Childcare costs

loadsacash

I have every sympathy with you Yorkshire lass. When my son was born 8 years ago I went back to work. There was no Childcare vouchers at all then and no help at all with childcare.

My family live miles away and I had nobody to take care of my son.

Whatever people feel about who should look after the children - and the government do feel that working mothers should go back to work - Childcare is very expensive

In fact this is in the news today

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7508582.stm

loocyloo

hi yorkshire lass,

i hope you can sort things out.

i am a childminder and some of 'my' childrens parents split the hours they spend at work, so they pay less childcare fees. others use grandparents for some of the week, and others grin and bear it, as, it won't be forever. once your child is 3, if your childminder is willing, she (or he!) can receive the nursery grant for your child, and can provide the stimulation at home.

a childminder is not a poor mans choice, it depends upon what you want for your child and what sort of child they are, some like hustle and bustle and some like it quiet. a childminder has to be as, if not more qualified as someone in a day nursery, as we work unsupervised. it may also be that you could pay more for a childminder as they have lower ratios (one adult to 3 children under 5) and can offer a much more tailored service.

good luck xxx

purplepatch

yorks_lass wrote: »

I am using Childcare vouchers, but my husband's company won't even consider it, so we are losing out several hundred pounds a year through no fault of our own.

If you're still here yorks lass, according to Martin's article here, the voucher scheme shouldn't cost an employer anything to run and he says they should even make money from it. Why not print the article off as he suggests and write to ask them to provide a voucher scheme and if not, to clarify why they won't given that it wouldn't cost them anything to do so.

Obviously as you say he earns just above min wage, it might well not be worth the aggravation if he could only claim a minimal amount though.

bookduck

liney wrote: »

Childcare is expensive but it's only for a short time.

Children are for life, and not just for Christmas

anybody considered an Au pair ? Minimal salary, cooks and cleans a bit and looks after the child too?

Sarahsaver

Au pairs do not have to be CRB checked though.

bookduck

Sarahsaver wrote: »

Au pairs do not have to be CRB checked though.

I have no idea. I'm sure you are correct though and they don't have to be checked, rather than they must not be checked Many are European trying to learn English, so a CRB check also would be worthless

Most are young and had too little time to mastermind up a child slavery ring and be found out. Just don't employ the ones called Fagan.