Nurseries nightmare!!

Nurseries pretty much have no choice but to up their prices becos the funded hours from the government aren’t enough to actually cover having a child there. Let’s say it costs them £5 a day to have the child there, the government is only funding £2/3 of that. The government have made a huge song and dance about the funded hours for working parents whilst ripping everyone off. You can do the tax free 20% off on top of the free hours to help a little.

You’ve been hoodwinked by the government as was their intention. There is a song and dance about it, but what they pay is nowhere near enough to provide the standard of care that you would want for your kid. Nurseries aren’t the bad guy here. There are lots of documentaries about this vote grabbing initiative that puts nurseries in the villain position.

Yup we have had this. Our nursery is now £82 a day. For 3 days a week, including 22 hours stretched funding a week I still pay £500 a month

Thank you Bex, I'll look into it. Am I right in thinking that all nurseries are private? To avoid these cost increases I have been looking for public nurseries but I can't find any...

@Simona public nurseries are pre-school 3-4 years of age and attached to a primary school.

@Terri I might be looking after the wrong/posh nurseries then...my husband and I will need 5 days a week and we can't find anything less then £1800/£2000 per month...Is it normal?

We are in Essex and pay £78 a day which includes all meals, snacks and nappies. I’d look at what the price includes as well as I think what we pay is very reasonable for having everything included, as well as nursery policies, flexibility on your schedule (eg they will follow your home schedule), what activities they participate in, qualifications of staff etc

Thanks @Emily Timbrell , @Terri . I am in North London and at the moment the daily rates I saw are around £110 a day, so £1000 for 3 days everything included. I guess I have to search more🙈

You could try looking into childminders as they can be cheaper than nurseries. You could also consider making a statutory flexible working request and changing your work hours to potentially save nursery fees. But as others say the funded hours are a bit of scam really.

I’m in London and it’s really hard to find funded places! A lot of nurseries aren’t offering it or have limited spots or they still need to charge x amount for food/consumables which they’ve made higher because in reality what the government is offering doesn’t translate in practice. You can’t just get 15/30hours totally free, it becomes a subsidised hour and then lots of nurseries are putting up costs so it doesn’t feel like much of a saving at all and that’s if you can get a place. It’s misleading because you can’t look at fees per hour and just deduct 15. It’ll end up being a much smaller saving. My 15 month old goes to a childminder 4 days which is £120! We use tax free childcare so we get a small rebate which is capped at £500 each quarter. It is an amazing setting though so justifying it. From 2 she has to go to nursery so trying to find somewhere and it’s so hard. And then on top of cost it’s hard to find availability and a decent nursery. Then will have this baby to factor in.

Unfortunately school places usually start from the September after your little one has turned 3, so would be 3.5 for a Feb baby. They are school time so shorter hours and school holidays etc. to figure out with wrap around care but it’s an option for later on. And from 3 the funded hours is better managed than the 15 from 9 months. Basically the government are doingnit but say they provide say 15 ‘free’ hours but at a rate of say £6/hour but if in London it’s £15/hour well then the nursery still need £9 paid plus consumables so ends up a small saving. But if you were regional it might have a better impact because the rate is the same across the country. That’s my understanding on how it actually translates & why it doesn’t add up. Check our pregnant than screwed, they have some info.

@Lauren I hear you...how did you find your childminder?

@Simona She is amazing and feel so lucky to of found this setting as childminders can be hit/miss. She is a ‘young’ 70 year old and been doing this for 30 years. Very reliable. There are 2 carers and 6 kids so still 1 to 3 ratio. They have their own cots and sleep in rooms separate to play area. She does a handwritten journal. They follow a curriculum but all through play. Lovely home cooked meals. Feel like I’m leaving her at the equivalent of a grandparent but one who is trained. My girl loves it and settled in so well and feels less daunting than a big nursery environment. It is costly and no free hours (but we do get the tax rebate and she closes a couple of weeks for holidays and we don’t pay those days which in nursery you have to). We saw some questionable ones when looking but there are good ones.

If you can go in and speak to the staff at the nursery if you really like it. I visited a few and there all sooo different. My daughter at present goes to 2 nurseries. 1, I pay for and the other I don't due to there opening times. I use most of my funding for the private one and I jusy pay for meals. I went to another nursery who only offered the funding hours at certain times so it would have cost me an arm and a leg. The reason also why I say try and speak face to face is my next door neighbour managed to secure a slightly different option for her child as she as she doesn't get as much funding as me and they accommodated.

We only do 9-2:30 3 days a week and we pay £50 month. I have friends paying £500 though so it depends on the nursery, what hours you want. If you want 8-6pm 5 days a week I think you do end up paying a lot of money still 🫣😩

@Simona Mine is around £1000 a month for 3 days, so if we did 5 days it would be around that 😩 it’s just ridiculous isn’t it

@Lucy can I ask where are you based? And is it a nursery or childminder?

@Simona nursery preschool.. I use 15 hours monday-wed 9am-2:45pm. Thame, Oxfordshire. I think when people want outside these hours, that's when nurseries start charging a lot.. another nursery around the corner wanted to charge me £400-£500 because of the extra hour from 8am