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Original poster

Childcare costs are incredible, how do so many women afford to work

229 replies

Zealey · 27/02/2012 13:24

Hi, I'm sure many people have asked this question before, but I've just seen a piece on the BBC News about how childcare costs are often thousands of pounds a month for multiple kids.
Here in London my local nursery charges £750 per child per month. Considering many return to work mums will be typically part-time and in low paid jobs, HOW does ANY make it pay? Surely not every mum in London is on £40k+ a year.
I'm sincerely curious.
Thanks.

OP posts:
BackforGood · 27/02/2012 13:27

Surely childcare comes out of the family income, not just one person's ?
You are making a whole heap of presumtions in your OP. Was it your intention to start a bunfight ?

Gumby · 27/02/2012 13:28

if you work you are entitled to working tax credit wich helps
we use tax free vouchers to pay for childcare qhich we get through work
when your child is 3 you get 15 hours a week free childcare from the government
people also look in the long term , so before the 15 hours kick in we were very poor but by keeping my job it means that now they are approaching school age I can see the light at the end of the tunnel
I know so many mums of school age children who are just now thinking of returning to work and finding every job they apply for 150 other people are also applying Sad

tbh I don't understand how people who live in the expensive south east can afford not to work

Original poster
Zealey · 27/02/2012 13:28

No not all all, bunfight's bore me. I'm after information.

OP posts:
Original poster
Zealey · 27/02/2012 13:30

Ah ok, I didn't know about the fifteen hours free childcare. That goes some way to explaining it then. thanks.

OP posts:
Northernlurker · 27/02/2012 13:30

Well - very often women are working for money which only covers the childcare or even at a 'loss' BUT keeping their career going leaves them better off long term. You can stop working for three or five or seven years and NOT pay childcare but your career will take a corresponding hit. Plus as has been pointed out - childcare costs should be viewed as coming from the family income NOT just the woman's.

RitaMorgan · 27/02/2012 13:36

Tax credits, and we juggle childcare between us so that we use the minimum about of paid childcare - eg. I work 25 hours but ds is only in childcare 18 hours.

Francagoestohollywood · 27/02/2012 13:36

Childcare is paid by the family income, split between 2 partners, when this is the case.

Gumby · 27/02/2012 13:38

Yes agree wth Ritamorgan - I do one of my working days on a Sunday which minimises childcare costs

loads of women work shifts around their partners work too

bluerodeo · 27/02/2012 13:41

not everyone is entitled to the 15 hours free childcare - we never were

bluerodeo · 27/02/2012 13:41

oops yes we were but never worked with a working day - still had to find care in the afternoons til 5

WipsGlitter · 27/02/2012 13:43

Quibbling about who pays the bill aside, it's still a huge whack out of a family income. We get no tax credits and our childcare bill is £1250 per month for two children. Our "free" place cost us money as it was an afternoon place and we had to get DS brought from daycare to nursery and back. As others have said it is about staying on the career track until school and some light at the end of the tunnel.

OneLittleBabyGirl · 27/02/2012 13:45

Is £750 per month actually FT? That's very cheap for London. We are paying £900 for FT a month.

To answer your question, you pay part time fee if you work part time. You pay full time fee if you work full time. So the fact that the women return to part time job aren't relevant. As for most part time jobs being low paid. Yes, because professional part time jobs aren't open to new applications. They are only held by existing employee going part time.

Also I don't think your figure at £40k is right. I can cover two under 2s in nursery FT without earning £40k, just looking at my payslip. (Haven't got the time to do the sums what the net pay has to be).

OneLittleBabyGirl · 27/02/2012 13:49

And like Northernlurker I will continue working even if childcare cost breaks even. Because I love my job. I don't want to end up staying at home when my kids are at school. That's the most depressing thing I can imagine. Also, there are other monetary benefits from the job on top of the salary. Like your pension. Do you want to rely on a widows pension at old age? Or two of you living on your husbands pension only? There are things like medical insurance too, but tha'ts of limited value as I've not ever claimed.

itsonlyyearfour · 27/02/2012 13:57

In addition to what everyone else said, childcare vouchers are cumulable, so for example when I was on maternity leave I always paid into them and now I have 3k worth of them that I use to top up the childcare I need.

Bare in mind as well that many employers are flexible, especially if you were in the job pre-children etc...as I said in other posts I am able to work from home quite a lot and many other parents in my DH's classes who do work full time in professional jobs are able to work from home/flexi their hours at least once or twice a week, which times two makes most of the week.

Of course this is harder if you are starting from scratch somewhere, but this is how many manage. And of course this is without taking into account those who have family around, which sadly is not us!

molly3478 · 27/02/2012 14:08

50 hours of care here is 32 pounds a day with 3 meals, nappies, trips, drinks, 2 snacks a day etc all provided, and I live down South. Also most people I know get tcs towards that.

lavender11 · 27/02/2012 14:08

yes it is financially crippling in my experience
Income about £1970 per month, childcare fees about £2,200 per month for two children (oxfordshire)
Oldest of the two just turned 3 so we have some gmt grant input now but it doesnt make much difference
nightmare
in my case one of the hardest things is how the older generation (my mum and others of her generation) have no idea that i might be in debt of more than £1K just for the sake of keeping working thro these years so i have a job at the other end
my mum in particular still talks in "1970s feminism" soundbites - how lucky you are to have your own income - no mum, i am still "supported" by my husband to do a job i don't particularly enjoy and miss my little ones early years so that we will in years to come be able to continue to meet mortgage and bills because we will still have two wages...

TrinaLuciusMalfoy · 27/02/2012 14:10

We're struggling with this as well. My pay (when I go back to work) will cover one child's care only. DD1 will be starting at school when I go back, DD2 will need the care. There is no way we can afford to have childcare for both children. Yes it probably would come out of the 'family pot' - but that means that that pot would be running at a loss every month. I don't have a career, I happen to be employed. I do not see any point in me continuing to be employed if it's not going to improve our family financial situation - we cannot afford to run at a loss for a few years until DD2 is eligible for the 15 hours free (and by then the bastard government will probably have scrapped that too). Tax credits cover some of the cost - but I've just been informed by HMRC that our earnings are a tiny fraction over the new threshold so we may not be getting much - or anything when the changes come in in April. I work for the NHS, the hours cannot be changed to allow me to work weekends or anything - I cover the occasional extra Saturday clinic, but they're too rare to rely on for change my hours.

higgle · 27/02/2012 14:16

Excuse me if it sounds silly, as it is some years since I've had this problem, but surely you could have a live out nanny for £2k per month in areas outside London?

TiggyD · 27/02/2012 14:20

Sexist thread title...

...anyway, don't forget that the fees pay the staff. Saying you think the fees are too high is just mostly the same as saying the staff get paid too much. £13,000 for a qualified member of staff isn't a huge amount.

choceyes · 27/02/2012 14:23

We are overdrawn every month. I work 3 days a week and Dh works full time as a teacher. We have 2 DCs in childcare 3 days a week. It is a lot of money out of the family income. I can't wait till they are at school and also increase my working hours.

callmemrs · 27/02/2012 14:24

If you think it's tough now, spare a thought for us 40- something's. When we had our babies, tax credits didn't exist. Nor did free hours for 3 year olds . And maternity leave was a lot shorter. We paid childcare in full for our dc from when she was 12 weeks to the day she started school aged almost 5 years. Paying just the out of school and holiday care was a bloody breeze after that!

Nowadays many women take a year off, get subsidised childcare and 15 hours free care from age 3 - bliss!

OneLittleBabyGirl · 27/02/2012 14:25

higgle it's £9-10/hr per hour net here in the south coast, far outside of london. Lets say I round it to £400 net per week, that's still £574 gross. That's £2679 a month. More expansive than nursery by far. You have to pay for a nanny activity pot and petrol on top too.

mumoftwolilboys · 27/02/2012 14:27

Nannies - you employ them, don't you? Slightly more complicated than nursery I would've thought.. What happens if they are off sick, on annual leave etc?

Nursery staff don't really get anywhere near what we pay. They are normally on very low pay (told by a friend who used to work part time at our nursery and knew the nursery nurses, so please correct me if I've got it totally wrong). Our nursery staff are brilliant btw. :) I wish they get paid more than what I hear they get, especially since I pay nearly £60 per day for my baby.

mumoftwolilboys · 27/02/2012 14:32

callmemrs grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it? :) DH and I are always envious of older SIL and her friends who had children around 10-15 years ago as we think that everything was so much cheaper then, free university education, plus they all managed to get houses that were not extortionate in prices. That's what we think anyway, obviously didn't know how 'lucky' we are now. My DS1 is on 15 free funding and yet we are paying £31 per day for his nursery WITH the funding. Nutty, isn't it?!

gateacre1 · 27/02/2012 14:40

My take home salary 1277 3 days per week
Child care per month is 1170 3 days per week
Cost in fuel per month 100
Husbands salary pays for mortgage and council tax etc

We are not entitled to tax credits as we earn just over threshold
Tis tough living here in London and being a middle earner
We are using savings to buy food each week
The 15 free care only reduces the nursery fee by 6 per week

I could earn more if I gave up work And claimed jsa [ I won't don't worry)

It was our choice to have a second child and we knew this would be the situation but it still grates that I am netting a few pound a month .