How much roughly for childcare?

[Supermum26]

Hi all.

I am thinking of returning to work part time from September. But I wanted to get an idea of childcare costs. My oldest will be at nursery every day. (only afternoons) but will need him to probably be dropped to nursery and picked up. And then my other lil one will have to be looked after from the time my oldest is dropped into his collected and then probably for an hour after.

My question really is how do you work out prices! Is it an hourly rate or would it be a days pay even tho there only half days. Hopefully you can understand what I am trying to say!

Many thanks.

[Helen GV]

Probably worth calling a few childminders?

You may need to pay for a full day for each child, or maybe a higher hourly rate, but each childminder has his or her own way of charging so its difficult to generalise.

Also probably worth asking if there are any other parents whose child has the same nursery hours as your child whether they could help? Some of them may be registered themselves, or you could do reciprocal childcare?

Could you go back to work two or three full days rather than half days? (though I may have misunderstood your post)

[Supermum26]

Thank you. I'll look into it. To be honest I didn't think of that, I could look Into that. It maybe easier for me to get around doing actual whole days rather then every day half day.

Thanks really appriciate the advise, sometimes you need to have others input to have a clearer view on things.

😊

[Helen GV]

I think other people's dilemmas are always much easier to deal with!

Good luck x