Nursery fees

AndyBSG

sarahevie1 wrote: »

So it's only those on low incomes with subsidy, or those on higher incomes it becomes affordable.

This is definitely true.

My wife and I are a mid income family and our LO one goes 3 days a week with her Nan looking after her for the other two.

As it is it's 'just' about worthwhile as once we take nursery and commuting fees out my wife does have some money left from her wages.

If we didn't have her Nan to look after her for two days then it simply wouldn't be worth my wife working until our LO was old enough to qualify for the 15 hours free childcare and paying the lower nursery fees for a child over 2 years old.

southoftheriver

I'm pregnant and looking at nursery fees to give me an idea. Can't get anything for less than £60 per day where I live. Plus I start work at 8am and it takes me an hour to get there. I often don't finish until 6pm. That's not including the nights and weekends that I work on a regular basis. Luckily hubby has a more regular job but we're both professionals and I wonder how we'll manage.

I have also worked in childcare and I know how poorly paid most childcare workers are. I don't have family nearby who can take the strain, and if I'm away from work for more than a year then I have to retrain completely.

thriftyemma

I am pretty shocked at the prices other people are sharing. My 3 children are now in full time education, but as of last year I was paying £41/day. That was from 8.30-5.30, all meals included. And for where I live, that was considered very expensive. The nursery was amazing, and well worth the money. But the average around here is £30-35 a day.

Sunshinegirl73

I'm also pregnant and am starting to look at nurseries (most round here have a waiting list of a year or more). £60 a day is as good as it gets, plenty charge more than that. A friend just had a quote of more than £550 a month for 3 mornings a week. I live in a fairly expensive part of the South East (Surrey/Hampshire border) and it's difficult as whilst living costs are very high (housing, childcare etc) salaries dont keep up!

clearingout

sarahevie1 wrote: »

I take it to mean those parents such as Pigpen's daughter who get 85% paid as a grant, or myself who get 70% paid through the working family tax credit system.

The poll doesn't appear to include the 3 year old FEEE funding everyone is entitled to.

but that isn't the same as 'free on benefits', is it? I receive a tiny amount of working tax but I am paying about 95% of my childcare costs these days. It's hardly 'free'.

I am aware that there is some 'free childcare' aimed at 2 year olds with parents in difficult circumstances - but this doesn't have to be 'on benefits'. Parents with disabled children qualify, for example.

lika_86

heuchera wrote: »

For a lot of women it's not worth their while going out to work. Their earnings barely cover the cost of the nursery.

Of course there are other things that make going back to work (not just women but primary caregivers - they might well be the dad!) worth it - maintaining skills, sanity, having something to talk about with their OH/family/friends other than their child, NI contributions etc.

CathA

When my daughter went back to uni to do her teaching degree, it cost £45 for one day a week for her one year old. She had to supply nappies and wipes but not food. She was at the time doing her degree part time, 2 days a week, and her hubby didn't work Mondays so he looked after the baby then.

Fast forward a year, she's now doing her 10 week in-school placement and her hubby had changed his job so now works every day. As her work placement is unpaid (obviously) and she is out of the house from 7.30 til at least 5, nursery costs would be seriously prohibitive. Good old grandma (me!) has had him every day , either here, at her house (whilst I'm looking after her dog and doing some of her housework) or just having him for a while before taking him to nursery. He now gets 15 hours funded.
I'm in the lucky position that I only work part time, am fit enough and young enough to be able to do it and we live quite close. However, how people manage without input from their family I don't know.
It's like care home fees, £750+ per week and the staff certainly don't receive a large wage related to the charges they pay. I suppose they have, in both cases, a bit of a captive audience?

AndyBSG

CathA wrote: »

However, how people manage without input from their family I don't know.

I'd be interested to know how you feel about being an unpaid carer?

Reason I ask is because my wife has recently returned to work full time and like your daughter we are relying on my wife's mum to look after the little one.

She looks after her 2 days a week(nursery for the other 3).

My wife thinks this is fine but it doesn't sit easy with me... I've always been VERY independent and only ask my family for stuff if there's no other option and I do feel like we're imposing on my MIL even though both her and my wife keep assuring me it's fine!

CathA

AndyBSG wrote: »

I'd be interested to know how you feel about being an unpaid carer?

Reason I ask is because my wife has recently returned to work full time and like your daughter we are relying on my wife's mum to look after the little one.

She looks after her 2 days a week(nursery for the other 3).

My wife thinks this is fine but it doesn't sit easy with me... I've always been VERY independent and only ask my family for stuff if there's no other option and I do feel like we're imposing on my MIL even though both her and my wife keep assuring me it's fine!

I know exactly what you mean. Originally I worked Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday, different hours each day. I gave up Tuesday so I could be available to look after the baby when my son in law was working as his hours and days varied each week. She took him out of nursery and we came to an agreement re paying me. She gives me some money, not as much as I was earning but loads less than nursery. I also have always had the baby for"grandma days" since he was born so not much of an adjustment.
However the full time 10 weeks full on grandma duties were done on the following reasons-

It's only 10 weeks, not forever.
When she gets a teaching job, I'm not doing it full time as it's too much and I want some time for me back!
She doesn't pay me any extra for full time baby sitting, it was a mutual benefit as I could give up Tuesdays and she didn't have a massive nursery bill.

If she gets a job with the hours she wants, I will still have him at least one day a week as I love him and want to spend time with him. He's got his free nursery place so he'll carry on with but may need his days adjusting depending what days his mum works.
When she finishes her uni course I don't know if she'll carry on paying me, I'm not necessarily happy about taking the money and probably will tell her to stop, as until she gets a job she'll be with him all the time and won't need or want me to have him every day. He'll be at nursery 2 days and as long as I don't have to get up to take him there I'm happy! (Not a morning person, me! ) We'll still have our grandma days tho.
I'm lucky in the fact that now for various reasons the money is not an issue, tho it could be different if your MIL needs it? I just wanted to help her as much as I could to get over this tricky time; after all her qualifying as a teacher will benefit her whole family.
If it bothers you about not paying your MIL, what about treating her every now and then to something special; a spa day, theatre trip with a friend, weekend away with whoever she wants to go with, something she'd like but probably wouldn't do it herself, if you see what I mean? My grandson's other nanny lives overseas and only sees him in the flesh once a year and when she's here as far as I'm concerned she gets first dibs on his time. They're only young for such a short time, make the most of it as he won't want to hang round with us when he's 15!
Hope this helps. X

duchy

southoftheriver wrote: »

I'm pregnant and looking at nursery fees to give me an idea. Can't get anything for less than £60 per day where I live. Plus I start work at 8am and it takes me an hour to get there. I often don't finish until 6pm. That's not including the nights and weekends that I work on a regular basis. Luckily hubby has a more regular job but we're both professionals and I wonder how we'll manage.

I have also worked in childcare and I know how poorly paid most childcare workers are. I don't have family nearby who can take the strain, and if I'm away from work for more than a year then I have to retrain completely.

I was in exactly your position except it was my husband who did the longer hours. In the end after a lot of number crunching I realized that it made more economic sense for me to take a step down and work locally part-time (in my profession). The sort of thing I looked at was commuting costs, tax, takeaways when we were both too knackered to cook etc and once childcare costs were factored in we were actually fractionally better off with me working three days a week locally than full time in a better role in central London (lived in Sutton at the time). Add in the benefit of raising my baby myself for the majority of the week versus only having quality time at weekends and it was a no brainer.

I think like a lot of new parents we really didn't think it through or number crunch until the baby was a reality . I really do think without at least back up from family for those times when you both have to be at work later/weekends then two full-time professionals working full-time or more is a really, really tough juggling act emotionally as well as practically.

You may find for a baby a childminder will offer longer hours however one of my issues about continuing to work in London with a similar commute to you was that I felt 11 or 12 hours in childcare each day was simply too long for a baby.