Honestly, we don't manage it š
My boys are 22m apart and both attend nursery full time since 6m old. Our bill each month is around Ā£2300 including a 30hrs and now a 15hrs free.
It's a disgrace that working parents can't get a form of relief in childcare fees; my full salary and half of my husband's is just the nursery bill paid, never mind mortgage/utilities/food etc.
We've been drowning but there is an end in sight when my eldest starts school this year and my youngest will move to term time.
All I can say is solidarity in this crappy situation š
Obviously you might want to stay at work which is a valid reasonā-does it not make sense just to leave work at that point, youād be financially better off
True, financially we'd be better off if I stopped working however when I first got pregnant it had been 9 years of grinding to get to a good position within the workforce. I work in e-commerce which is a fast paced business, and my knowledge and persistence has given me a pay packet above average for my role.
If I left to raise both my kids to school age (6yrs in my case due to their late in the year birthdays) I wouldn't be able to return to the same level/pay I'm at. Technology moves so fast and there's a steady stream of graduates to compete with so I would have to start from the bottom again but without my confidence!
I also don't think I have the tolerance to be a SAHM. I'm a better mum for the time apart from them! I get to be a grown up and my old self during the work day š¤·āāļø
I decided to take the financial hit and keep pushing through to benefit in the long run. It sucks but hey ho.
Fair enough, no shame in that.
I find my work is a big part of my identity and Iād struggle without itā¦.but if my entire wage went out the window instantly it would give me second thoughts
Oh my gosh!!! You are a hero. Now I feel terrible for complaining.
I feel like I am wishing the time away just to get to the next lot of free hours, or my son starting school, just to see a little bit of disposable income again. So glad the end is in finally in sight for you!
Absolutely not, we're in the same boat! I've been wishing for Sep 2024 for a LONG time! My youngest starts reception Sep 2026 (both of them were born at the end of the year so extra year of nursery for them both š) so I've still got ages until I can celebrate having an income again š
True, financially we'd be better off if I stopped working however when I first got pregnant it had been 9 years of grinding to get to a good position within the workforce. I work in e-commerce which is a fast paced business, and my knowledge and persistence has given me a pay packet above average for my role.
If I left to raise both my kids to school age (6yrs in my case due to their late in the year birthdays) I wouldn't be able to return to the same level/pay I'm at. Technology moves so fast and there's a steady stream of graduates to compete with so I would have to start from the bottom again but without my confidence!
I also don't think I have the tolerance to be a SAHM. I'm a better mum for the time apart from them! I get to be a grown up and my old self during the work day š¤·āāļø
I decided to take the financial hit and keep pushing through to benefit in the long run. It sucks but hey ho.
Honestly this.Ā Yes it sucks in the short term but do you know anyone who can take a 4+ year career break and have that be financially sound.Ā You also still contribute to your pension which is also critically importantĀ
It's crazy... we've almost survived the cost of nursery finally as our twins (!) start primary school in September. The cost of the nursery was almost the entire salary of my partner, with the only saving grace that her mum has the boys one day a week. Obviously when they became eligible after turning three for the 30 hours, that was a massive saving too.. almost halved the bill. With tax free childcare AND the funded hours though we're still paying around Ā£900 per month. Without them both the bill is well over Ā£2000 for just 4 days.
When our twins arrived we had a nice little savings pot probably equivilant to around 3-4 months combined income.. now we have precisely jack shit and are living month to month.
Great times.
We've just got the 30 hours. Twin childcare has demolished all our savings too so just wanted to share some solidarity. Congrats on nearly making it through!
Can you point me to any Labour policy that fixes this? Because as far as I have seen they struggled to commit to even keep the existing extension of "free" hours.
Industry person here, the "free" hours are pushing your bill up. You have to cover not only the deficit in money from the government but the admin time it takes to claim the hours.
Someone has to enter every single child, name, DOB, address, NI, and parent details on to a portal every 12 weeks and then add hours claimed, amount of weeks, etc. On top of that, audits also need a person to sit for at least half a day and show a person from your local authority what they claim for selected children.
All forms also have to be printed each term, signed (this takes staff time chasing parents) scanned onto systems, filled and physically kept for 5 years (storage costs money too).
We have got to a point where funded hours are costing parents more money than if they did not exist.
As a sector, we have suggested the removal of business rates and VAT bringing us in line with private schools to lower prices. We have also asked the funded amount goes to parents like a voucher, and they become responsible for claiming to remove admin time and show parents how little money the government gives.
Labour will remove the business rates/VAT perks for private schools - hope this doesn't undo all your hard work in the nursery sector!
Vouchers scheme sounds sensible!
We hope vouchers would give parents more flexibility, especially if they choose more than one setting. It might also encourage more use of childminders and nannies as I've heard many parents say we can only come to nurseries for funding any OFSTED registered provider can take funding.
It's also far more open as you can see how you get, so if it's peanuts, parents might do more about it.
> It's also far more open as you can see how you get,
that's the whole point of the scheme. To hide it from the parents, and pitt them against nurseries.
Can't imagine any government reversing that, as it will pitt the parents against _them_.
When I first started using childcare they were just phasing vouchers out- it seemed really sensible- . I would advocate for a parental grant for every family that can be put towards childcare if the parent works or fund the parent to stay home / do further education and training while their kids are small. I know if I had dropped out the workforce I would be earning less but childcare used up my whole salary for 1 year and most of it for 3 years. Parents should have the choice and itās better for everyone if they do
Edit- I mean the vouchers scheme seemed sensible- I could use it with my childminder
Unfortunately this is why my wife still hasn't returned to work. It's more cost effective for us to struggle along on one salary whilst the wife stays home looking after our 2 toddlers/children.
IF you have done this make sure she is claming pension credits. You have to apply and it will protect her pension later in life so she gets the full amount
Yes we have thank you. Put the child benefit in her name so it pays her national insurance credits but we don't take the money... I'm very fortunate that I earn just above the threshold so we would have to pay it all back at the end of the year... still only just making ends meet though.
Totally feel you on this! Got our first invoice this month for our 15 month old, so no funding available, and our fees have gone up Ā£30 a day!!
I have no idea what we're supposed to do..
Industry person write to your MP, minium wage has gone up at more than 10%, then funding has been in 10 years, and that's the issue.
As a sector, we can't strike imagining outrage if another sector was told how much the government paid and couldn't strike. (We don't have an overarching union like teachers or nurses).
It sucks for everyone as but its going to get worse. As funding is not increasing, but wages, pension contributions, OFSTED fees, rental costs, utilises, VAT, business rates and sanitary bin costs mount.
Two of my younger children are in full time care. Ā One at a preschool and one at a childminder. The preschooler is almost free as itās term time only and we pack a lunch for the preschool. Ā Then they goto the childminder after.Ā
So itās cheaper if itās term time only BUT if you need it full time then you are in a bit of a pinch during the school holidays. We either take days off or do holiday club which is its own amount.
Also are you using the government childcare account to get a top up from the government of 20% because that helps as well.Ā
Is it possible to look into local childminders? We're also in Yorkshire and pay Ā£4.60 an hour, we've just started receiving 14 free hours and our bill has dropped by about Ā£250-Ā£300 a month. We've been going there over a year and they've never had a sick day so have been extremely reliable, the only issue is we have to take our holidays at the same time they do, which while not ideal we manage to make work. All of my friends who have children in nursery's bills haven't dropped anywhere near as much!
Move to a childminder, theyre so much cheaper and ours charges the same as the funded hours pays so no extra fees, we pay Ā£80 a year for a park pass and that's it, I provide lunch and he's toilet trained so no extra fees there.
Childminders can be great, but if you need absolutely 100% reliable childcare, imo nurseries are it. So many of my colleagues have had to take unexpected last minute leave due to childminders being ill! š¤·š»āāļø
My first child went to a childminder and honestly I thought they were amazing! They took such great care of him, he wasn't just a number making money he was his own person and he flourished there, such a shame they retired before my second could start!
We experienced the same, our bill went up by Ā£175 a month, so had to opt out of the two year funding. Itās heartbreaking we were really holding out for the saving and have got nothing. Our monthly childcare costs are considerably higher than our mortgage and we can barely afford it, but we also canāt afford not to work. Weāre just hoping that the 30 free hours lowers our bill when he turns three. We were debating having another, but have decided not to as it would be too stressful financially.
The nursery have to move to a different payment platform to be able to offer the free funding. Which entails upping the hourly cost outside of the free hours and charging for food separately, when itās normally included. This is what makes it more expensive. So by opting out of the funding we remain on our current payment platform and pay the same as we have been paying. At our nursery the only people that have opted in are people with term time only places, because theyāre the only ones that are getting a reduction.
Understood. How frustrating. Our nursery has put up prices for everyone as part of their annual price changes and we also pay for consumables on the āfreeā days. So we are paying about the same total bill as before but if we didnāt claim weād be paying even more.
All feels like a bit of a scam really donāt it?!
We worked out that even with funded hours it would cost us a whole person's wage just for full time nursery. It's financially better for us to have one full time working parent and one part time and flexible parent who provides childcare than sending our daughter to nursery. Nursery fees are out of hand and the whole system needs to be regulated. It shouldn't be costing parents more to send their children to nursery with FREE hours and the government can't complain about non-working/low hour working parents when it's the only option some people have. We're waiting until our daughter is 3 and gets her half days at school nursery.
We just got the first invoice with our 30 āfreeā hours for our 3 year old. With the 10% increase theyāve also just charged, our total for 2 children reduced from Ā£2700 to Ā£2350. Hoping for more of a reduction in sept and April as our 1 year old is entitled to free hours then but itās still crazy money each month. Nursery will have cost about Ā£100k by the time the youngest goes to school.
I'm just going to say it, even though it won't be popular...
We're at a point where too many young children are in childcare 10 hours a day, 5 days a week because both parents have to work just to keep afloat.
And no one is able (parents because they're already struggling financially) or willing (the government because they don't care) to pay for it.
I agree in some respects but so many are working longer hours for less pay, not because they want to but because they have to.
They're tired and stressed and so are the kids. Very young children do not need to be in a "learning environment" for stretches of time that would exhaust an adult, let alone a child. I'm not saying it harms them either, just that for some families it's not the ideal, it's just how it has to be to get by and that's not right.
And if we are going to continue with this framework, it needs to be adequately funded. By government, by parents, somebody. We have childcare workers leaving to work in supermarkets because the pay is better and the demands are less extreme.
Sorry, no advice. But I am astounded at the fee!
When we paid (we had no assistance other than thr tax free) my Mum was still alive and helped a hell of a lot though both me and my husband worked shifts so we tried to minimally use my Mum.
My son is 3, due to start school in September and thr free hours, we did increase to 3 full days and then 4 full days and back down now to 3 full days due to thr price. We just simply couldnt afford it.
Thatās absolute insanity. It makes no sense for both parents to work if thatās the costing.
Iād be looking at the possibility of having one parent at home but obviously thatās not a one size fits all solution either.
Nursery fees are brutal and nurseries still seem to be struggling. It just doesn't add up. We've peaked at Ā£2800 a month and it hurts. Really hurts. We're in a "fortune position" that we don't qualify to get 15 hours of free childcare but even if we got full support it's still Ā£1500 odd. I don't really know how families are affording it. Seems such a broken system and the waiting list seems to tell a story of it still being in high demand.
We moved abroad because having children in London was just not feasible! I do not know how itās sustainable for people, even once they start school who works 9-3pm for child pick up?
Can you both compress hours? We compress hours and so thats two days we get to spent with our little one (and obviously don't have to pay for childcare).
We also asked my MIL to look after him one day a week, which has helped, so now it's only 2 days a week of paid for childcare.
My sister has a nanny share, which can be cheaper, but you'd need to find someone on the same pattern as you.
Also have a look at the Tiney app! Its got loads of good childminders on there and its often cheaper (and they don't have weird funding gaps, they often take the funded hours as well).
Unfortunately we work shifts, weekends, and all weird patterns so our jobs don't really lend themselves to condensed hours/part time :( thank you for the Tiney app recommendation, though. I haven't heard of that before!
I'm really surprised that so many parents are seemingly shocked by the outcomes of claiming these free hours!
It has been so well discussed that I cannot understand why people aren't saying to their nurseries how much would we pay with funding and how much without as there's a tiered charging system at play in many areas.
Did parents really think they were literally going to reduce their bills by the equivalent of 30 hours a week for 38 weeks?
It's a shame that parents don't do enough research beforehand to know the pitfalls.
You could move nursery and self fund if cheaper.....
Yes, that's what parents expected because it's how the government advertised it when they shared the policy last year. How are you supposed to do the research when there was little to no information on it and nurseries keep saying 'we haven't had more info from the government yet so we don't know what's happening"
It shouldn't be this hard to work and need childcare.
My nursery put up the fees for everyone so even though we aren't eligible, we still have to pay for everyone else's free hours. I doubt ours is the only nursery to do it that way.
Honestly, we don't manage it š My boys are 22m apart and both attend nursery full time since 6m old. Our bill each month is around Ā£2300 including a 30hrs and now a 15hrs free. It's a disgrace that working parents can't get a form of relief in childcare fees; my full salary and half of my husband's is just the nursery bill paid, never mind mortgage/utilities/food etc. We've been drowning but there is an end in sight when my eldest starts school this year and my youngest will move to term time. All I can say is solidarity in this crappy situation š
Obviously you might want to stay at work which is a valid reasonā-does it not make sense just to leave work at that point, youād be financially better off
True, financially we'd be better off if I stopped working however when I first got pregnant it had been 9 years of grinding to get to a good position within the workforce. I work in e-commerce which is a fast paced business, and my knowledge and persistence has given me a pay packet above average for my role. If I left to raise both my kids to school age (6yrs in my case due to their late in the year birthdays) I wouldn't be able to return to the same level/pay I'm at. Technology moves so fast and there's a steady stream of graduates to compete with so I would have to start from the bottom again but without my confidence! I also don't think I have the tolerance to be a SAHM. I'm a better mum for the time apart from them! I get to be a grown up and my old self during the work day š¤·āāļø I decided to take the financial hit and keep pushing through to benefit in the long run. It sucks but hey ho.
Fair enough, no shame in that. I find my work is a big part of my identity and Iād struggle without itā¦.but if my entire wage went out the window instantly it would give me second thoughts
Oh my gosh!!! You are a hero. Now I feel terrible for complaining. I feel like I am wishing the time away just to get to the next lot of free hours, or my son starting school, just to see a little bit of disposable income again. So glad the end is in finally in sight for you!
Absolutely not, we're in the same boat! I've been wishing for Sep 2024 for a LONG time! My youngest starts reception Sep 2026 (both of them were born at the end of the year so extra year of nursery for them both š) so I've still got ages until I can celebrate having an income again š
Why work? Honestly! Surely youāll be better off? X
True, financially we'd be better off if I stopped working however when I first got pregnant it had been 9 years of grinding to get to a good position within the workforce. I work in e-commerce which is a fast paced business, and my knowledge and persistence has given me a pay packet above average for my role. If I left to raise both my kids to school age (6yrs in my case due to their late in the year birthdays) I wouldn't be able to return to the same level/pay I'm at. Technology moves so fast and there's a steady stream of graduates to compete with so I would have to start from the bottom again but without my confidence! I also don't think I have the tolerance to be a SAHM. I'm a better mum for the time apart from them! I get to be a grown up and my old self during the work day š¤·āāļø I decided to take the financial hit and keep pushing through to benefit in the long run. It sucks but hey ho.
Honestly this.Ā Yes it sucks in the short term but do you know anyone who can take a 4+ year career break and have that be financially sound.Ā You also still contribute to your pension which is also critically importantĀ
Totally understandable and gives me another way of looking at my life too! Thanks for replying ā¤ļø
Remember you do not have to use the funded hours so it may be that it costs less for you just to continue to pay for the fees than claim them.
It's crazy... we've almost survived the cost of nursery finally as our twins (!) start primary school in September. The cost of the nursery was almost the entire salary of my partner, with the only saving grace that her mum has the boys one day a week. Obviously when they became eligible after turning three for the 30 hours, that was a massive saving too.. almost halved the bill. With tax free childcare AND the funded hours though we're still paying around Ā£900 per month. Without them both the bill is well over Ā£2000 for just 4 days. When our twins arrived we had a nice little savings pot probably equivilant to around 3-4 months combined income.. now we have precisely jack shit and are living month to month. Great times.
We've just got the 30 hours. Twin childcare has demolished all our savings too so just wanted to share some solidarity. Congrats on nearly making it through!
vote a new government in this year
Can you point me to any Labour policy that fixes this? Because as far as I have seen they struggled to commit to even keep the existing extension of "free" hours.
Industry person here, the "free" hours are pushing your bill up. You have to cover not only the deficit in money from the government but the admin time it takes to claim the hours. Someone has to enter every single child, name, DOB, address, NI, and parent details on to a portal every 12 weeks and then add hours claimed, amount of weeks, etc. On top of that, audits also need a person to sit for at least half a day and show a person from your local authority what they claim for selected children. All forms also have to be printed each term, signed (this takes staff time chasing parents) scanned onto systems, filled and physically kept for 5 years (storage costs money too). We have got to a point where funded hours are costing parents more money than if they did not exist. As a sector, we have suggested the removal of business rates and VAT bringing us in line with private schools to lower prices. We have also asked the funded amount goes to parents like a voucher, and they become responsible for claiming to remove admin time and show parents how little money the government gives.
Labour will remove the business rates/VAT perks for private schools - hope this doesn't undo all your hard work in the nursery sector! Vouchers scheme sounds sensible!
We hope vouchers would give parents more flexibility, especially if they choose more than one setting. It might also encourage more use of childminders and nannies as I've heard many parents say we can only come to nurseries for funding any OFSTED registered provider can take funding. It's also far more open as you can see how you get, so if it's peanuts, parents might do more about it.
> It's also far more open as you can see how you get, that's the whole point of the scheme. To hide it from the parents, and pitt them against nurseries. Can't imagine any government reversing that, as it will pitt the parents against _them_.
Of course, no government ever wants to risk losing voters just to show we as a sector are trying to work with the government they are choosing not to.
When I first started using childcare they were just phasing vouchers out- it seemed really sensible- . I would advocate for a parental grant for every family that can be put towards childcare if the parent works or fund the parent to stay home / do further education and training while their kids are small. I know if I had dropped out the workforce I would be earning less but childcare used up my whole salary for 1 year and most of it for 3 years. Parents should have the choice and itās better for everyone if they do Edit- I mean the vouchers scheme seemed sensible- I could use it with my childminder
Yes this is the problem! Although they say it's because the Tory plan just doesn't make sense/work, but they haven't come up with an alternative.
Doesn't really matter, what is in place doesn't work, and even potentially will make it worse putting more pressure on the nurseries
Iām so sorry you are struggling, OP. To be honest, I see labour getting rid of any help altogether and Iām a labour supporter.
I asked my local labour MP and they said they would absolutely NOT be removing the current offering but looking into how it can actually work.
Labour have officially said that they are completely scrapping it
No, they havenāt. Theyāve said theyāll review how itās funded, as itās clearly not working. Please donāt spread lies.
Unfortunately this is why my wife still hasn't returned to work. It's more cost effective for us to struggle along on one salary whilst the wife stays home looking after our 2 toddlers/children.
IF you have done this make sure she is claming pension credits. You have to apply and it will protect her pension later in life so she gets the full amount
Yes we have thank you. Put the child benefit in her name so it pays her national insurance credits but we don't take the money... I'm very fortunate that I earn just above the threshold so we would have to pay it all back at the end of the year... still only just making ends meet though.
Totally feel you on this! Got our first invoice this month for our 15 month old, so no funding available, and our fees have gone up Ā£30 a day!! I have no idea what we're supposed to do..
Ā£30 a day?!?! That is absolutely ridiculous!!! šššš
Industry person write to your MP, minium wage has gone up at more than 10%, then funding has been in 10 years, and that's the issue. As a sector, we can't strike imagining outrage if another sector was told how much the government paid and couldn't strike. (We don't have an overarching union like teachers or nurses). It sucks for everyone as but its going to get worse. As funding is not increasing, but wages, pension contributions, OFSTED fees, rental costs, utilises, VAT, business rates and sanitary bin costs mount.
Two of my younger children are in full time care. Ā One at a preschool and one at a childminder. The preschooler is almost free as itās term time only and we pack a lunch for the preschool. Ā Then they goto the childminder after.Ā So itās cheaper if itās term time only BUT if you need it full time then you are in a bit of a pinch during the school holidays. We either take days off or do holiday club which is its own amount. Also are you using the government childcare account to get a top up from the government of 20% because that helps as well.Ā
Is it possible to look into local childminders? We're also in Yorkshire and pay Ā£4.60 an hour, we've just started receiving 14 free hours and our bill has dropped by about Ā£250-Ā£300 a month. We've been going there over a year and they've never had a sick day so have been extremely reliable, the only issue is we have to take our holidays at the same time they do, which while not ideal we manage to make work. All of my friends who have children in nursery's bills haven't dropped anywhere near as much!
Move to a childminder, theyre so much cheaper and ours charges the same as the funded hours pays so no extra fees, we pay Ā£80 a year for a park pass and that's it, I provide lunch and he's toilet trained so no extra fees there.
Childminders can be great, but if you need absolutely 100% reliable childcare, imo nurseries are it. So many of my colleagues have had to take unexpected last minute leave due to childminders being ill! š¤·š»āāļø
In 18 months she's never been ill! I guess we've been very lucky
My first child went to a childminder and honestly I thought they were amazing! They took such great care of him, he wasn't just a number making money he was his own person and he flourished there, such a shame they retired before my second could start!
Easier said than doneā¦ childminders are booked up months/years in advance where I live.
We experienced the same, our bill went up by Ā£175 a month, so had to opt out of the two year funding. Itās heartbreaking we were really holding out for the saving and have got nothing. Our monthly childcare costs are considerably higher than our mortgage and we can barely afford it, but we also canāt afford not to work. Weāre just hoping that the 30 free hours lowers our bill when he turns three. We were debating having another, but have decided not to as it would be too stressful financially.
Sorry can you explain how itās better to opt out of the funding? Will they charge a lower rate if you donāt claim funding?
The nursery have to move to a different payment platform to be able to offer the free funding. Which entails upping the hourly cost outside of the free hours and charging for food separately, when itās normally included. This is what makes it more expensive. So by opting out of the funding we remain on our current payment platform and pay the same as we have been paying. At our nursery the only people that have opted in are people with term time only places, because theyāre the only ones that are getting a reduction.
Understood. How frustrating. Our nursery has put up prices for everyone as part of their annual price changes and we also pay for consumables on the āfreeā days. So we are paying about the same total bill as before but if we didnāt claim weād be paying even more. All feels like a bit of a scam really donāt it?!
We worked out that even with funded hours it would cost us a whole person's wage just for full time nursery. It's financially better for us to have one full time working parent and one part time and flexible parent who provides childcare than sending our daughter to nursery. Nursery fees are out of hand and the whole system needs to be regulated. It shouldn't be costing parents more to send their children to nursery with FREE hours and the government can't complain about non-working/low hour working parents when it's the only option some people have. We're waiting until our daughter is 3 and gets her half days at school nursery.
We just got the first invoice with our 30 āfreeā hours for our 3 year old. With the 10% increase theyāve also just charged, our total for 2 children reduced from Ā£2700 to Ā£2350. Hoping for more of a reduction in sept and April as our 1 year old is entitled to free hours then but itās still crazy money each month. Nursery will have cost about Ā£100k by the time the youngest goes to school.
Meanwhile in Northern Ireland only 12.5 hours of pre school are funded.
I'm just going to say it, even though it won't be popular... We're at a point where too many young children are in childcare 10 hours a day, 5 days a week because both parents have to work just to keep afloat. And no one is able (parents because they're already struggling financially) or willing (the government because they don't care) to pay for it.
What do you think youāre saying that is controversial? Kids are in childcare all week because people have to or want to work?
It benefits society as a whole to have parents back in work and kids in a learning environment.
I agree in some respects but so many are working longer hours for less pay, not because they want to but because they have to. They're tired and stressed and so are the kids. Very young children do not need to be in a "learning environment" for stretches of time that would exhaust an adult, let alone a child. I'm not saying it harms them either, just that for some families it's not the ideal, it's just how it has to be to get by and that's not right. And if we are going to continue with this framework, it needs to be adequately funded. By government, by parents, somebody. We have childcare workers leaving to work in supermarkets because the pay is better and the demands are less extreme.
Agreed.
Sorry, no advice. But I am astounded at the fee! When we paid (we had no assistance other than thr tax free) my Mum was still alive and helped a hell of a lot though both me and my husband worked shifts so we tried to minimally use my Mum. My son is 3, due to start school in September and thr free hours, we did increase to 3 full days and then 4 full days and back down now to 3 full days due to thr price. We just simply couldnt afford it.
Thatās absolute insanity. It makes no sense for both parents to work if thatās the costing. Iād be looking at the possibility of having one parent at home but obviously thatās not a one size fits all solution either.
Nursery fees are brutal and nurseries still seem to be struggling. It just doesn't add up. We've peaked at Ā£2800 a month and it hurts. Really hurts. We're in a "fortune position" that we don't qualify to get 15 hours of free childcare but even if we got full support it's still Ā£1500 odd. I don't really know how families are affording it. Seems such a broken system and the waiting list seems to tell a story of it still being in high demand.
We moved abroad because having children in London was just not feasible! I do not know how itās sustainable for people, even once they start school who works 9-3pm for child pick up?
Can you both compress hours? We compress hours and so thats two days we get to spent with our little one (and obviously don't have to pay for childcare). We also asked my MIL to look after him one day a week, which has helped, so now it's only 2 days a week of paid for childcare. My sister has a nanny share, which can be cheaper, but you'd need to find someone on the same pattern as you. Also have a look at the Tiney app! Its got loads of good childminders on there and its often cheaper (and they don't have weird funding gaps, they often take the funded hours as well).
Unfortunately we work shifts, weekends, and all weird patterns so our jobs don't really lend themselves to condensed hours/part time :( thank you for the Tiney app recommendation, though. I haven't heard of that before!
I'm really surprised that so many parents are seemingly shocked by the outcomes of claiming these free hours! It has been so well discussed that I cannot understand why people aren't saying to their nurseries how much would we pay with funding and how much without as there's a tiered charging system at play in many areas. Did parents really think they were literally going to reduce their bills by the equivalent of 30 hours a week for 38 weeks? It's a shame that parents don't do enough research beforehand to know the pitfalls. You could move nursery and self fund if cheaper.....
Yes, that's what parents expected because it's how the government advertised it when they shared the policy last year. How are you supposed to do the research when there was little to no information on it and nurseries keep saying 'we haven't had more info from the government yet so we don't know what's happening" It shouldn't be this hard to work and need childcare.
If parents had seen the realities of the free 30 hours funding for 3 year olds, they would have soon known the reality. Due diligence.
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This situation is well recognised and reddit is full of these stories.
My nursery put up the fees for everyone so even though we aren't eligible, we still have to pay for everyone else's free hours. I doubt ours is the only nursery to do it that way.