Nursery fees up 20%

[chopette5]

Our nursery has put up fees 20%, citing rising costs and staff shortages. Is this reasonable? It's a huge increase for us in absolute terms (around £300 a month) and I don't know whether to try to fight it.

It's all extremely depressing.

This isn't a self employed childminder I'm talking about. It's a big chain of nurseries.

I get people saying they aren't a charity but equally our childcare costs are the highest in the world. Where are we meant to find the money? More and more women forced out of the workplace isn't something to just be shrugged at.

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02328679/filing-history here are the latest accounts for Bright Horizons, a large chain of nurseries. They're making a loss.

I think it's what the parents pay that is the highest. Not the cost. It would be interesting to look at the actual COST of providing a place in OECD countries, and how much of that the government pays. Also to compare the NMW in each of the countries. I think we will find that the UK has one of the lowest percentages of GDP spent on early years, and that this is why parents end up bearing the cost.

Where we are the local nurseries, childminders and school wraparound clubs have all increased their prices recently all citing additional costs they are facing.
They're all in the same situation as everyone else I guess and there isn't much we can do about it really.

My childminder has gone up but we need her at the moment and so we have no choice but to pay it.

The issue with 'we have no choice but to pay it' is that it applies to the council tax bill, the mortgage, the food shop, the heating bill.

It’s not about being sympathetic, it’s about being honest.
Just because you don’t like the replies doesn’t make them wrong - not everything in life needs to be sugarcoated, and while it’s a poor situation you can choose to carry on or move them to another nursery.

It’s not like they’re forcing you to stay at gunpoint.

There is very little choice though. So many nurseries are shutting down or have extremely long waiting lists. This is not a situation that we should just put up and shut up with, it's untenable. Childcare should not be for the rich only

Our nursery put the daily rate up by £10. We’d have been able to just about manage it by cutting the cloth elsewhere (if there is anywhere left to cut!) if it was just the one kid but I’ve two in nursery at the moment - definitely not planned that way!

luckily one of our relatives is able to take them for half a day so we’ve dropped them both done to 2.5 days to keep the fees at 2022 levels.

I don’t want to wish her life away but I’m looking forward to DD going to primary school in September. Current plan is to probably get DS back up to full 3 days and then when he is 3 in 2024 put him in school nursery since we will already be tied into school holidays and doing the school run with DD anyway.

Deathbyfluffy - you can be sympathetic and 'honest' at the same time, as many posters have managed. 'Shut up and suck it up or leave' is not a helpful response. Can you imagine saying that to a friend? I'd never speak to anyone like that.

Oh dear, £300 extra is an awful bill to be landed with. Don't know how anyone can blame you for being upset. Did they give you much notice? These are difficult times..

4 weeks notice. It's not much.

I'm just glad my older one is no longer at nursery. £600 would've been unmanageable. I really feel for families in that situation.

It's dreadful and, what's worrying, is its understandable from both angles and the long term affect will be catastrophic in terms of the economy. That's why the Government need to address the situation.

As well as social care!

They need to stop talking about Maths (I'm a Chartered Accountant and didn't study Maths after 16) and get on with the hard decisions before it becomes chaos out there.

Hmmmm. Honestly - children are our most important and precious responsibilities. I already cringe at how happily we put them into huge reception classes and now think that's OK. It isn't. Other countries don't sent kids to school until they're 7. At France they go at 3 and from experience it is just awful. Societal understanding of child development is letting out children down. They're not chattels, something to be 'dealt' with like the rest of our bills. They're whole, human beings.

@righrightsforunderfives I'm not sure what your reply is meant to mean? Is it a shaming of parents who use childcare? I don't understand. Of course they are different things but ultimately it's another bill coming out of my wages..

Definitely not shaming!!!! I own a nursery so that absolutely is not what it's about. My staff (and me) are all qualified to graduate or masters level, so when the government and parents all want 'affordable childcare' it's a totally horrible denigration of what we do. The term childcare is one of the reasons no one wants to go into EY teaching any more. How many bright and intelligent people do you know who would choose 'childcare' as a career. And it is bright and intelligent people that we need. The return on investment for governments is HUGE if EY education is done properly. But it it's reduced to 'affordable childcare' it doesn't stack up. I always look at this from the point of view of the child. What is best for them? They seem to be lost in this whole conversation.

Childcare should be affordable to parents because it should be adequately funded through the tax system. I absolutely agree that staff should be paid much more to attract top talent. I also want money for resources so the children can play and learn and go on trips and eat good food. Thank you for clarifying your response, I hope I have clarified my position!

You have - although spare a thought for staff. Most top talent in EY really can't bear the term 'childcare'! Should all be before tax, I agree.

Same here, they increase fees every year but this has been a bigger hike. Thank goodness this is our last year of nursery fees. After school care is the same but it’s less hours.

I’m a childminder and I haven’t put my fees up in a while, when I recently took on a new child the parent told me that they had visited another childminder in the area who charged £27 a day more than me 😳 I’m not in the buisness to bankrupt parents and it doesn’t feel right charging close to £100 per day. However, I barely make any money and rely on my husbands wage to cover family costs. When I take on children who have the 15 & 30 subsidised hours, I actually make a loss. It’s a balancing act, and ultimately the Tory party doesn’t care to find a long term solution because they all have nannies!

20% is ridiculous

Bloody hell. I'm glad mine are grown!
I remember it was £26 per day and I thought that was expensive. To be honest wages haven't increased much since I was paying these rates 20 years ago so I have no idea how people are doing it
💐😭

Exactly. I have no skin in the game but I do think we need state subsidized childcare ( beyond the sleight of hand '30 hours free')

If the government were really interested in "gwoth, gwoth, gwoth" they'd start here.

I couldn't agree more, I'm quietly hopeful the drive for economic growth logically comes round to affordable, subsidised childcare. I won't hold my breath though.

Hey - I know how you feel,please be assured that your feelings of shock and concern are completely valid.It is not unreasonable that you’re questioning this :).
I recently posted something very similar,and got a lot of really helpful comments.Sadly,just like your thread,there were a number of hostile/condescending/judgemental comments (I’ve stopped checking mine because the need to defend my situation and my feelings to strangers is more stress I don’t need - I actually wish there was an option to delete!) I’m quite shocked by the lack of empathy shown by some people.It’s fine to disagree but I would have expected a little more kindness when doing so.
Please keep your chin up.Yes,there are varying factors that are causing challenges for the childcare sector at the moment,but it doesn’t mean that you’re not allowed to share your concerns about how you’re being affected :)