After school club - to think this is expensive?

[bigblockofcheeseday]

Our local after school club provider has just put up their fees. I know things are going up but wow!

New fees:

£14.50 per child (3.15-5 with light meal)
Or
£17.50 per child (3.15-6 with light meal)

For reference holiday camp 830-4 is £30 per child which I think is a bargain.

Mine go to French Club £8 for the hour straight after school

Oh wow, I'm in the south east and our primary school charges £1 for 3.15-4pm and £2 for 3.15-5pm. Breakfast club is from 7.30am and free

How much would you pay a babysitter for that time ?

Our school is £10.85 for 3pm-6pm and that includes a snack. Breakfast club 8am-9am is £2 which includes breakfast. Holiday club is £26.10 from 8am-6pm which includes 2 snacks and brong your own lunch. We are in Scotland and this is council provided wraparound at the school. I think it's great value!

I'm assuming the staff don't get paid for their time on such tiny costs?

£17.50 3-6. I think the price is more than fair. Holiday camps aren’t a good comparison. It’s really easy to staff them with students returning for the major holidays. It’s a different beast finding reliable staffing for 3 hours a day in the afternoon. The holiday clubs near me vary from £28 to £70 depending on hours and type of provision. The upper end is generally 8-6 in a private school with air con and swimming. Some of the lower end ones are crap but the lowest is majorly subsidised and really good but only 9-3.

Ours has just gone up to £8.10ph, with only fruit available.

DS is in Year 3 and the price has increased by 45% since he started reception - no wonder people are feeling the squeeze financially 😔

I am £15 for a light snack. I can often be there for 3.25pm too so really I am £15 for 25 mins. It is what it is.

That's ridiculously cheap, and surely means the staff aren't being paid any additional money for running the club.

I actually disagree with charging such a tiny amount, as I feel the low costs really undervalue the effort and time given by the staff.

Well you'd obviously pay more for 1:1 care.

Legal staffing minimums for ASC are 1:30!

Thanks all. What I am hearing is it is normal to expensive. We have 2 children so will keep collecting at 3 for now!
Some incredibly cheap rates on here too!

Don't think this is comparable as a babysitter would be looking after just my children, not another 50!

I'm in the south west and we pay £12.50 for 3.15 - 5.45, that includes a cold snack.

That's really cheap!
DS school £23
dd school £20

State school (but London/Surrey border so fairly wealthy) provided externally so school staff have nothing to do with it.

It finishes 6.15

So our schools after-school club is £6 per day.... However we use clubs which are £1 a session for one hour, or £1.60 for cooking (1.5hrs and ingredients included). But it's a deprived area and they use a mix of pta funding and free school meal money to run them (personally they are too cheap...). Clubs are available 4/5 days a week ...

Ours is £18 for after school, £34 for holiday club 8.30am-5.30pm. Prices sound like the going rate.

That's actually really cheap. You have professional trained staff who deserve a decent wage. 22 years ago I was paying 7 pound per day per child

I'm astounded how many families are being subsidised so heavily.
I'm also wondering who is picking up the actual costs.

Reading these, I'm even more grateful for ours than I already was. Ours is £3.50 from 3.30-4.30 or £7 from 3.30 - 5.45 which includes tea. Breakfast club is £3 from 8am

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose…

Poor staff, not being paid for their time.

Every day?

Are they being subsidised though?

Ours is one of the cheapest on the thread at £7 for 2.5 hours. Run by the school, on their own premesis. 2 TAs. 45 kids ish.

7x45=315
2.5 hours, that's £126 per hr.
2 members of staff £63 each per hour.

That's more than enough to cover 2 x staff wages and pay for some toast for each child.

As somebody who works in a school breakfast club that's slightly more expensive than the one I work at. The cost will be to cover activities for the children, the cost of food, paying staff who are more than likely on minimum wage. They made need an extra staff member due to some children who attend club, who needs extra care and have had to put the cost up.

120 euros a month for me, which works out to about 5 or 6 euros per session, which can be up to 5 hours long (12-17) - so about a euro per hour! Obviously heavily subsidised but one of those things that ought to be subsidised so that parents can work rather than one parent (usually mum) having to give up their job, independent income, security for the future in case of relationship breakdown, because its not worth it due to childcare costs (or afterschool care isn't even available or reliable enough)