Childminder fees

[alwaysthinkingofsleep]

I'm considering options after maternity & whether or not returning to work is "worth it". I understand that it clearly is in terms of remaining employable/pension etc however struggling to offset childcare fees with my salary.

What do people pay their childminder & where are you in the U.K.? TIA!

£35 for a 10 hour day in the midlands.

I pay £5.50 per hour, which includes formula, nappies, food and outings, for an outstanding ofsted rated childminder. I'm in mid Kent.

@Kungfupanda67 THANK YOU for your clear understanding of my position!!

It is family money, my husband earns a significant amount more than I do, is unable to work part time (although he'd love to) & if we did split (🤞) we are married so I would not be left completely high & dry.

My career is one which I could easily return to in the future (I know many many many who have done so) however I have also been considering a change of career as I'm now very disillusioned with my profession.

I find so much on MN to be interesting/amusing however the tendency for some people to wade in with their "LTB", "protect yourself" etc etc to be pretty infuriating! I have asked a basic question as I don't have any friends who are using childminders, so I am really grateful for you all who replied to that with your info. I also appreciate the posts about how unreliable some childminders have been as this is not something I've thought about before.

✌️

My youngest is older so fees have probably gone up a fair bit but I used to pay around £40 a day for a CM including food.

These sorts of threads always get people saying what an impact not working will have on a woman’s career etc.

I dropped to part time and took a demotion and my husband works full time and is climbing the career badder- I count myself as lucky that I’ve got the opportunity to do this and feel sorry for him being the one that has to go to work every day and miss seeing his children grow. We are married, I’m protected financially by that but I’m even if I wasn’t I couldn’t put a price on spending the time with my children so I don’t care that my career has taken a hit.

Not cm but nursery. We pay 265£/ week. This includes food / nappies
If we went for a few days only I believe it was around 50£/ day.

The prices I’ve seen for cm are around 5£/h

This is sw

Why can't you get tax free childcare?

@kidsmakesomuchwashing you aren't entitled to this if you earn over 100k & my husband does.

kidsmakesomuchwashing you aren't entitled to this if you earn over 100k & my husband does

Do you want to return to work which is an important first question? If you do, surely with a DH salary over 100k plus your salary you can afford childcare? Look at the local providers (nurseries and child minders) and see which setting you prefer best?

Tbh when I went back to work after my first was born I had very little left after I paid the CM. I can't remember exactly how much as it's a long time ago but I worked mornings Mon-Fri so got paid for 17 1/2 hours and paid CM for 20 hours (home, work and CM within a 10 min walk).

I enjoyed my job and didn't want to be a SAHM so it wasn't a financial or career decision, although in the end that job did allow me to become a well paid freelancer. I think there would be a big difference if you are talking about a full time job with a long commute, especially if your DH's higher paying job means that the expectation will be that you will deal with any childcare emergencies or take the day off for sickness. That's when you really have to negotiate the whole working thing.

If you're husband earns that much money and you are desperate to return to work, I think it's silly to be thinking whether your salary will cover the fees to be honest. Reason being that you are unlikely working for the money in the first place. If I you want to return for the myriad of other reasons - sense of purpose, self confidence, adult conversation, you're own career decelopment and pension benefits etc etc - then just do it, even if you're breaking even. It's unlikely you need to financially justify working with one of you in 100k.

I'm in central Scotland and fees are £32 per day. From 7.30-5.00 pm

This is a daily rate offered.

For anyone only needing a few hours per day she charges £4 per hour

I provide all food except for one snack where cm provides toast

Your husband earns over one hundred thousand pounds a year and you can’t afford to pay £120 a week for nursery?

If you want to return to work for your own reasons of enjoyment, adult contact, staying in the workplace for later then think about the money in a different way. Childcare is a joint responsibility so think about it in a different way. If your nursery bill is £480 a month so hypothetically you earn just enough to pay this and only this 6k a year, you and DH have a joint income of 106k a year - I presume everything is shared so think about it like you both have / earn 53k each. More than enough for childcare.
No one would even question this if it was you who was the higher earner.
I earn a very high salary and DH earns 1/4 of what I earn and with 2 children in nursery he wouldn't have much left at the end of the month after childcare costs, but everything is joint and no one would ever question DH not giving up work because of childcare finances.
I think you're in a very privileged position if you have a household salary at that level and if you want to return to work you jolly well should. Your salary is not just "to cover childcare".

Your council will have a website for childcare which acts as a database for all childminders and you can find their rates.

I used to pay my childminder £4/hr. I'm a newly registered childminder and will be charging the same. @pipandmum the reason the rate is so low is because you can have multiple children. So if you had 3, 2 year olds then at £4/hr that would be £12/hr and that might be for 10 hours a day so £120 and then you'd pick up 3 children from school at the end of the day so say 3 hours each after school is another £36. A childminder might not be that full but there is scope for it.

Childminders here (rural East Mids) are £4-£5 p/h
Average Day £45, nursery is £55 so slightly cheaper for childminder

@MaverickSnoopy thanks I will look there now! I've never come across it when I've searched online before

@Michellebops thanks for the info