Childcare a luxury...

[Blaze]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-childcare-among-priciest-world-010717844.html

:mad: Ummm - well we(UK) are one of the highest taxed, work the longest hours have the least amount of holiday/bank holidays & have a v. high cost of living...so perhaps childcare simply reflects this???:rolleyes:

[Tinglesnark]

I read that too, there was no talk of how much we actually charge though was there? I hate one sided articles like that, they really should be made to write both sides of any one story! :angry:

[candylove13]

I found the comments underneath the article more interesting. Why that lady is ranting over the fact she has to pay when her child is ill and keep him at home until full health is beyond me. As childcare providers we too have bills to pay, houses to run ect. I have yet to meet a childminder that charges anything near the mininum wage per hour and yet we are labelled as too expensive.

[Blaze]

I found the comments underneath the article more interesting. Why that lady is ranting over the fact she has to pay when her child is ill and keep him at home until full health is beyond me. As childcare providers we too have bills to pay, houses to run ect. I have yet to meet a childminder that charges anything near the mininum wage per hour and yet we are labelled as too expensive.

Yes but you've forgetten then £x X x spaces X x hours = ££££££'s:mad: :rolleyes: ...everyone always forgets that very rarely are all hours & spaces filled ...& that roughly 50% is expenses then there's the possibility of tax.;..then that figure has to be taken against amount of hours actually worked (behind the scenes & training included) & that's how much we get paid which is a pittence & a lot less then most would work for!:rolleyes:

[dollydally]

Yep, I have two under 5's for two days (I have my own 4 year old too), I work two 9.5 hour days. As they are siblings, there was a small reduction for one, i don't charge for food (stupidly) so by the time I average it out over the two days, per hour, I'm getting less than minimum wage. For what is essentially sometimes, two days of utter hell! Add to that the two hours I lay awake in bed this morning dreading getting up and it's not good! Think it's about time I gave notice to these two.

[Jayse74]

All this does is make Childminders look bad! Another thing that really bothers me is why do the tv people always use netmums for tv interviews? is it just me assuming the wrong thing?

There's never a two sided argument about these things with the media. My partner will do the school run in a bit and pick up 3 mindee's. I bet there will be a small group of parents going on about how high her fee's are. We charge way under national minium wage and we keep getting comments about how they would not get out of bed for that kinda money.

[Pipsqueak]

ooh this will tie in nicely with this thread....

http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/general-coffeehouse-chat-514/news-current-affairs-topical-discussion-12/574837-parents-uk-pay-some-highest-childcare-fees-world.html

[crazyhazy]

not read all the article so can imagine it's not well written but to be fair, childcare IS a luxury. I certainly couldn't afford childcare for both my girls, one of the factors in deciding to start childminding myself. In my last job I was lucky enough to have help from my mum and mil in order to be able to work. My husbands wages cover our bills with very little left over, so the £700pm that I earned had to pay for food, childcare, etc etc, with my fees of £3.50ph I'd have been paying about £600pm for childcare and for some reason like many others I know earning around the same amount we didn't get any tax credits help. So after childcare and my travel (£100pm) I'd have been worse off. So, yes I would say childcare is a luxury and if you can't afford it then you really have to get a bit inventive to find a way round it.

[buildingblocks]

please do not get me started on this my DH this morning threatened to turn the TV to calm me down.

Firstly I cannot comment from a parents point of view not having children I have never had to pay for childcare.

But from my business point of view I have bills to pay just like any parent. I built a £15K conservatory for the children I mind and paid £8K for my garden to be made into a space for the children. yes I know I didn't have to do this but then Iwouldn't have done it if I hadn't been minding and I would be a :censored: sight richer than I am now.

As for that :censored: woman who is always on sleighting childcare as expensive don't start me on her.

I never liked that Katie whatever she was called when she was on The Apprentice (hope you all know who I mean) but she made a valid point on one of these programmes the last time they were on talking about these things and she said you have a choice as a parent if you have a child and want to work then you have to pay for childcare and it costs.

I realise that most people these days have large mortgages, two cars, etc and both working before having children means it is not an option for most mothers/fathers not to work. But I get so cross that they think that childcare providers should give them cheap childcare that is quality. I know a lot of people don't have a choice but to both work and a lot of them do get help with their fees (I think that is what they were talking about today the fact they've been cut).

Hubby and I have both worked all our lives and get nothing as a married couple with no children. When hubby lost his job for a while we weren't given any help not even with poll tax as I earned £46 a week and until he had been unemployed for x amount of weeks he was unable to claim anything (long time ago so can't quite remember). Sorry I have gone off on one didn't mean to.

Sorry I hope I haven't offended anyone with my post none was meant and I did lose the plot a bot Sorry.

Off to check out the netmums thread (note to self don't log in and post on it)

[buildingblocks]

oh well logged in and posted a very long thread but it makes me so mad when they say oh childcare workers are raking it in.

I work a 40 hour week over 5 days one of which is a Saturday and Monday is paperwork day so I can have Sunday with hubby (but is actually 52 individual working with children hours if I class children's hours separately - hope that makes sense each child hours added together) for £229 a week is it worth it

[Mouse]

I haven't read the article, or the replies, so can't comment on that.

What I wonder is, if childcare is so expensive in this country, how do other countries make it so much cheaper? Do they have more government funded/community nurseries rather than private ones? In my mind, it's the private nurseries that can make huge amounts of money. They charge a fortune, pay minimum wages to staff and charge for every slight thing. Childminders can earn very good money, but they have to work very hard for it.

I also think the way tax credits are paid contributes to the rising costs. If the government continues to pay towards childcare, prices can keep going up because the government keeps paying it. Fine if you get help, not so good if you don't. What if funding went straight to childcare providers, on the condition that they kept prices at a resonable level? Childcare providers wouldn't lose out, but neither would parents as prices are lower. This would be particularly helpful for parents who don't get any help with costs.

[candylove13]

Yes but you've forgetten then £x X x spaces X x hours = ££££££'s:mad: :rolleyes: ...everyone always forgets that very rarely are all hours & spaces filled ...& that roughly 50% is expenses then there's the possibility of tax.;..then that figure has to be taken against amount of hours actually worked (behind the scenes & training included) & that's how much we get paid which is a pittence & a lot less then most would work for!:rolleyes:

I agree but as a parent myself before I became a CM I was shocked to find rates start from £3+. Is that what a nursery charges? I doubt it. I thought I would be looking at £6+ (although I charge a lot less :rolleyes: ) I know parents seem to think that just because you CAN care for 6 children you must be rolling in it and agree that a CM is very lucky to have full numbers. But even so, if you was full and earning a nice income why should you then feel bad about it. I believe it should be focussed on the level of care not the fees.

I agree with previous post that if you have children, we must accept that if we wish to return to work we must pay the price. Our children are the most precious possessions we have, I for one would not want to scrimp on their care to save a few pounds. As childcare providers that to adhere to so many regulations, inspections, training to name a few; it is still a poorly paid vocation. If a system was put in place for set fees, Im sure majority of CMs would actually be better off and many parents wouldn't benefit the discounts that I'm sure most of us from time to time.

We have as a family have fallen on hard times and ended up on benefits. You just have to make the best of it and hopefully your luck changes.

[appleblossom]

Having read this thread I thought I'd work out how much I earn per hour. I seriously now wish I hadn't. I work 4 days per week, a total of 40.5 hours. I start at 7.30am three days and work until 6pm. On the other day I work 7.30am to 4.30pm. I have 3 under fives. One does 4 days, the others do 3 days. I added the total fees for the week together and divided it by 40.5 hrs. It's £3.75 per hour. That's before expenses:panic:

I've never worked it out like that before. My blood will now seriously boil if someone tells me we Child minders are overpaid:angry:

[Blaze]

If that's before expenses you're probably actually working for about £2 per hour
:(