Tell us what you think about childcare costs?

[KateMumsnet]

Save the Children and Daycare Trust are launching a huge consultation of parents across Britain, focusing on the challenges of finding affordable childcare in this country.

According to the latest OECD research, British childcare costs are amongst the highest in the world - only Switzerland and the US outrank us. It costs an average of £177 per week for a full time nursery position for a child under two in Britain - 28% of the average net-income for a two-earner household, and more than double the OECD average of 13%.

The two charities want to find out what impact, if any, the rising cost of childcare is having on families - they're particularly concerned that less wealthy families might find themselves priced out of work.

So, whether it be cutting back on household essentials, or finding it harder to find or keep a job, please do share your experiences with childcare costs here, and we'll pass them on to Save The Children and Daycare Trust. You can also take their online survey here.

[thaigreencurry]

I was priced out of thw workplace. After paying for nursery fees (1 child) and petrol I would have been left with less than £50 per month. That is a few years ago, looking at todays petrol prices I would have been paying to work!

Currently self employed and was trying to work without paying for chidcare which as you can imagine is almost near impossible. I have found a great childminder but I am not sure how I am going to pay her as I'm not really earning anything at the moment. Unless I can earn enough to cover the CB that we will be losing in 2013 I might as well accept that my working days are over as I don't have any way of paying for childcare once we lose the CB.

[lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs]

rick, did you know its illegal for nurseries to charge a "top up fee" on the 15 hours. So if they are accepting children for 15 hours free care, they have to take off 15 hours free care no matter what cost??!! They can care for more care of course, but not on those 15 hours. New rules that came into place April 2011!

[PrincessScrumpy]

We planned dc2 so that dd1 would be at primary school when my maternity leave ended and we could afford for the baby to be in childcare and I'd return to my 30-hour a week job. However, I am pregnant with twins. We are delighted but terrified about the financial implications - I work and get paid for term time only, Childcare will cost about £1500 a month - £600 more than I earn. Looks like I'll be a SAHM but can't really afford it. We will probably use all our savings to survive until they are 3 and we get 15hours a week. We never wanted to be poor and have always worked but feel helpless.

[trixymalixy]

Starkadder, people are living longer, the UK population is becoming top heavy with older people, so we do need more babies to become future tax payers to support the ageing population.

[duende]

We pay nearly £500 per month for 3 days per week for DS, 21 months old. We may not have another child because we can't afford childcare for 2 and by the time DS is at school, DP will be too old to want to have another.
We can't afford for me not to work either. It does make me sad and frustrated.

[Beveridge]

Just had DS, had DD 2 years ago. Planning to go back to work 3 days a week in February next year but that will cost roughly a grand. As I have to commute to my job, once you take the cost of fuel into it along with the upkeep of my car, it becomes apparent that I will really only be working to keep my (part-time) job.

Can't decide if it's a blessing or a curse that I love my job. If I hated it, it would probably be a SAHM and not be working for nothing.

[trixymalixy]

We can afford the childcare, we have offered my parents money for looking after the kids but they won't take it. My Mum says it is her pleasure to look after them, just as my grandparents looked after my sister and I. That's what being a family is about.

As they won't take any money we instead pay for them to go on holiday and for shopping, meals out etc when they'll let us!!

[MissMarjoribanks]

I work 4 days a week and earn just over £30k (£38k FTE, so not a bad wage). At the moment, with just one child, childcare costs aren't a particular issue, although we don't have the disposable income we had pre-children and have made adjustments to our lifestyle accordingly. We hope however to have a second child in the next 12 - 18 months and that is when the balance between my income from working / outgoing on childcare costs will be more finely balanced. We may be slightly better off with me staying at home when childcare costs are multiplied by two. This will depend on whether we qualify for any free provision and also whether the short term financial loss is outweighed by the fact I will still be earning when our oldest child goes to school. It seems astonishing that my pretty decent wage could be swallowed up entirely by childcare.

I am also concerned about wrap around care when my child(ren) reach school age. My boss envisages me going back full time at this point, but I can really see the opposite being the case, that I have to reduce my hours in order to fit in with the school day.

[trixymalixy]

Oops wrong thread!

[Bohica]

I am paying to work but with a view that it is our childcare years.
2 dd's in school & 1 DD in preschool 5 mornings a week.

4 days a week with a chilminder @ £300 a month (very good rate bacause she is new to the buisness)

Petrol £200 a month

The school holidays are a mine field of childcare & can cost upto £40 extra a day to find childcare for my elder 2 (DD3 will stay with the childminder)

I had a career break, 3 years so have had to start all over agian as my CV looks like a 12 yr olds.

It is disheartening but I wouldn't want to pay my child care providers any less because their job is more important to me than mine is right now & i'm just looking forward to the first month in years & years to come that my wage is all for me

[Chunkamatic]

I have two DS's, 2 years apart. DS1 has only just started to receive his 15hrs funding. When looking at my options for returning to work after DS2 it was not financially worth it for me to return given the cost of full-time childcare for 2 under 3's. We have no relatives nearby.
I know that we are fortunate that we can just about afford for me not to work and survive on DP's salary. However, I do think that until there is more support, in the way of subsidised places or similar, it will continue to be difficlut for women in the workplace. I do not regret the time at home with y children, but my ideal would have been to be able to continue some sort of work, pension contribution etc, without it actually costing me money.

[Makeminealarge]

My DS is ten months. I chose to go back to work two months ago as i thought we would be better off as a family with us both working. However, as i have earned 'too much' I don't get much help when not working. But the incredible childcare costs, long shifts, inflexibility of my career and travel costs meant that I actually took home very very little.

I chose then after several weeks to give up work as i only ever got to see my daughter once a week and only benefitted from a little under £200 quid a month after other costs. If there was a better incentive from the government for me to work I would! I WANT to work, but there is no gain from it!!!

Why should I slave my arse off after years of career progression, see little gain whilst there are benefit scroungers out there?!

[naughtymummy]

In our case it was dh (as the lower earner) for whom it was not worth continuing to work. We were paying out 2000 a month in childcare costs, dh took home 2600, the train ticket was nearly 400 so in effect he was working for 200 pm ,easily swallowed up by lunches etc, the hidden cost of workkng. Dd goes to school this year and we are lucky enough to have good wrap around care, so dh has just gone back ( on a reduced salary, partly due to the recession, partly to his career break. Before dh left his job we were both higher tax payers!

[starmucks]

I earn £95k, sounds a lot right? My net income is just over £4.5k a month, of which £3.2k goes to paying our nanny, which is the only form of childcare that will accommodate my job. Once my travel costs, £250 a month are subtracted, I'm effectively taking home £250 a week. And that doesn't reflect the cost of lunch, dry cleaning etc. At the end of the day I feel that my only benefit is the non-contributory element of my company's pension. Paying for a gross salary out of a net salary sucks. There should at least be a tax break. Five years of uni and 12 years of building a career and I feel sufficiently demoralised to throw in the towel and stay home.

[jimswifein1964]

omg, does a nanny really cost £3k a month? . I really need to know more about the real world

[amidaiwish]

exactly starmucks, that was the issue i was facing, but on a salary more like 70k, which is loads to earn, but not enough if you are paying a nanny out of net salary (and only a nanny would have provided the flexibility i needed, extra hours as i would have had to travel, so does dh).

it wasn't actually a hard decision to stop work in the end.

[amidaiwish]

yes jimswife, esp if you need some flexibility, early starts/late nights on a regular basis.

[KvetaBarry]

DH and I are putting off DC2 until DS is over 3. Can't afford 2 children in nursery or with CM on my salary, and DH's salary is taken up with mortgage etc as it is!

That said, my CM and nursery are worth their weight in gold, so I almost feel I'm not paying them enough - but then can't realistically afford to pay them more.

childcare vouchers are a great idea, but have taken me a while to get my head around.

[SoloIsAHotCougar]

Jimswife, it doesn't matter if your childcare is £40 a week; if you are only taking home £40 or £50 a week after those costs how can you manage?
When I looked into a childminder at normal hours which I don't work (!) it was going to set me back £1600 a month for 2 Dc's, one of those in ft education and that being a lower charging CM too! So at the end of the month, I'd have had just £108 to pay for absolutely everything else! earn too much to get much help, so it wasn't even possible to continue working at that point.

And whilst there certainly are benefit 'scroungers' out there makeminealarge, we aren't all that way inclined, it's just circumstances that mean that we/they need help. I actually liked earning my salary, being independant and buying the odd treat now and again and it wasn't a particularly easy decision to make to go onto benefits, but it seemed the only way I could live...hopefully things will change for the better for those of us that would like to work and support our families, but there seems little point in working for nothing whilst someone else effectively raises your children.

[jimswifein1964]

Solo, that's exactly why I didnt go back to work until they were school age - the relative costs are horrendous yes - I couldnt earn enough to cover a minder for 2 kids. But I'm just so shocked at £3k for a nanny; thats twice what dh brings home, and he's a specialist in his field and he's been there 22 years

[SoloIsAHotCougar]

Yes, I see what you mean! it's a 'shock' when you see that someone else pays a (knock on effect) employee more than you earn isn't it. It is more than I would earn too if/when I return.
I think we are damned if we do and damned if we don't.

[stealthsquiggle]

starmucks, amidaiwish - that is exactly the same sum we faced. Fortunately, so far, we have survived by co-ordinating so that we are not often starting early/ getting home late / away at the same time. When that fails, my parents step in and rescue us. Without them, a nanny would be the only option and I would effectively be working for ~£100 / month. As it is we exist on a complex and fragile jigsaw of after school care and holiday clubs which causes me ongoing stress but is more affordable.

[thaigreencurry]

Starmucks wow just goes to show how expensive it is to raise children when you can't afford to pay for childcare on £95k per annum! I remember my ex-boss suggesting that I employ a nanny as it would give me more flexiblity, I was earning less than £12k (3 day week) not sure what planet he was on.

[NerfHerder]

My childcare costs are 6 times my mortgage costs. (2 children under 5)

I cannot possibly afford a nanny, but it seems ridiculous that anyone should have to pay someone's salary, tax and NI out of their aready taxed/NI'd income.

[Needanewname]

The thing is Jimwife, the nanny doesn;t earn 3k in her hand but that is the cost to her employer - tax, NI, employers NIC. Then theres holiday pay, sick cover and maternity pay if she gets pregnant.

I know there are lots of people desperate to come to the UK and work here starkadder but there will if we stop having children there will nto be enough people in the future to pay for eveything. We need children to be born and as I aslo said if childcare is subsidised that allows parents to go to work and pay their taxes.