should have a database of childminders in your area. It's then a matter of calling up/emailing to find out who has a vacancy and taking it from there. It's a pain, especially if you live round here where there are literally hundreds of childminders and very few vacancies. And from there, yes, it's a matter of gut instinct I think. And Ofsted reports of course.

I'm a CM in Bounds Green, North London (N22), so if thats close enough for you? There is free parking here if thats any help.

I am an experienced Early Years Teacher, but registered as a Childminder after having my own baby in Oct 08. I only take 1 or 2 children in addition to my own son and I do provide meals once they're past the puree stage.

I have lots of toys, books and resources and we do a range of fun activities - both at home and at local libraries, groups and children's centres.

My email is northlondonchildminder (at) yahoo.co.uk if you'd like to contact me for any further details.