Childcare costs...

[kevkojak]

Nosey question but I'm interested to hear what the parents on here pay in childcare.

Ours has just gone up. Again.
Son (2) is with a childminder 4 days a week. I take Fridays off with him and we all have weekends together.
Daughter (6) goes to an after-school club for a couple of hours in the evening, it's usually 3.30 until 5pm when my wife finishes work. Again, just Monday to Thursday.

We both work full time, but at £800 a month in childcare that is pretty close to what I earn eaten up in fees. I am seriously considering shutting up shop and working from home (internet only) for a couple of years then starting fresh when they're in school.
**There are other factors of course, the town centre is on its arse at the moment so business is a bit slower than last year, but childcare is the key issue.

Considering it's not even full time childcare (4 days and an after-school service) I think it's bloody extortionate. Is this the norm? Has anyone else (or their other half) quit work to save on the childcare or is this just the done thing now? If I didn't have the flexibility to take Fridays off then we'd be over a grand a month in fees. It was pretty tough with our daughter in nursery, but now with twice the fees it's absolutely crippling.

Cheers.

[demonloop]

I'm in rural Northern Ireland Kev, and we pay £25 per day for our little one, so £125 a week.

We supply all food, nappies etc.

With another one on the way we'll be paying £250 a week, so over £1k a month, and we pay even when the minder is on holidays too.

This seems to be the norm around here.

A trendier (award-winning) local nursery charge £38 a day, and Belfast prices are all around £35-40 per day per child.

We each earn a fair bit more than that, but if we didn't we would consider giving up work.

That said, there is benefits to the child being around other kids. Our wee girl has flourished since she went to childcare a few months ago.

[tz-uk73]

£52 a day for the nursery here and breakfast club & after school clubs are £10 a day

At its peak, it was around £800 per month.

Don't forget, in respect of nursery costs isn't there now c.30 hours per week of 'free' provision? I'm out of date but I'm sure that came in this year?

[kevkojak]

£52 a day for the nursery here and breakfast club & after school clubs are £10 a day

At its peak, it was around £800 per month.

Don't forget, in respect of nursery costs isn't there now c.30 hours per week of 'free' provision? I'm out of date but I'm sure that came in this year?

Good call, I had forgotten about that - comes in next year for him, it must be after three years old.

[chrisparker]

We both work full time, but at £800 a month in childcare that is pretty close to what I earn eaten up in fees. I am seriously considering shutting up shop and working from home (internet only) for a couple of years then starting fresh when they're in school.

My daughter is 3 years old so now gets 15 hours a week paid for, we're luck to have both grandparents close by so they each do a nursery pick-up, then my wife works part-time, two days office based, one day at home, and a couple hours on an evening, so we don't have to pay any nursery fees. It's a juggle though finding the balance.

[anz3001]

30 hours free childcare and salary sacrafice vouchers have help me out no end and I only have one child. She starts full time school in August and just after school club will be £150 a month for 3 days a week.

[relaxer7]

My eldest (7) goes to school club before and after school which is £165 a month and we’ve just had another little girl so when my missus goes back to work daughter number 2 will be going to a nursery or child minders all week – the cheapest around here is £35 a day which comes in at £700. We get £60 a month child tax credit or whatever that’s called so all in all I’m looking at a monthly bill of £805 which is just about what the wife earns but she’s adamant she wants to go back to work full time. To put it mildly, I’m slightly concerned about it all!

[acg]

£42.50 a day for a 2 year old in Glasgow. Fed but we provide nappies etc.

6 year old is £2 for breakfast and £17.50 for after school (that really hurts as he's only there 2 1/2 hours)

Holiday club is £30 a day.

It's easily our biggest outgoing

[josep]

1 year old is £47 per day, and 5 year old is about £15 a day for before and after school club. Should come down a bit when youngest hits 3 and we get 30 hours a week free.

[village]

It was cheaper for my wife to give up work for a few years rather than put the kids in nursery. They still attended for some time during the week as it was good for them to interact etc etc. We also felt strongly that we,as their parents,should be bringing them up rather than paying huge amounts of dose for a bunch of strangers to raise them. Seems a bit pointless to have kids and then instantly offload them all the time although I realise that different people have different circumstances and what have you. I also work shifts which helps.

[GraniteQuarry]

My two year old’s starting in August at £5.90 per hour, just doing 8am to 1pm (with lunch) so it’s not too painful. The full day 8am till 6pm is £61.75.

[demonloop]

Seems a bit pointless to have kids and then instantly offload them all the time although I realise that different people have different circumstances and what have you. I also work shifts which helps.

In our circumstances, we would be a lot worse off financially if my wife was to stop work and look after our little one.

The child care is a lot less then she earns.

But something we have considered and will consider again when the next one comes along.

Even though it's great to have them in child care interacting with other kids, it does feel a bit like we've left her somewhere when it really should be us looking after her.

Its the thing I've struggled with most to be honest.

[MB2]

salary sacrafice vouchers have help me out no end

You can do these out of your own salary if you run your own company. I think you can pay 243 a month by DD from the business if don't want to set up your own scheme.

It was some years ago now but we did it for one of the directors here - check with your accountant but can definitely be done "privately".

[dougair]

Currently about £2.7k per month for two kids in full time childcare between 8-6...😳 going down to about ££2k come September!

[AlphaOmega]

Seems a bit pointless to have kids and then instantly offload them all the time...

It's not uncommon for some parents to arrange:

Boarding school during term time.

Then on them last day of term, fly them to summer school.

Then on the last day of summer school, fly them back to boarding school.

Time with parents = zero.

First time I saw that, it shocked me a bit. Literally no time spent.

[raptor]

Usually max €200-250 per month at kindergarden each child till 1:30 no food or drinks
Then at pre elementary €80


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[thieuster]

Some consolidation perhaps: same prices over here! And long waiting lists because there's a shortage of childcare homes (or how they're called in English). Childcare homes need to be government approved: health, hygiene, qualified staff with no serious criminal record. That adds to the shortage of staff hence the shortage of homes

[kevkojak]

Some consolidation perhaps: same prices over here! And long waiting lists because there's a shortage of childcare homes (or how they're called in English). Childcare homes need to be government approved: health, hygiene, qualified staff with no serious criminal record. That adds to the shortage of staff hence the shortage of homes

I'm always surprised at the lack of spaces for nurseries and private childminders.
Ours looks after 6 kids, fair enough there is food and entertainment to cover but still that's potentially £6,000 a month. Feels like a license to print money to me.

[Cynar]

Hi Kev,
My wife works as a childminder and charges £30 per day or £15 for before and after school.
Seems to be about the going rate around here. Earns nowhere near £6k per month - I wish!
You’re limited to how many kids you can have, especially under school age. Most people don’t want full time care, so you end up with different ones on different days and almost never get near your potential capacity as a result.
You may still be able to get help though if both you and the Mrs are working. Look up tax free childcare on the gov website.

[davie0146]

one monster under 1 at daycare 2 day's per week from 7:30 to 17:00 was £400 per month.

[jaytip]

I’m somewhat surprised at the figures quoted here because I was under the assumption that if both parents are working then you can claim something like 75% of the cost for childcare.

[Ares]

Like many things it depends on your income (which is fair enough).

[JasonM]

When we had our two ( now 9 and 11 ) they went to nursery after a year for the first and 6 months for the second ( two years apart ) it was expensive at nearly £800 a month but we took the view that as Aly had a decent job and to come out of it for some years would probably mean she couldn't get back to where she was it was short term pain for a long term view, it only worked because the maths worked and we could afford it, don't regret it, as has been said, kids do get some interaction 'skills' and the final year they did a great job of preparing them for Primary school and lots of their school friends now they were at nursery with. Costs now are before and after school club, about £450 a month.
Childcare doesn't come cheap.
Edit. We mostly fund it with salary sacrifice childcare vouchers, we used to get £240 a month but bizarrely if you change employers it gets halved so I only get £120 now.

[Gordon76]

School age kids, £5.50 each for breakfast club, and £12.5 each for afterschool.
Occasional private childminder £4/hr with a 10% discount for the second hold so £3.60/hr


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[mowflow]

My wife gave up work when our second was born. At the time our eldest was only 18 months old so she wasn't long back from her first maternity leave.

We worked out it was going to cost roughly £900 to have them both looked after which was only slightly less than she made a month. However, we both felt strongly that there is no point having kids when all you do is work to pay for someone else to look after them and rush around dropping them off and picking them up. I've watched friends do it and miss the best years of parenthood.

The hit of one wage did hurt a bit but no more so than paying out for childcare. And I strongly believe everyone's life has been better this way (kids got free nursery for a few hours from the age of 3 so aren't social weirdos).

My only issue is that our kids are now a few years into school and my wife's still not made a return to work. It would help but I'm not massively bothered.

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[bloater]

With our son he went three days a week for about a year then my wife gave up work when she became pregnant with our daughter.
It didn't make sense to pay more on child care than she earnt.
She took them to various clubs and groups so they didn't miss out and she used to be a manger in a nursery so was more than qualified to develop the children.
When she decided on a career change and went to uni our daughter went to a child minders two mornings a week and our son occasionally the before and after school club, but she was able to claim back these costs which was helpful.

[IanBear]

North London - we were quoted as much as £90 per day!

Thankfully now aged 3 we get 30 hours free (although many places in London find ways of getting round this or still charging extra) and my work runs a nursery at a very reasonable £35 p/d

[Foxy100]

We have childcare vouchers coming soon for the boy, the nursery has told us they can only be used between something like 9:30 and 11:30 am and 2:30 and 4pm (or whatever), Monday to Friday. We were hoping to choose the hours (i.e. two full days per week) but oh no, of course it doesn't work like that! It costs us a fortune at the moment, over a grand a month. The wife has suggested I do a four-day week which, bearing in mind I'm the main bread earner, isn't so attractive to me. Apparently I can take the boy into nursery in the morning and work late every night from Monday to Thursday. I can't wait for him to go to school. Mind you we already have another on the way...

[chrisparker]

I’m somewhat surprised at the figures quoted here because I was under the assumption that if both parents are working then you can claim something like 75% of the cost for childcare.

No, and prices can vary a lot, nurseries are like restaurants, crap ones can be cheaper and easy to get in, good ones are expensive and have long waiting lists. Depending on your income, and age of your child, you may be entitled to get some funding but not 75% of the cost regardless.

[mowflow]

We have childcare vouchers coming soon for the boy, the nursery has told us they can only be used between something like 9:30 and 11:30 am and 2:30 and 4pm (or whatever), Monday to Friday. We were hoping to choose the hours (i.e. two full days per week) but oh no, of course it doesn't work like that! It costs us a fortune at the moment, over a grand a month. The wife has suggested I do a four-day week which, bearing in mind I'm the main bread earner, isn't so attractive to me. Apparently I can take the boy into nursery in the morning and work late every night from Monday to Thursday. I can't wait for him to go to school. Mind you we already have another on the way...

Bad news.

Things don't really get cheaper and it possibly gets a bit worse in term of your time sacrifice as they get older. Our pair go to an after school club 1 day a week (apparently its educational). Then there's his golf lessons, her ballet classes, drama, football, jiu jitsu, swimming... All with their associated costs and taxi duties.

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[Kingstepper]

Thought after school clubs were to 'mind' kids until parents could pick them up. Not educational.

[Uriel]

We were at £1800/month for a 1 and 2 year old full time. We saved a little with vouchers, and now tax free childcare. Mrs has now gone 2.5 days/week and it’s a pretty even split between saved childcare and lost earnings, but she’s happier to have the time with the kids.

I wouldn’t care so much, but so think the nursery is crap.

[ajw232]

I think ours is currently around £95 per day. My daughter goes 4 days a week and my son 3 days as they don’t currently have any space until September! There are cheaper ones in the area but I’m so pleased with how my daughter has developed and progressed that it is worth the expense.

[golf]

Nosey question but I'm interested to hear what the parents on here pay in childcare.

Ours has just gone up. Again.
Son (2) is with a childminder 4 days a week. I take Fridays off with him and we all have weekends together.
Daughter (6) goes to an after-school club for a couple of hours in the evening, it's usually 3.30 until 5pm when my wife finishes work. Again, just Monday to Thursday.

We both work full time, but at £800 a month in childcare that is pretty close to what I earn eaten up in fees. I am seriously considering shutting up shop and working from home (internet only) for a couple of years then starting fresh when they're in school.
**There are other factors of course, the town centre is on its arse at the moment so business is a bit slower than last year, but childcare is the key issue.

Considering it's not even full time childcare (4 days and an after-school service) I think it's bloody extortionate. Is this the norm? Has anyone else (or their other half) quit work to save on the childcare or is this just the done thing now? If I didn't have the flexibility to take Fridays off then we'd be over a grand a month in fees. It was pretty tough with our daughter in nursery, but now with twice the fees it's absolutely crippling.

Cheers.

Not 100% on this Kev but I am sure from 3 years old you will get 30 free hours a week.
You will probably only have a couple of hours to pay for then.

We are quite luck as mrs is a teacher so only use child minder term time. They still spread it over 12 payments. It costs £650 a month so yours doesn't seem to expensive,

But I do agree with you the cost is high.

[JP28]

Just makes me glad we were in Denmark during the nursery years. Was around €400 per month (state covering the rest) for two covering 7.30am-4.30pm all meals (inc breakfast if dropped off before 8am which we did not do), trips etc included with highly qualified carers/teachers, great facilities, all food cooked fresh on site daily, fully organic etc etc
A truly outstanding system for families.

[redmonaco]

30 hours free childcare???

Nothings free, it just means other people are paying for your children to be looked after while you go out to work... Outrageous...

[golf]

Nosey question but I'm interested to hear what the parents on here pay in childcare.

Ours has just gone up. Again.
Son (2) is with a childminder 4 days a week. I take Fridays off with him and we all have weekends together.
Daughter (6) goes to an after-school club for a couple of hours in the evening, it's usually 3.30 until 5pm when my wife finishes work. Again, just Monday to Thursday.

We both work full time, but at £800 a month in childcare that is pretty close to what I earn eaten up in fees. I am seriously considering shutting up shop and working from home (internet only) for a couple of years then starting fresh when they're in school.
**There are other factors of course, the town centre is on its arse at the moment so business is a bit slower than last year, but childcare is the key issue.

Considering it's not even full time childcare (4 days and an after-school service) I think it's bloody extortionate. Is this the norm? Has anyone else (or their other half) quit work to save on the childcare or is this just the done thing now? If I didn't have the flexibility to take Fridays off then we'd be over a grand a month in fees. It was pretty tough with our daughter in nursery, but now with twice the fees it's absolutely crippling.

Cheers.

30 hours free childcare???

Nothings free, it just means other people are paying for your children to be looked after while you go out to work... Outrageous...

Nobody's paying to look after my children apart from me I never claimed it on the last one I didn't need too and I don't need to for this one.

I was advising Kev, if he's entitled to it why shouldn't he ? He pays taxes to pay for all the drug addicts, alcoholics, smokers and massively overweight people basically self inflicted illness. If it lets people get out to work it's better than sitting at home. Least they are putting something back in to society. lsome people want to work and not take the 30 free hours and still claiming unemployment benefits.

My son's school gives free dinners to all children and there is no way of opting out!
That's outrageous. most of the parents picking their children up look like they could easily afford the dinner money.

[GOAT]

^^^I was wondering if anyone was thinking this?
Never had kids myself but have a 31 yr old stepson....
Rather begs the question of how much I’ve paid for other people’s life choices!
I’m sure someone will be along to explain what a good thing it is....

[golf]

^^^I was wondering if anyone was thinking this?
Never had kids myself but have a 31 yr old stepson....
Rather begs the question of how much I’ve paid for other people’s life choices!
I’m sure someone will be along to explain what a good thing it is....

I can agree with some of it. People should be more responsible and not having children they can't afford to look after. The only one suffering through this choice is the child.

Long term it's a good thing I think.
If it stops people giving up work because they can't afford child care they might just st get to like sitting at home claiming free money.

Then the state had even more money to pay.

[anz3001]

Does that mean if I get ill I can’t use the NHS without feeling like a scrounger? What a retarded thing to say.

I’ve worked and paid in to the system since 16, as has my wife, we’ve contributed plenty enough to not feel guilty about having a little something back.

[raptor]

So we are heading in the wrong direction again

Who has the right to have kids ! Can you afford them like a rolex or keep them in a safe

[-Ally-]

I have to agree, the state paying for 30 hours p/wk of childcare is ridiculous.

[golf]

Does that mean if I get ill I can’t use the NHS without feeling like a scrounger? What a retarded thing to say.

I’ve worked and paid in to the system since 16, as has my wife, we’ve contributed plenty enough to not feel guilty about having a little something back.

Don't remember saying anyone who's uses the nhs is a scrounger? I said people who have self inflicted illnesses through taking drugs,eating to much,drinking to much and smoking are a bigger drain than someone getting a few hours childcare a week free.


Do you fall into any of the descriptions I listed above? If not then it wouldn't apply to you would it. We all pay in and we all take out one way or another. If someone got them free hours and it helped them keep their business open then that's a good thing?

[chrisparker]

To the 'you should only have a child if you can afford it' brigade.

"Overall the basic cost of raising a child in the UK from birth to the age of 21 has increased to by 63 per cent since 2003, when the survey was first carried out, to £229,251 at present. It has risen by just under £2,000 in the last year alone, almost twice the current rate of inflation." 22 Jan 2015

So you get married and want two kids, can you afford £460k? If not, you're not allowed?

Nobody would have kids, the pension deficit would increase, the economy collapse and there would be no new medical staff to care for an aging population.

[chrisparker]

I have to agree, the state paying for 30 hours p/wk of childcare is ridiculous.

Agree, 35-40 hours would help more people (especially woman) maintain a career, pay more tax and keep the economy afloat.

You've helped achieve equality for working mum's and given many young children a chance a good quality care from a young age and two good meals a day (which many lack). Good suggestions Ally!

[Steve27752]

So, why have children and pay for someone else to care for them? Our two are 23 and 20 and we did it ourselves. otherwise why have children in the first place?

[anz3001]

Don't remember saying anyone who's uses the nhs is a scrounger? I said people who have self inflicted illnesses through taking drugs,eating to much,drinking to much and smoking are a bigger drain than someone getting a few hours childcare a week free.


Do you fall into any of the descriptions I listed above? If not then it wouldn't apply to you would it. We all pay in and we all take out one way or another. If someone got them free hours and it helped them keep their business open then that's a good thing?

Sorry, it was redmonaco and GOAT I was replying to. You posted in the meantime which made it look like my reply was to you.

[chrisparker]

So, why have children and pay for someone else to care for them? Our two are 23 and 20 and we did it ourselves. otherwise why have children in the first place?

Many reasons, firstly I believe we're hard wired to breed. Some have kids because they feel it's their duty, others because they want somebody to care for them in the future...

Everyone will have their own reasons for starting a family, some can manage on their own, others need help. But a race and as a society we need children so if the state needs to pay for some child care while parents continue to contribute to the economy then that seems logical. If as a society we only allow the wealthy to breed we'll be taking a huge step backwards.

[-Ally-]

So, why have children and pay for someone else to care for them? Our two are 23 and 20 and we did it ourselves. otherwise why have children in the first place?

Entitlement culture.

[walkerwek1958]

I have to agree, the state paying for 30 hours p/wk of childcare is ridiculous.

Why?

I assume having children isn’t on your agenda. I disagree with much of our benefits system but this one does have credibility. It enables mothers to continue work and thus pay tax........wouldn’t surprise me if the scheme is virtually cash- neutral in the lomg term.

Didn’t think of that, did you?