Nursery fee’s

[Mumma1799]

I’m not due to go back to work till next year but have enquired around some nurseries & childminders ready for when I do.
how on earth do people afford to pay nursery fee’s?! My wages won’t even cover a months fee.
it is absolutely extortionate, even if I drop my hours & only send her part time I will have £300 left. I have a mortgage & bills to pay.
how do people do it? It’s getting me so down, I now understand why so many mums don’t return to work because it’s just not worth it.
I don’t have family or friends who can help out & she won’t be eligible for the free funding until next September.

@KateyCuckoo Yes, I agree about government. The change needs to be for us to campaign for a better childcare system for all! Like in Germany.
The idea that only people of a certain (quite substantial) income can have kids is not a good idea for society.
Also, inflation and the COL crisis wouldn't have happened before the OP decided to fall pregnant.
It's hardly helpful for other to post that she shouldn't have had a child! She can't pop it back in and return it

People have been incredibly harsh on this thread. We don’t cover London but we are a group campaigning against the childcare crisis in NI (we’re on Instagram). Childcare is economic infrastructure- the investment in childcare means more people working, skilled workforce returning to work, more taxes paid, better mental health, helping the NHS crisis as the majority of NHS staff are women - when childcare costs more than your salary it’s women who suffer. It affects our career, our relationships, our pensions. Childcare is a wise investment by governments who want a skilled, economically active society.

Would you consider a childminder? Home from home setting and usually cheaper than the big nurseries. Make sure they accept tax free payments and offer funded placement for when the time comes. You will get 15 funded hours from next September too.
It's shit- it really is.
For the record a do not know one person who researched nurseries before they got pregnant!

Also, lets not forget the issues of a negative growth rate has on the future of a economy

Of course parents care. Parents care because we know that if settings can’t afford to run, then they’ll close. No one has campaigned for an increase in subsidisation without fairly paying the settings. Over 100,000 signed a petition requesting an independent review of childcare costs because it was unaffordable for parents AND unsustainable for settings and the people who work in those settings. This isn’t an us and them problem. Don’t create a Cold War where there isn’t one, especially with your customers.

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/campaign-we-need-an-independent-review-of-the-early-years-sector/

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/586700

It is really expensive in comparison to what a lot of people earn. And the reason why the lower earner ends up giving up work in many cases. We’re not in London, but we coped by using a childminder rather than nursery, me going down to 3 days (I wanted time at home too) and grandparents doing one day. I earned a reasonably good salary too. This worked out well.

Was coming on to say exactly this

And what, so people don't have kids @Youcancallmeirrelevant and then what? What happens in 30 years?
The effect of a negative growth rate is really alarming for an economy. Only rich people having kids is not the answer

Yeah I don't feel supported at all by pregnant then screwed. I know what happened the day the budget was announced back in March. All sweetness and commaradary and then stabbed in the back that very evening.

It was faux support.

For the record a do not know one person who researched nurseries before they got pregnant! totally agree @boymummy19. I just assumed it would be okay because I have a good salary and other people make it work.

Some prefer nurseries over nannies.

I treated having kidas as the same as any big financial commitment. I checked out average nursery costs, checked what we could afford, made sure i was in a job with good mat pay.

Even if people don't look into this before getting pregnant, there is 9 months of pregnancy, most nurseries have 6 month waiting lists. I just can't wrap my head waiting until you are about to go back to work. I knew my return to work working pattern before i had left on mat leave

We're London too with two in childcare, we both work full time and pay avg £2500 per month - we chose a childminder as it was a bit more affordable. We think it's worth it.

Once we've paid all our bills we have nothing left. We rarely socialise and live very simple
Lives for now. When I first went back to work we were down each month after all bills by roughly £450 a month. I had to create a strict expenses spreadsheet and stick to a budget and we mostly break even. I've just started a new job which is more money and a bit more flexible.

It's bloody hard but felt it was important for their social integration and for us to both be paying in to a pension etc.

@user6482959 yes we considered this but we love DD’s nursery, they pay their staff above living wage and you can see the difference in the care. Yes it costs everything but I’m happy to pay if staff are paid properly. We were lucky to find this place, there are plenty of other nurseries charging nearly the same but with awful conditions.

agree @KateyCuckoo that the current “free” model is masking the real problem of underfunding and the government’s plan to extend to under twos will just cause more settings to close.

so what happens in 30 years @Youcancallmeirrelevant when you have an aging population and negative growth rate.
You need to see the bigger picture of how this all interlinks.
Fighting for more affordable and accessible childcare is in everyones best interests!

Thank you. It means a lot to see this

I'd seriously look at going back and taking the hit on childcare to avoid being out of the job market. It's such a small amount of time especially considering the additional funding that is going to come in to play.

My second DD starts school just as that additional funding starts so I will have paid at least £40k in childcare bills that I wouldn't pay if I started my family now. While I support more funding I'm a little bitter about the timing. Especially as there's no funding for wraparound care so I'll then continue paying thousands each year on wraparound care.

At the beginning of this year I saw our total amount spent and it was £19k. That was for about three years, god knows what it is now

Good news is that you can get government help, Google: government child care account

I think they give you £2 for every £8 you pay. The thirty hours free childcare comes in when kids are two years old soon but not sure exactly when. Would have been handy for us, we had to wait until DD was three

We have to work opposite times. Dp works days mon-Fri, I work evenings and weekends. We still have to use childcare a bit but not much. It sucks not having much time together but it’s the only way we worked out we could survive.

Its absolutely hideous isn't it. I'm still not over it and I'm 5 months into my LO being in nursery. I also don't know how others do it because I know I'm on a decent wage.

To be honest he's thriving and I'm so glad but I've only been able to afford 2 days a week. I have two day at home with him but then work in the evenings to make up (I have a work load to a mange) then my mum helps out. I don't know what I would do otherwise.

Tax free from the government helps.

But it isn't forever.

Nursery fees are extortionate in the UK

However, I would urge any woman to return to work and not be financially dependent on a man

You split the fee! It's not your bill to pay

The fees do decrease as child grows older

@PurpleBananaSmoothie unfortunately the ASA is not allowed to rule on government policy (or what people think are government lies).

Myself and a few thousand other people reported the Department of Transport over some dangerous cycling advice they were advertising.

The uproar got the Department of Transport to pull the adverts, after which the ASA sent everyone who complained to them an email explaining they weren't allowed rule on what can be considered government policy.

Why are people always so surprised that they have to pay a lot of money for someone to keep their most precious person alive, nourished, happy and educated?

And what happens when the world is addicted to growth just to fuel an aging populations pension pot?

Off you hop.