Costs of After School Clubs

[ResilienceWanker]

Apologies for the cheeky question, but I'm looking for an idea of the range of costs for after school care across Scotland (particularly Edinburgh, but I'm not picky!).

Our ASC is looking at rates from August and due to a range of things (mostly Covid related, mainly due to less demand from parents who are now WFH, but also increased costs) it's looking that they will have to increase them by up to 13% (depending on demand). Obviously that's not an easy sell to the parents, but I think we have it quite good at the moment, and I get the impression we are charged at the lower end of the spectrum, even with the increase. However, that is based on pretty much no evidence, as most clubs don't seem to publish rates online, which is fair enough! The ASC isn't interested in "competition research" to undercut anyone, or poach any children - the way they are set up means they can't do that anyway, but obviously need to meet costs, so if those increase they will have to increase rates regardless (alongside applying for funding etc which the ASC manager is Shit Hot at).

But really, I'm just interested in whether my gut feeling is right and ours are still quite "cheap" comparatively - which may help soften the blow a bit. And in the spirit of minimal effort research, I thought I'd ask the hive of Scotsnet how much an ASC session costs for your children.

Thanks

Ours is £4.10 per child per hour. It's good provision, but fairly expensive if you've multiple children. You don't say how much yours was and is going up to. I'd be interested to see how it compares across Scotland too.

Ours is £8.50 for any amount of time up until 6pm. £13.50 for a Friday afternoon. Ours is run as a not for profit though.

£11 for 3:15 until 6 here

Thanks both! Sorry forgot to say - we are currently £8 per session, on a similar basis to ladydanburyshat possibly going up to £9. Friday afternoons £12, possibly increasing by £1 or just over too.

We are £13 a session. 3-6 and 3-5.30 on a Friday. Not Edinburgh though.

Ours is £13.40 a session per child (not in Edinburgh) which includes a snack. It used to be 3-6pm but now 3-5.30pm to allow extra cleaning at the end of the day. The early finish may give me a problem when I start commuting again. We used to use an after school babysitter for £10/hour but prefer the ASC.

Ours is £3.50 for breakfast club which is 8am-9am. £9 for afterschool club 3:15 - 6pm. We get a second child discount of 10% and its run by a non for profit.

Neighbouring school is £5 for breakfast club and £14 for afterschool 😱, but that's run by a private business.

Not in Edinburgh but a neighbouring authority with lots of Edinburgh commuters.

Thank you so much all! This is really helpful and I can point out to DH that I Was Right thinking that we were quite cheap I'm surprised how much the costs seem to vary over the country.

I'm in edinburgh and pay around £250 per month.

Have used ASC in Edinburgh, £13-£15 per child was usual for Monday to Thurs, current option charges per hour but still in that range overall.

I'm not surprised costs may go up after all the closures of the last year.

We’re in E. Lothian and think it’s just over £14 for Afterschool club Mon-Thurs, not sure how much for Fri afternoon.

Ours is £13.00 a session which lasts from after school till about 5.45 and includes a snack

Sorry i am in highland

We used to pay £10 a session Monday to Thursday and £15 on a Friday with snack included in Edinburgh.

Monday to thursday 3.20-6 is £10 and Friday 12.40-6 is £15. A year ago the mon-thurs was only £7.50 and friday I think was £12.50.

I pay for a session for my dc that I don't always use, but happy to for the option and because it is reasonably priced. So if the price went up by much I would drop that one of his sessions!
There's a difference I find between the prices of privately run clubs and the ones run in schools. I much prefer the latter, and not just because of the price.

£3.50 an hour, council run but you have to pay for all three hours, It’s in the school so saves costs in hall hire

Edinburgh- £15 for after school club on premises - and private provider using external premises charges the same amount- runs till 6pm.

Breakfast club is £5.

Friday afternoons are more expensive due to the 1/2 day Fridays.

I’m not sure how much ours is per session but I pay £250 a month over 11 months for Monday to Thursday Breakfast club and after school club.

Not Edinburgh but £5.50 for breakfast club and £13 for after school which runs 3-6pm.

Thanks so much once again! DH has started putting these all in a spreadsheet now .

That's quite a hike thecanyon!

I think you're right itsIgginning. Ours is fortunate in that it hasn't had to pay for premises as it has been in the school, which would save a few quid... had they had to pay commercial rates for the community centre they sometimes use it would add a good £2 per child per day on just for that. I agree that if it gets too much, parents will stop using it for "convenience" and only take sessions they absolutely need, which may not be beneficial for the ASC in the long term. We're kind of similar, in that my workload at the moment (at home) is so low I could do it in school hours, but we kept the space for DS just so he can socialise, really - and I have the flexibility to arrange meetings or whatnot a bit later in the afternoon which is often more convenient for others. Also to support them, as we knew they were low on numbers and the ratios weren't working very well for the 3 days he usually attends. Definitely didn't want them to go kaput as they are great - and hopefully we will need them again "properly" when work picks up.

It's been a bit of a nightmare for so many with the school closures and not knowing what plans are for them when reopening. Ours was just able to furlough staff and didn't have many other expenses other than insurances etc - but if private companies had to keep paying for premises and so on that could scupper even healthy bank accounts really quickly...

I asked dc what his favourite part of his clubs (before and after) were - the reply is "toast". They make better toast than me.
So, charge what you like, but serve toast!

That's funny because my dc hate the snacks at after school club, it's things like soup, noodles, spaghetti soups and there's fruit but it's always bashed and a bit passed its best. They'd be very happy with toast.

Just popped onto say that although ours is fairly cheap they have a very long waiting list, with about 3 year wait for most days, so you need to be on the list long before they start school to get a place. Siblings coming up get priority too so eldest/only-child p1 places are unlikely. I don't know if covid and more people wfh will have brought the waiting list down at all. I know we're going to drop a day and just juggle/manage it between us to try to save some money.

toast That's the kind of thing DS says. "What was your favourite bit of the very expensive Italian holiday? " "when we went to that shop and bought crisps"...

We had to fight with the waiting list in P1 a bit, and mixed it up with his childminder... but once you're in you seem to get priority for following years which helped.

I won't have to use it but I had a look out of interest.

£13 for after school
£5 breakfast club
£20 annual registration fee per family