I found that it’s not just flexible working that’s part of the problem. Nursery’s operate until about 6pm so any job where you can’t finish before then is just not viable unless you have other support networks.
Having said that I found nursery a lot easier to balance time wise than school which finishes in the middle of the afternoon and has a huge amount of holiday weeks in comparison to most work.
Nursery was also horrendously expensive and for a number of years it cost me to go to work. Having said that they were also brilliant and unbelievably good value for money.
Not surprising really when it’s an average of £14.5k for the first year after maternity leave, that’s over £20k after tax salary. If you want more than one child or have twins you would need £40k salary (assuming student loan) post tax to break even. Doesn’t take in to account the 15 hours free. However if you spend the large majority of your salary, it makes sense to not work and stay with the child
I think it just makes economic sense for many. They’re most productive looking after their children.
Such a sad fact. Would be great to live in a country where mothers who wanted to work were supported by the government to do so. We have some of the highest nursery costs in the world. It would be economically wise for the government to incentivise mothers to stay in work. It wouldn’t be hard either, the government could just up the tax free childcare contribution from the measly £166/month to something higher
Maintained nursery schools are not horrendously expensive at all – they are mostly free (except out of hours care but that is also very affordable). They cater for children at 3yrs old but some even cater for 2yr olds. More parent should be aware of them because they are not very advertised. Bankrupt councils are now looking to close them so make a noise.
Only one in ten? I would have thought it was more given the cost of child care. In my family it’s 2/6.
So much better for the kids unless it means poverty. Putting them in daycare from 2 then before and after school clubs is fucking miserable. What’s even the point
We spent more on nursery than my wife earned. She didn’t want to quite her job as she’d been there ten years at that point and it turned out to be a decent decision in end. But we’d pay from 7am to 6pm 5 days a week and that was so my wife could work from 9am to 4pm. We had to paid in one our blocks and it wad generally just under an hour from nursery to her work but most employers don’t like you turning up exactly at 9 anyway. I wasn’t much help as I worked 8:30 to 5:30 and was about an hour commute in the opposite direction, or I’d be working away.
It would have worked out that she get’s paid juuuust a bit more than we were spending. Only they had a habbit of telling us we needed to collect our kid because she’d been sick or something and we’d still have to pay for the full day but my wife would lose most of her days wages. Factor in fuel costs and wear and tear on a vehicle and it’s absolutely a losing game.
It’s no wonder people give up working.
Having two in nursery, even with the 30 free hours for the bigger one, wiped out my monthly earnings. We had to see it as an investment in my future earnings and take the hit until the big one started school.
As a PP said, school is infinitely more of a PITA to work around. Between patchy wraparound provision and the school holidays, it can be really hard to work full time when your kids are in primary school.
That honestly still seems low to me from what I know from friends.
Still find it sad its something you have to balance out. Work should pay well enough by default or childcare should be cheaper to keep being able to work without issues. Or on the opposite side you shouldn’t be strapped for cash that 1 parent can just not work and take care of children.
I think introducing higher wages for those with children may be an idea, or extending maternity pay? It’s just nursery’s are completely unaffordable for people, thus someone has to stay home to save money to raise the kid. It’s almost always the Mother.
It was expensive when I was a kid, to the point my parents probably could have put my sister and I through private school over the years if it were not so expensive. Nursery was bad enough, but then that became breakfast club, after school club and holiday club. I had a great time at those and the woman who ran some of those is still a family friend all these years later. It still cost an arm and a leg though, money which could have been saved for our futures instead. Again, the staff were lovely and I have some brilliant memories but it was not an easy choice for my mum to make to continue working instead of taking care of us directly, however we would have been even worse off without her income (my dad was only ever on minimum wage otherwise). More needs to be done by companies to encourage a proper work/life balance and hybrid working showed us all that it can be done without any hassle for most.
I work at a loss every month in a profession that requires a postgraduate degree and a 2:1 in your undergrad. In February, I’m starting a job that pays £50,000 and, after deductions and the costs of working, I’ll still be at a loss every month.
It’s super great that the government have given so much notice on the childcare reforms they’re bringing in so that nurseries have as much time as possible to absorb the entire funding and not actually reduce their prices at all. My kids’ nursery has put prices up 60% despite making over £1,000,000 in profit last year.
I’m surprised it’s that low to be honest, the BBC are basically saying 90% of them handle it somehow.
I never realised how much childcare costs have risen until this week. My daughters child minder has had to shut for 6 months. The nearest she can get to her home and work, will cost her £1200 a month. That is 90% of my daughters take home pay.
15 comments
I found that it’s not just flexible working that’s part of the problem. Nursery’s operate until about 6pm so any job where you can’t finish before then is just not viable unless you have other support networks.
Having said that I found nursery a lot easier to balance time wise than school which finishes in the middle of the afternoon and has a huge amount of holiday weeks in comparison to most work.
Nursery was also horrendously expensive and for a number of years it cost me to go to work. Having said that they were also brilliant and unbelievably good value for money.
Not surprising really when it’s an average of £14.5k for the first year after maternity leave, that’s over £20k after tax salary. If you want more than one child or have twins you would need £40k salary (assuming student loan) post tax to break even. Doesn’t take in to account the 15 hours free. However if you spend the large majority of your salary, it makes sense to not work and stay with the child
I think it just makes economic sense for many. They’re most productive looking after their children.
Such a sad fact. Would be great to live in a country where mothers who wanted to work were supported by the government to do so. We have some of the highest nursery costs in the world. It would be economically wise for the government to incentivise mothers to stay in work. It wouldn’t be hard either, the government could just up the tax free childcare contribution from the measly £166/month to something higher
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/sep/12/how-do-uk-childcare-costs-stack-up-against-the-best
Maintained nursery schools are not horrendously expensive at all – they are mostly free (except out of hours care but that is also very affordable). They cater for children at 3yrs old but some even cater for 2yr olds. More parent should be aware of them because they are not very advertised. Bankrupt councils are now looking to close them so make a noise.
Only one in ten? I would have thought it was more given the cost of child care. In my family it’s 2/6.
So much better for the kids unless it means poverty. Putting them in daycare from 2 then before and after school clubs is fucking miserable. What’s even the point
We spent more on nursery than my wife earned. She didn’t want to quite her job as she’d been there ten years at that point and it turned out to be a decent decision in end. But we’d pay from 7am to 6pm 5 days a week and that was so my wife could work from 9am to 4pm. We had to paid in one our blocks and it wad generally just under an hour from nursery to her work but most employers don’t like you turning up exactly at 9 anyway. I wasn’t much help as I worked 8:30 to 5:30 and was about an hour commute in the opposite direction, or I’d be working away.
It would have worked out that she get’s paid juuuust a bit more than we were spending. Only they had a habbit of telling us we needed to collect our kid because she’d been sick or something and we’d still have to pay for the full day but my wife would lose most of her days wages. Factor in fuel costs and wear and tear on a vehicle and it’s absolutely a losing game.
It’s no wonder people give up working.
Having two in nursery, even with the 30 free hours for the bigger one, wiped out my monthly earnings. We had to see it as an investment in my future earnings and take the hit until the big one started school.
As a PP said, school is infinitely more of a PITA to work around. Between patchy wraparound provision and the school holidays, it can be really hard to work full time when your kids are in primary school.
That honestly still seems low to me from what I know from friends.
Still find it sad its something you have to balance out. Work should pay well enough by default or childcare should be cheaper to keep being able to work without issues. Or on the opposite side you shouldn’t be strapped for cash that 1 parent can just not work and take care of children.
I think introducing higher wages for those with children may be an idea, or extending maternity pay? It’s just nursery’s are completely unaffordable for people, thus someone has to stay home to save money to raise the kid. It’s almost always the Mother.
It was expensive when I was a kid, to the point my parents probably could have put my sister and I through private school over the years if it were not so expensive. Nursery was bad enough, but then that became breakfast club, after school club and holiday club. I had a great time at those and the woman who ran some of those is still a family friend all these years later. It still cost an arm and a leg though, money which could have been saved for our futures instead. Again, the staff were lovely and I have some brilliant memories but it was not an easy choice for my mum to make to continue working instead of taking care of us directly, however we would have been even worse off without her income (my dad was only ever on minimum wage otherwise). More needs to be done by companies to encourage a proper work/life balance and hybrid working showed us all that it can be done without any hassle for most.
I work at a loss every month in a profession that requires a postgraduate degree and a 2:1 in your undergrad. In February, I’m starting a job that pays £50,000 and, after deductions and the costs of working, I’ll still be at a loss every month.
It’s super great that the government have given so much notice on the childcare reforms they’re bringing in so that nurseries have as much time as possible to absorb the entire funding and not actually reduce their prices at all. My kids’ nursery has put prices up 60% despite making over £1,000,000 in profit last year.
I’m surprised it’s that low to be honest, the BBC are basically saying 90% of them handle it somehow.
I never realised how much childcare costs have risen until this week. My daughters child minder has had to shut for 6 months. The nearest she can get to her home and work, will cost her £1200 a month. That is 90% of my daughters take home pay.