Childcare costs break £6k barrier - a rise of 33% over the course of this parliament

[KateMumsnet]

Hello all

A report by the Family and Childcare Trust has found that the annual cost of a childcare place has, for the first time, broken the £6,000 barrier, averaging £115.45 per week across Britain. This means that childcare costs have risen by an inflation-busting 33% over the course of this parliament, and that, for families on the lowest incomes, it no longer pays to work.

We'd love to know what you think. Are your childcare costs comparable? Have you found that childcare costs outweigh the benefits of working? Do share your thoughts and experiences below.

I pay 159 per week for one 2 year old for 4 eight hour days. That equates to approximately 60% of my take home pay. I am the only earner in my household so we have to rely heavily on tax credits or we wouldn't eat or pay any bills. My rent takes up the other 40%.

Childcare just isn't affordable on a low income, and not everyone can increase their earning power. I live in the highlands, and my childminder fees are average for the area.

DD is now Year 1, so nursery prices have probably gone up in the last couple of years but we were paying £819 per month for a 3 day place. Roughly £65 a day. South Manchester.

So even on a part-time basis, the costs quoted are massively misrepresented. People pay far, far more.

And whilst nursery fees are short-lived, after-school costs are expensive too.

And don't get me started on how much we had to pay when my precious first born turned out to be precious first and second born . The joys of twins do not extend to 2 x nursery fees!!

I work FT and employ a nanny 3 days a week for my 4 DCs, my youngest DD is one year old and goes to nursery for the other 2 days and I also have an au pair as I travel occasionally for work and need extra help. my monthly childcare costs are around 2200 a month @ 26k a year! And I'm not even in the South East. practically all my salary goes to childcare and the only reason i carry on working is because i have a final salary pension, lots of other benefits and i do actually enjoy my job.

I often look wistfully at the other mothers nearby. many of them live close to family and i'm always seeing grandparents doing at least 1 day childcare a week which makes a big difference.

Just wish there was more financial help from the government but dont see that coming anytime soon.

My childcare is £1750 per month or £21k over annum in London. The figure of £6k is a joke. I worked out that the first £30k I earn is childcare. I accept childcare is expensive but figures like £115 per week pass me off. Mine is almost that a day.

Exactly MoreKopparbergthanKrug - we don't get half terms off and summer holidays are 2-3 weeks that we can take. So, my kids go to football camps, summer camps etc. There are other activities around but most of them are for 2hrs. So for example, my son does tennis on the weekend, but tennis camp during half term is 2 hours, from 9-11. errm, that doesn't work even though he loves tennis. So we need to plump for all day activities that he doesn't necessarily like just for childcare.

and before anyone says anything like 'oh, but you can take that week off'... I can't. Because it is during MY term time, and my students need me around too (university somehow has decided not to align themselves with the local county's school holidays. that's another thread altogether!!).

Re lack of childcare for half terms / Christmas - I think that is where people are saying you have to juggle it. My H has to take leave in between Christmas and New Year - his firm shuts down so he couldn't work even if he wanted to. Since we have had children in school, I have never taken any time off at Christmas other than statutory days so we can use our combined annual leave most effectively. Morekoppar why are you having to cover all the half terms and christmas - can't your H cover some of them?

"Only a few years"? Kids aren't considered adult til 18 for most things. That's a long time. Even if you count just til they're 15, that's 15 years out of your working life. About a third/ a quarter.

It isn't good for them to hardly see their parents because they're in wrap around care 8-6 5 days a week either.

(The last wasnot intended as simplistic criticism of those who have to do that btw, but rather of the society / precious bloody economy that makes it necessary.)

We've found somewhere that will be £160 a week full time for our 9mo (including all meals and snacks). So it will be around £8K for the year (Y&H area). Of course that's great value really, but we will be paying to work at the end of the day (DP stopping being a SAHD because we just can't cope on one salary and this will only give us a couple of hundred more a month).

If you people read it you will see It is for 25 hours a week. Not much use if you work ft though and it undoubtedly would be more in London

I think people can read, it would seem the people who wrote the report however cannot add up. £6k is nowhere near a realistic figure for 25hrs, not even for 1 child. And I am nowhere near London .

I am sooo tired of people saying these high costs only apply to London and the south. I am in Scotland and the nurseries in my neighbourhood are around £55 a day, some cost more than this. So over £2k per month for a full time place. I have placed him in a nursery near my work place whic is £46 per day including lunch. It sucks.

gibbering I disagree with you that DCs who are in 8-6 m-f care 'hardly see their parents.'

That wasn't my experience. I worked out that I was spending over 50 hours a week awake one to one time with DC when we had this set up. This increased during holidays etc.

That's a lot of quality time imo.

Acquiring a DP and dc2 had more of an impact on the amount of time I spent with dc1 than when it was just us using ft childcare.

Stop wohm bashing.

£6k seems very cheap! That doesnt seem to be per child either. Here in oxford nursery is about £50-56/day ( depending how nice), childminders about £5-6/hour. For DS, who has been at nursery full time, we pay about £900 ish a month. We worked out childminding for the same hours would not be cheaper and a nanny WAY WAY more expensive.

I pay 48 a day, so for 2.5 days that is pretty much exactly 6k. Cut the a lot of the replies are talking about ft.

I'm a cm in the midlands. For a four day week, 9 hours a day, my parents are paying around £7000 a year. There is no way I am making that much once expenses are taken off, but that's what they are paying. So actually 25 hours a week in my area for a childminder would be less than the £6k they are quoting.

Tobysmum - alot of replies are talking about the quoted hours (25 hours). Yes, it might be a realistic figure for you, but for lots of others - me included (and I am well aware its £6k for 25hrs) its another crap report which is in no way reflective of the costs a significant number of parents have to pay.

Saying that the government should fund more childcare is potentially unfair to SAHPs. We end up paying twice - once (through loss of the SAHP's income) to provide care for our own children and once (through increased taxes - its not like the money is going to fall from the sky) to fund care for other people's. I would love for us to agree as a society that SAHPing is also a legitimate choice which should be open to all parents of young children. The 'young child' phase of life isn't exactly long (say six or seven years for the stereotypical two-kids-a-few-years-apart family). Surely it should be possible to step off the treadmill for that length of time?

toomanymochas is paying for the nhs unfair on healthy people? Is paying for education unfair on people who don't have DCs?

Investing in childcare benefits the whole of society as it increases the long term tax paying potential of mothers who do want to continue working but can't due to short term childcare costs.

Mocha the rising cost of child care makes being a sahp increasingly a financially sensible choice.

If we are talking tax relief you pay nothing.

Reading this lot clearly I have been right royally ripped off. The deal when we had kids was that one of us would take a low paid and low hours job. Unfortunately shortly after the last kids were born, the child carer was diagnosed with cancer, so we had to hire help. With a daytime nanny and childminders, for one period of two months childcare costs were over £1,000 weekly. In 2005 the 'going rate' for a full time live out nanny in west London was £35k. I don't know how people manage without nearby relatives, grandparents, good friends to help out.