Nursery/ childcare

[janbro01]

Hi
I am looking for advice please. I am
Pregnant and due in May and will have to return to work after 9 months. My husband is a teacher and gets 4 months off a year. Do you have to pay for a full year in childcare / nursery? The nursery nearby said you need to pay 52 weeks a year even if your baby is not in the nursery for 4 months of the year. Is this the norm and the same with childcare? Thanks for your help. I live in Greenwich, London

Yes, you generally have to pay year round for nurseries.

Some childminders will offer term time only though

It depends on the nursery. At the one we use you pay for the 50 weeks a year that it's open. At the one next door you can pay a retainer during school holidays, so all my teacher friends use that one. I think it's about 50% of the usual weekly fee (although you can take your child in for 50% of the sessions if you want).

Some nurseries will offer termtime contracts especially once early years funding kicks in. You may have to pay a retainer for holidays though to keep the place. Teachers occasionally need to work extra days during holidays anyway, plus presumably you'd plan to go away yourselves during that time.

My nursery is super flexible, quite a few of our children are TTO. Just means we're really quiet during school holidays.

The short answer is every setting is different but there are options for term time only care, work out what you can afford and look around at all the different options annualise the costs and see what is right for your family.
Many cm's will do term time only and then even out you bill so you pay only for term time but over the whole year so less each month, even payments every month, simpler tax credits or voucher payments. Most teachers find this a good option as they get paid over 52 weeks too.

I pay a slightly higher daily rate to my nursery for a term time only place. Results in saving about £1000 a year!

It is more usual for nurseries to charge for the 50 weeks a year that they are open, regardless of how many hours you use.
However options are out there, just depends what's near to you.

I worked in a big school that had it's own nursery, it primarily served school staff as it was closed for 10 weeks a year which is no good to most working parents, it also only opened 8-5 which again is no good for most working parents.

See if your husband can find what childcare any of his colleagues use. Failling that you'll just have to ask each nursery individually whether they offer any term time only arrangements or retainers in holdiays.

Generally have to pay year round for nurseries.
Check the website www.kidzrusnursery.co.uk/media-city-day-nursery/

I am a childminder who does term time contracts and doesn't charge more as it suits me less children when my DS is off school. It is worth asking around.

Hi Ladies, Great I found this thread. I'm in a similar position to OP, and also in the borough of greenwich. At what point should someone start looking for nurseries/child minders and applying for them? Some seem to take only a small amount of kids which sounds great, but surely must be hard to be accepted? It's all quite confusing.