NO MORE EXTORTIONATE NURSERY FEES!!!!!!!

[Taketurn]

Any one else paid their last nursery fee last month?? I am so happy, I could cry!!!!

We're RICH now 😂😂😂

Already sorted out our hours at work so that we don't have to worry about wrap around childcare. Ahhhh, there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel.

For those of you who are still in bondage, I wish you GOD-SPEED. You too shall see the light very soon 😃

@Taketurn to all those saying it’s harder when they get to school - I have one now at school as well so can see from both sides. Logistically it’s potentially harder depending on your work set up, but financially it’s still much much better! Costs for after school club are a fraction of nursery fees…for me about £100 pm vs £900 pm. So yes you can look forward to it and wallow in your new found riches 😂😂🥳

The 15 hours for 2 year olds comes in from April. It’s term time only, so you’d still have to pay full fees for school holidays. I’ve not heard if there’ll be a stretched funding option like there is for the 30 hours for 3 year olds - maybe they’ll do stretched funding at 10hours a week?

It will make a bit of difference, but not as dramatic as the 3 year funding will.

In terms of finances after bills/food etc we have had £400 for fun/clothes/activties/additonal travel/inevitable topping up the food shop left over when we worked full time with nursery fees. We have ended up going into quite a bit of debt and certainly are not alone - plenty of peers have admitted the same.

Our nursery fees are £1615 a month, less the £146 child tax discount.
From next month they drop to £800 less the £146 discount. A huge drop.

I've had a year of no nursery fees, it's been a dream! Yes school is totally different and school holidays are a pain in the ass but we've made it work and manage to spend more time with DS now. Also, I much prefer the equivalent of my monthly rent to be sat in my bank account!

Depends on the government that gets in power after the general election. The latest it can be held is apparently 23 January 2025.

Even if it happens providers will have to put up the price of "extras", or go out of business, or do what my DD's nursery does which is not take children under 2 then state a minimum number of days you have to attend.

Personally, it was really hard at first and childcare accounted for a good chunk of my wages. Although DH and I pool finances so there’s no “my wages” and “his wages”. There have been tough times and months when we’re on the bones of our arse.

However, since going back from maternity leave the first time in 2019, my career has gone from strength to strength and I currently earn £14k more than I did in 2019. So for me, the short term financial loss and suffering was completely worth it in the long term!

Ours was £907PM and that's after the bloody funded hours!!!! There was still another consumable fee on top of that 🙄
Lucky for us we wont need wrap around but off course still need to account for school hols which wouldn't come near to what we were paying for nursery I don't think.

I'm pretty sure my niece , August born, didn't get her free hours until January, as her preschool/ nursery, as ours did, considered children born during holidays to be born during the following term, ie in her case autumn term. I was so glad mine were born December before the holidays started!

Oh and I paid my last childcare bills a few weeks back. 😂

I will now save over mortgage costs in childcare fees, even with paying for wrap around care and holiday clubs.

Impair my last childcare bill 14 months ago, when my youngest child left primary school. Amazing!!

We've since paid off the mortgage - that feeling of joy last 4 days until dh was made redundant. Hey well.

There is definitely light and hope!

Oh!! I’m with ya although my child still isn’t two I’m waiting for January to kick in to get 15 free hours.. then the following for 30 free hours and then September 2025 for school 😂 I’m in no way rushing my child’s life but to not have to pay hundreds will be amazing!! It’s not all doom and gloom. You will enjoy your child 98% of the time so don’t listen to the negative nancys.

For us it wasn't so much the cost of the wrap around care required for school, it was the availability.

First primary had none. Had to pay for a taxi to get DS1 to somewhere that did. So we moved. Second primary had after school but only a space on a Thursday - 400 in the second, after school place for 30. Went through an appeal to get a place at a different school which had after school but no breakfast club (not enough kids needing it to make it financially viable). School gates opened 8:50. Never made it to my desk 15 miles away before 9:30..

OP I am simultaneously very happy for you and so sick with envy that I could cry. 2 years and counting.

In school holidays he goes to the local leisure centre sports clubs which he loves and costs us £12 a day.

This isn't typical of school holiday costs though. Mine are teens now but when I stopped using school holiday clubs in 2021, the cheapest was £20/day and that was 9-3.

Crying as mine has only been in nursery 4 months, to the tune of £1500 a month, and won't get 30 hours funding til September 2025. And he only goes 4 days a week. I've not been so skint since I was a student.

Not sure we can afford another baby with the cost of nursery round here.

So happy for you! We’ve got 12 more months to go before the last kiddo starts school. Got my happy dance prepared and waiting!

School is a breeze - ignore anyone that tells u otherwise….

Mine refused to go to the £25/day one that's the cheapest near us, after trying it a few times and having a terrible time every attempt, it was so crowded and uncontrolled with the bigger and more confident kids being able to rule the roost and very little adult support beyong ensuring noone actually ran away. But nowhere for a quiet unsporty kid to opt out of the maelstrom.

There were various others we tried which were all a difficult commute away. Eventually found a local private school ran a much better resourced and structured holiday club with lots of small rooms, different activities and daily swimming - lovely but was £45 per day so nearly as much as nursery! (Never used it for the whole holiday)

Yep us! Now 2 years of being rich before our fixed rate ends and we end up paying what we're not spending on nursery into the mortgage..

I’ve already looked at wrap around care which we won’t need for another 4 years 😂
but yes it so so much cheaper! Currently £10 per session which covers 3-6pm

All the wrap around child care options are cheaper than nursery around me.

Yes!!
finally we have finished all nursery fees after 7 years - woohoo!!

and for what it’s worth, school
isn't always harder! DD is going into Y4 and we’ve had no issues.

nursery £69 per day…. After school club £7.50 per day. DD absolutely loves it and DS is really excited to go there too.

we have a great holiday club which DD attends and they’ll be having DS too. £15 per day.

overall, it’s a huge saving for us! I cannot wait for August pay day!!

Hey! Delighted for you, NI parents find us on Instagram at @meltedparentsni to join us in the fight to recognise childcare as infrastructure in NI & lobby the govt!

ah @Taketurn Me too - just! We had 1 week to pay for September (and DS is there FT so £250 a week) and then starts at FT School nursery.

We are going from paying £250 a week, every week, since he was 9 months old, to £8 a day (so £40 a week) to the CM who already picks up DS1. We've already booked a very posh holiday for May next year hah.

Ds1 is going into year 3 so we do need to start paying for school dinners this year - even so it's a massive saving.
And truly, we've found a CM who is worth her weight in gold so no wraparound to worry about as such - she charges £10 a day from 3:20-6pm. I do morning drop off, and she collects. School holidays are a mix of holiday clubs at £30 a day (we're still going to top up the tax free childcare account with £100 a month to cover these) and shared annual leave (we only take 1 week off in summer and a week off together at xmas the rest is taken in turns) even the commute, nursery was a 3 mile drive away - school is a 5 min walk so we wont have to rush out of the house as early either.

@reabies the absolute reason there's a 4 year age gap between our 2.

Sadly though I do feel like I've wished the last 3 years away too quickly.