Working to pay for childcare

jetplane

Last night I was talking to a young woman who told me that she works 2 days a week to enable her child to go to nursery and to ensure that she has a work history and reference. She felt it was important for her daughter to gain from nursery while she, herself, gained from time outside the home. She works for minimum wage which pays her nursery costs and travel.

Turns out that her partners employer does not offer childcare vouchers, there are rules around the vouchers and NMW meaning she cant claim and they earn just above the limit for tax credits child costs. She said she will gain when her child is 3 due to free 15 hours and then will increase her hours when her child starts school.

As far as she is concerned while there is no financial gain, her family benefit from this arrangement. I found this so refreshing, it got me wondering is it commonplace for families to work purely to pay for childcare, I know its expensive and eats up so much of the wages. Also do many people ask their employer to join a scheme so that they can benefit from the vouchers?

mountainofdebt

In the days before tax credits etc I know I joked that my employer should cut out the middle man (ie me) and just pay half to the nursery and the remainder to the mortgage company.

maman

I find that refreshing too.


I'm often disappointed when I read things on here from women who only consider the financial side rather than themselves as an educated member of the workforce with the need for adult company and building a future.

cazziebo

I think it's wise to take a long term view when balancing the work/childcare costs equation.

For many returners (mainly women but not always) time out of the job market will impact on future salary expectations, promotion opportunities, pension pots etc. It's no good just making a decision on the current salary; try to assess the decision against longer term aspirations.

Do you want a career or a job?
How secure is the other wage earner's income?
What are your plans for when the children leave school?
Is childcare seen as a shared responsibility or just mum's problem?

The other issue that surprises me is that childcare costs are often looked at as a cost to the returner's salary - not as a general household expense.

And of course, if the relationship falters, having your own income is so valuable.

mrcow

Having two salaries coming in also helps in terms of security. I know of several women whose partners have lost their jobs and have subsequently had to up their hours to full time. It's saved their situation.

If they hadn't worked, their options would have been a lot more drastic.

I work for what I personally gain from it for in the future. Trying to pick up some sort of career after years of joblessness can't be easy!

Nadstar

For the first 9 months when I went back to work, it actually cost me money - Nursery was £950pcm plus rent/bills/food! No benefits other than child benefit!

Not ideal but seemed like a better option than getting trapped on benefits and meant that in spite of having moved to a new town when my daughter's dad left, she and I forged a life right away, things got better once the funding kicked in and now she is at school we have quite a nice life, she has a wide friendship group from nursery, clubs and schools and I have financial independence and a job with plenty of opportunities.

That said, looking at bank statements a few years back did make me cry!

Spendless

I've certainly worked part-time and used the money to pay for nursery costs. What I wasn't prepared to do when son was born 14 years ago is to work full-time and hand over my baby all day to a childcarer for no financial gain to our household. I packed in for this reason and found a part-time evening/weekend job instead a few months later. If this lady has found a part-time job with hours that fit in with when childcare is available, then I too would have done that.

trudiha

Yes, it is indeed refreshing to see a mother put her value as an active economic unit above all of that child rearing nonsense.

cazziebo

trudiha wrote: »

Yes, it is indeed refreshing to see a mother put her value as an active economic unit above all of that child rearing nonsense.

But she isn't putting her own needs "above", is she? She's making a balanced decision on what's best for the whole family.

Person_one

cazziebo wrote: »

But she isn't putting her own needs "above", is she? She's making a balanced decision on what's best for the whole family.

Clearly women with children should just forget anything else in their lives that provides enjoyment or fulfilment, changing nappies and watching Peppa Pig should be more than enough for them.

ska_lover

Sometimes I think certain people just log on to these boards to snipe