Childcare costs: Parents now pay £67,000 per child in total

[KateMumsnet]

According to a report released today, the cost of raising a child and supporting them through university has risen to £227,226, with childcare costs showing the biggest annual rise at 3.7% - almost twice the rate of inflation.

In total, parents now pay an average of £67,586 per child for childcare - and, according to the report, mothers believe that they need to earn an average of £26,000 a year to make returning to work worthwhile.

Does this chime with your experience - and if so, how has it affected your family? Have you had to make difficult decisions because of the cost of childcare? We'd love to know what you think.

We had twins, and I had to quit my job because I would have been paying to go back to work. I would have enjoyed getting to go back to a few adult days in the office, but it just wasn't feasible financially as London childcare costs are spectacularly unaffordable. Happily, the job was not a career trajectory position, so we've decided to embrace the chaos and I'll be a SAHM for a few years. We've got a small age gap between our twins and our 3rd (and final), so we're having our whole family now while we're young, and then in a few years when they're in school I'll go back for my PhD and build a career from there.

Not only that soup but when people say being a sahp is a luxury it isn't always the case. I can't afford to go back to work.
(Of course you could say having children is a luxury as per other thread... I'm comparing working with children to being a sahp with children)

We pay £50 a day for our nursery and compared to friends in London that seems fantastic value for money. Financially it makes sense for our family for me to work. I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to work part time (three days a week) and to have childcare that I'm really confident in. I'm quite sure I'm more sane for working a bit, not to mention feel more secure keeping my career going (just....but that's another story of course). I also think it's great for DS's development, especially socially. I love my four days with him and I think maybe more so for it not being full-time if I'm honest.

Whilst I'd be happier to pay higher taxes for cheaper childcare for all (now I'm a mother) I wouldn't expect non-parents to, their taxes already go towards schooling others' children. If we want cheaper childcare perhaps it's down to communities to organise it, looking after each other's kids in turn....lots of red tape I know, but must be possible.

I'm not sure what the answer is tbh and agree that it shouldn't fall to others to fund childcare, especially those without dc.
However cc is expensive, as a sahp I have been completely shocked by these amounts.
We have 3 dc and at times would have needed some type of care for all 3 of them. 3x the suggested cost of 67k would buy you a large 4 bed detached house in some areas of the NW.

i think it should fall to everyone to fund childcare. whether they have children or not. Ultimately it is in societies interests to have children educated and looked after in high quality settings, and to have the workforce gainfully employed.

How much do you think broader society benefits if the highly educated (and at some considerable public expense), creative and entrepreneurial minds are forcibly removed from the workforce, sometimes permanently because they simply cannot afford to fund childcare.

No, others shouldn't fund your childcare.

Of course society benefits from well educated citizens and all its citizens being well educated.

Why are people removed 'permanently' though scotch? Genuin question. I totally understand time out of work has a major impact on parents' (usually mothers) careers, mine certainly, but why can't those people work again when the children are in school (paid for by everyone)? Albeit probably differently than before and finding some way to deal with school hours....Argh.

Others shouldn't fund your pension and your healthcare then?

Ridiculous. Good quality childcare that allows parents who choose to, to work, benefits society.

The fact that the cost of childcare for two children can make working untenable is a disgrace. What on earth is wrong with a system that makes it impossible for people on an average income to afford to work?

Parents deserve the choice in how they want to structure their family. MN I think you should be more vocal about childcare costs. The MP we had on here was a bad joke. Status quo and didn't answer questions about high cost of daycare.

If people can't afford to work they will vote with their feet and leave the UK. I started my family in the NYC area and childcare is much more affordable. Still I take home less than $10/hr after childcare costs. I'm in the process of finding a new job with less hours and more money so I don't have to be part time. What is surprising is how many families are here from the UK and plan to stay because having a family is much more affortable.

Everyone funds everyone else in society, that's how it works, regardless of whether you yourself take up those services. Pensions, healthcare, unemployed, schooling etc etc. I'm not sure why it's that outrageous. You put in (or don't) and have the luxury of being able to take out what you want or need. You might as well say you won't fund maternity services because you never plan on having children yourself. Or any children's services like children's centres, health visitors etc.

Sorry that was to those that said you shouldn't have your childcare funded by others.

I would be happy to pay higher taxes for cheaper childcare and probably would have all the years I work and didn't have a kid, I was just saying I understood if some people didn't want to pay more. Maybe families who are already sacrificing one wage for a parent to stay home.

What about more community based solutions?

In my area nursery places are around £43 per day and childminders a little less. I started a small craft business around 5 years ago and whilst i did ok it never brought in the big bucks-never expected it to, it was more of a labour of love and I was fortunate to be able to do it. When ds was born the option was there to return to work but now he's 13 months and I'm pregnant again there's no way i would.
I have always wanted to SAH with my children and we are lucky that DP earns enough to support us financially. I honestly don't know how people manage in the SE without huge salaries.
It's a complex issue though. I have a friend who earns many times what I did and also has a high earning partner. For her it really wouldn't matter what the sums said (unless it left them truly impoverished) she would go back to work. She said that if she earned half as much and childcare cost twice as much she would still work. I said the opposite, if I earned twice as much and child care cost half as much I'd still want to stay at home.
I'm not sure how convinced I am about the £26K a year "worth it" figure. I know women who earn less that and pay for childcare. They just walk away with relatively little at the end of it but keep their jobs/skills/pensions etc so it is "worthwhile".
Children are expensive but I've never heard anyone anywhere ever say they aren't!

Others shouldn't fund your pension and your healthcare then?

Pensions and healthcare are nothing like choosing to have X number of children.

Anyway, it's not an argument worth having. I'm not going to change my mind and neither are those who believe their childcare should be funded by others.

One thing to think about is where the money will come from, given all the cuts from essential services like the NHS and education...

8've just been viewing nurseries this week for my baby to start in May when 7 months. In London. Shockingly expensive. The three I've seen so far range from £1280-1800 for a full time place. Childminders are fully booked and not always cheaper. I have to go back to work as have been on six months full pay and would have to pay it back if I don't return. We're going to have to manage but there is no way we can have a second child until this one is at school.

"One thing to think about is where the money will come from, given all the cuts from essential services like the NHS and education."

Get corporations to pay the tax they owe, instead of ferreting it through various loopholes. Ditto various other tax loopholes.

Stop wasting tons of money on various hare-brained schemes (the disastrous NHS IT system, rebranding departments on change of government, hugely costly PFI schemes etc).

I would happily, happily, pay more tax for us to all have better public services. We still underspend on health compared to many other countries.

Princess - I pay £40 per day in the West Midlands, but I know I'm very lucky to do so, especially as the nursery is so good.

I pay well over half of my part-time salary on childcare. If I didn't love my job as much and work so hard to get it, I would be sorely tempted to become a SAHP. I feel very conflicted about it all, tbh.

i live in ni and the cost of childcare is much less than England however so is the salary! My train fare and cc costs for dts is 89.6% of my pay. My OH has to work in Scotland on a self employed basis in order for us to have some sort of 'comfortable' life which means im more or less a single parent during the week it also means if either or both of r dts are unwell I have to take the time off work to look after them (with OH being self amployed he doesnt get paid if he doesnt work and with the cost/ time for his travel it just isnt feasible)
I take my hat off to all the SAHMs and SAHDs out there but during my maternity leave I was climbing the walls so I need to work for my sanity!
I also believe the staff at the nurseries/ cc facilities earn their crust as much as the next working citizen but it really is time that something be changed in order for it to make financial sense for families to work.

soupdragon The high childcare costs are during the first 4 years. After that the wrap around care is much cheaper as less hours and the children are much more self sufficient. The cost would be negligible compared to the benefits.

Part of the reason the NHS is so overstretched is because they don't have enough qualified doctors and nurses. Offering help with childcare costs would probably be more effective at helping reduce that gap as more parents would continue working FT or go to an 80% instead of 40-60% schedule. It has been documented that it is a problem in the NHS that with so many more women being in the profession compared to 20 years ago, many have gone PT which is creating staffing shortages. If a nurse or doctor goes PT solely because of childcare costs I think that is very sad. Give them a fair choice and I think you might be surprised at how many more parents continue to work FT or close to it. The cost of hiring two PT employees is always going to be greater than hiring one employee. This is why so many employers are hesitant to offer PT work.

Well people are paying it so clearly it isn't impossible.

Frankly I think it's about time they stopped pushing babies and toddlers into cheap childcare and supported families more in having a sahp for a short period.Make it easier,support parents returning to work and protect the right to have a short break in order to do a worthwhile and important job.

What other areas should we financially support parents in as the cost of a child isn't just the cost of caring for it but also food,heating and a whole host of other things.

I work in the NHS and all the parents I have talked to, including myself, work part-time because they want to spend time with their children whilst they are young. Some would not work at all for now but can't afford not to. A small sample of course.

I keep reminding myself that yes its a struggle but its a short-term one.... the light will appear at the end of the tunnel before long.

Maybe if more crèche's etc were run as social enterprises - ploughing any profits back into the organisation in terms of training, staff development.

I realise my idea is rather utopian but I can dream .... from reading other posts I have been reminded that the 110k+ figure we have paid over the years is made up of mostly part-time work on my part. So the true figure would be even larger.

I am glad I spent extra time with them in their early years but am now at the stage where I am shouting silently .. what about me?? I don't want to be the errand-runner on my days off - id rather be earning money when they're at school. Now to find the FT job that pays an average salary... good luck to me!!

Redcagoule Are the parents you are talking to through their training. The reason I ask is that my friend and her DH are both going through training to eventually become consultants. Competition for their training positions was very tough and one of them stopping work hasn't been an option because of a 8:1 ratio of applicants to positions. Going PT isn't affordable as the reduced salary wouldn't reduce childcare costs enough.

I am trying to get my friend on here to talk about her set up because I don't think she is unique in any way. She and her DH have an income of GBP20k after paying for childcare while having a household income of GBP100k a year. They would be better off with one staying at home but doing so means one of them would need to look at moving into a different role. I am so lucky that DH earns what he does otherwise I would most probably be a SAHP until the DC are in school and we would be living hand to mouth.

Is anyone familiar with Yvon Chouinard, founder of American company Patagonia. He has written a couple of books called 'Let My People Go Surfing' and 'The Responsible Company'. Patagonia are an outdoor clothing company, who are committed to ethical and responsible clothing and they also have strong policies on social responsibility including childcare in the workplace. Their success is now beginning to influence major American companies and has shown it is possible for business to not only make a profit whilst having these commitments but also benefit from doing so, in terms of the quality of staff they have and in the cost of staff (less hiring needed for starters). Its a really interesting business model.

Both books are interesting reading on the subject.

If you are interested, this is a very good article about Chouinard and his principles.

We really need more companies doing this type of thing in this country as its good for business and doesn't need to be an expense to business to invest in mothers, or indeed fathers.