Nursery costs in London, any tips?

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Hi there, I'm currently pregnant with our first child and I've looked into childcare costs in Bow, London where we live and have been shocked at the prices coming back - e.g. this morning - £1580 per month (plus an 18 month waiting list so we'd have to apply now). This is not far off our mortgage. My husband and I are on reasonable, professional salaries - or so I thought - but this cost is enormous.

We normally have about £1000 left over each month after bills/living costs etc which we'd normally put towards holidays etc but we bought our first flat in late 2018 and every penny over the past 1.5 years has gone into costs associated with this as it was a neglected ex-council flat in Bow (East London) so we have no savings and there are still house-related things we'd need to do or pay for before the baby is due. Also, we'd need to somehow need to save an extra £580 from our normal living expenses just to pay for nursery. We already don't have a car, rarely eat etc so I'm not sure where this money will come from.

We have no grandparents who could support with childcare. Are there any better options out there? I feel like we're taking on the impossible trying to have a child in London. We considered moving out back in 2018 when we bought our flat but we're not from the UK originally and if we left London we'd have zero friends or support network. Also, there are few jobs in our fields outside of London. I'm also now 40 (it took almost 20 years to get on the property ladder with current house prices) so it's not like we can put it off until we're earning higher salaries.

Any help appreciated, we don't know anyone with children in London.

Thanks!

Hmm, I do wonder if they'd ask for proof of paid childcare on Fridays... my work involves a lot of interaction too - calls, meetings, emails - so it would show if I didn't respond quickly without an explanatory meeting in my calendar. Probably easier in some jobs.

The scary thing is if we're living hand to mouth as such, what happens with unexpected large expenses like the boiler breaking?

Sounds like it might be a good idea to go back to work at 9 months also.

I'm sure this is a silly question but what's a children's centre?

Childminders work to the same standards and regulated by the same body as nurseries, take the tax free childcare like nurseries saving you another 20% but often cheaper and often only bill you for the hours you would need in a day ie 8 to 5 rather than a full day.
Look at a variety and consider going slightly off your route or area as sometimes costs vary greatly in a mile.

A children’s centre provides playgroups, weighing clinics, advice for parents.

Google for children’s centres in bow.

Nurseries attaches to children’s centres or schools are not run for profit so are usually cheaper.

Our DC's nursery is in a children's centre (SE London). It's a lovely nursery and is also the cheapest in the area. They are being closed down at an alarming rate though as they can't afford to run due to government cuts - it's one of the only ones left that I know of.

You do still need childcare if you are working from home. You won't get much done.

Part time was financially more viable for us. I work 3 days and dp works 4 shifts (varying hours). Also work life balance is far better, working full time with small children is tough going. We also saved like mad before mat leave to cushion the financial blow.

You will also spend less money on eating out socialising, clothes etc, when you have a baby.

You will get a tax free childcare and once they're 3 you get 30 hours, so it's worth the financial hit / debt in the short term to stay in the labour market.

I spoke to our local children's centre in Bow. Apparently they don't have a nursery and won't recommend one (it's their policy) but they did say that £1500-1600 sounds about right.

Those costs are insane! We pay less than that for 2 in full time nursery. I’d consider moving out of London if you can get jobs elsewhere.

Can't get jobs elsewhere very easily and we just bought our first flat October 2018 and have no savings as a result of ongoing costs from that so there's no way we could afford to move I'm afraid.

there's no way we could afford to move I'm afraid.

It doesn’t sound like you can afford childcare either, though!

Did you look at nursery prices before trying for a baby?

Op you haven’t answered about if you’re eligible for tax free childcare. What will put a small dent in your bill if you’re eligible

@Redlocks28

I understood it was expensive but I didn't expect that 2 people on a combined £100K income would struggle paying for childcare for a single child.

Obviously we will have to make it work, it's just surprising how ridiculously expensive it is and so I'm wondering how other people do it as everyone in London doesn't work in investment banking.

We also looked at house prices in our home country but the are higher and interest rates double what we pay here so London was actually our most affordable option.

@Crabonastick

I think we are eligible which will save us £2K per year by the looks! Every little helps :)

It isn't unusual for one person to work days and one evenings and weekends if childcare isn't affordable.
Our nursery fees were a lot more than my mortgage. Working half time they took up my whole salary.

@ MidwestSpring

Both can only work business hours in our fields unfortunately.

It is crazy how much it costs, it must have been subsidised back in the day as my parents were a scientist and teacher and they had 3!

Mind you they bought property (a detached house!) in their early twenties on a single wage, where I spent 20 years renting followed by buying an ex-council flat in my late 30's for over 12 times my annual salary. Also our student debts are still huge.

But in your parents day it still took 2 wages to get a mortgage and didn't leave much after paying it....the houses were cheaper but so was income....then you only got maternity pay for 6 weeks at 90 % and 6 weeks at £30 returning to work at 3 months unless you could afford 12 weeks on nothing....children for no free childcare and d8dnt start school until they were 5 full time before that if they went to school nursery you still paid full time childcare to take and collect. You had no subsidy of tax free childcare either. What you didn't have were holidays, hair cuts, nights out, new clothes, internet, streamed tv, take aways, mobile phones, nails, etc.

There's always one isn't there @jannier 😂
Do you live in London where the average house price is 600k? Where you'd need to save a deposit of around 100k whilst also forking our 50% of your wage in rent? No amount of not getting haircuts or not getting a takeaway once a week will help.

Firstly - definitely look at childminder’s and if you can get some flexibility on work hours to make it a bit easier - even some earlier starts or later finishes opposite to DH so you can save a bit of childcare hours either side?

Also - what are your costs? Is there no way you can make space in the budget? Your mortgage must be huge if you’re worried on a combined £100k (no judgement, I’m London too though a bit further out and I know it’s nuts)

Do bear in mind you’ll get some discount from tax free childcare if you sign up, and it’s only for a couple of years until the funded hours kick in which is a big help.

@jannier actually my parents did easily buy a property on a single income and my mother was a stay at home mother until we were in school. Their suburban house cost 3-4 an average salary, whereas my London council flat costs 12 times. Also, when you pay exorbitant rent, you can barely save anything so not only are £100K deposits required but it takes 20 years to save that amount while spending a large portion of your money in rent. Also, with house prices doubling every 7-10 years, the my go up faster than you can save.

There are some differences - they didn't fly much as there weren't budget airlines but they ran two cars whereas my husband and I have never owned a car and cycle to work. Streaming TV is less than £10 a month! Even a TV license costs more. Haircuts likewise you can get for £10. Takeaway where I live is actually cheaper than good quality fresh food but we don't eat that junk anyway. But yes, let's say I went without £10 a month for Netflix (it's actually less than that), with the money saved I could have a deposit in only 833 years!

perhaps look at nurseries further away? Would it be better for you to go back part-time?

@BuffaloCauliflower we will have to do a detailed budget. Definitely the most cost-effective thing would be compressed hours as that would reduce our childcare bill to a manageable £1000 which we'd pay for by no longer taking holidays.

Hard to accurately assess budget as we've had so many one off costs recently with buying our flat. I'm assuming we could buy cheaper groceries and I guess we won't be able to go out at night although we don't spend much on entertainment as it is.

The mortgage and student debts are the killer really as that's over half our income before any other bills.

@thaimelon....
My reply was to the op who said it must have been easier for her parents....
Yes I do live in London most people have to move out because they dont earn the salary to get a mortgage on even a studio flat..but it dosent mean it was easier 20 plus years ago once you got the property.....I wonder how many not only consider other costs like childcare but also the interest rates are very low at the moment unlike the ones I the 70s and 90s where mortgages were going up every month ...at the end of 79 it was 17% it's less than 1 now....so you may have taken a mortgage you could afford in 75 and had to hand back the keys by 1980 with many putting off having children. Mortgages are never easy

Is it worth you going to work ? Could you stay home until you get some free hours ?

I hear you, it’s so hard. I’m so glad my DH has done well without a degree as we’re saved his student loan payment on his much higher than mine salary. I’d sit down and make the spreadsheet - it’s scary but helps to get a feeling of control (for me anyway!) look back and forward, play around with the numbers and see what you can get to.

You might well be able to get close to £1000 with a childminder and the tax free childcare contrition though (I’ve just been crunching these numbers myself in south west London, and I have childminder friends who’ve verified prices) I’m looking at dropping down to 3 days because the additional days pay would pretty much translate to the exact cost of childcare right now so I’d rather be at home, but I know that won’t work for lots of people. I’m lucky I can do this (also in a charity)

@3rdNamechange if half their joint £100k income is going on just the mortgage and student loans, not working at all seems a pretty unrealistic suggestion don’t you think?

We are in a similar situation and have a ten month old. I’ll go back to work when he’s 1 and work 80% over 7 days, and my husband already does a a 9 day fortnight, meaning we only need 3 days childcare. We are using a childminder, at £60 a day. Taking tax free childcare into account our childcare will be around £600 a month. Nurseries were similar costs to the ones you’ve quoted.