cost of child care and why do some women work?

[Goring Gull]

Saw something about this recently - A typical couple bloke works full time they have a child then the woman goe sout to work , they put the child in full time nursery at about £800 a month she only take shome £850 a month after tax - why is she bothering to work fo rthe sake of £50. Surely you have kids to spend time with them and help them learn and watch them grow up. I just don't get it especially when the woman moans about missing her child grow up - apparently it's very widespread issue to me it's a no brainer stay at home. fair enoug if you both earn big money and have a large mortgage otr woiuld really lose out but for the sake of a few quid.

 

[Cian]

Because you can get a bigger mortgage with two incomes than with one regardless of how much you actually get after paying for the sprog-minding.

My aunt was actually loosing money on her job - travel, food, childcare, etc added up to more than her take-home pay - but she had to have it to keep the mortgage on the house.

 

[Lammy]

A couple of reasons I guess.

1) It is actually good for the child to go to nursary. Children need to learn how to interact with other children. It helps with their confidence and social skills. Not to mention the facilities there will be far better than what you could provide at home.

2) Why should the Mother have to give up a job she probably enjoys? If she put her career on hold she would have no chance of career progression. Thus hurting her children in the long run by not being as financially secure as she might have been.

Personal choice at the end of the day. I certainly don't look down on parents that use a nursary full time.

 

[Goring Gull]

I don't look down on them just makes me laugh when they moan about it missing out on there children growing up.

 

[Napper]

im gonna be a house husband when i have kids, don't care what the mrs says. . . what an easy life

 

[Goring Gull]

im gonna be a house husband when i have kids, don't care what the mrs says. . . what an easy life

Not as easy as you think, you not only have the kids you have the housework, the cooking etc, believe me it's harder than you think. Some days i'm glad to get to work for a bit of peace but my other half has to deal with it all day every day. Mindue he is off to playschool 3 mornings a week from next month so that will help.

 

[Starry]

When I was working we were paying £1,500 a month all in. For my baby to go full days and my two oldest to go an hour before school and 2 hours after, that included everything though. I know at some places you pay extra for snacks and stuff.

It's crazy.

 

[Scoffers]

im gonna be a house husband when i have kids, don't care what the mrs says. . . what an easy life

I take it that was a remark in jest.

I have 3 young kids, I also have a very stressful job, but my job is far simpler than being at home with the kids.

 

[bhaexpress]

When I was working we were paying £1,500 a month all in. For my baby to go full days and my two oldest to go an hour before school and 2 hours after, that included everything though. I know at some places you pay extra for snacks and stuff.

It's crazy.

I do wonder why so few firms have a creche, seems like a simple answer to a lot of issues for large employers.

 

[Gritt23]

My aunt was actually loosing money on her job - travel, food, childcare, etc added up to more than her take-home pay - but she had to have it to keep the mortgage on the house.

Surely you need the job to take out the mortgage, but once you've got it the lender doesn't actually care as long as you are making the repayments.

What are they gonna do? Take the mortgage away, by demanding you repay in full? Nah, course not.

 

[Starry]

I do wonder why so few firms have a creche, seems like a simple answer to a lot of issues for large employers.

I know.

My work did have childcare facilities but they were of no use to us living and the kids going to school in Hampshire and me working in central London.

Looking back now I can't believe we spent £22k on childcare for that time. At the time it never seemed to be a huge amount, we paid weekly and it was just another expense on our long line of bills but now I know how it added up - sheesh, we could have had a live in nanny for less than that!

 

[Rangdo]

I do wonder why so few firms have a creche, seems like a simple answer to a lot of issues for large employers.

Two words. "Cost" and "Accountants".

 

[zefarelly]

we've had all these discussions 100 times at home, even earning well above the national average salary its highly debatable whether Mrs Zef is better off going back to work, theres about £100 a week ( less travelling expenses) in it, as child care for teeny tots is around £7/hr and upwards. once Arthur is 1, he can go to nursery which will be different. he'll also be bigger and better able to cope with it ( I do think its beneficial for kids to go and socialise with other people)

I thought being a house husband would be a f***ing doddle and I was well up for it until I got a new job when he was born, which has turned out great.

the relaity is, whilst I don't think its difficult, its very frustrating at times, and theres absolutely no let up. also, if you think you've got half an hour to do something . . .think again, your beloved son/daughter will pipe up at the most inopportune moment, then what do you do ? most jobs are a lot less stressful, Mrs Zefs' wine/gin/marlboro light intake is testament to that

 

[Napper]

I take it that was a remark in jest.

I have 3 young kids, I also have a very stressful job, but my job is far simpler than being at home with the kids.

yeah it was although I can't see how hard playing with kids , having coffe mornings and watching trisha can be

 

[zefarelly]

you wait Dougal, it may well get easier later, but if the first 6 months is anything to go by you'll be lucky to get past boiling the kettle, letalone watching TV

 

[Gritt23]

Two words. "Cost" and "Accountants".

Are you specifically talking about Cost Accountants, or are they two seperate reasons?

I'll defend my profession here and say that it's not down to the Accountants. As with all spending, there is a cost benefit analysis to be done, and there are some very definite benefits from having a creche.

Recruitment costs are high, and a creche would increase staff retention, certainly increase the numbers of women returning from maternity leave.

Very good benefit for staff, which would enable you to get new staff over a company who doesn't offer the creche facility. From a typical tight accountants stance you could probably get away with dropping the salary you offer, because people would still be drawn in by the creche.


The main reasons they are not more common are down to the problems of where to have the creche, and the hassle of running it. Combine that with the problems of how many does the creche need to cater for, and it becomes a headache that a male-dominated boardroom just decide they do not need.

Partnerships with a local creche that is already in existance is the most logical solution.

 

[Starry]

yeah it was although I can't see how hard playing with kids , having coffe mornings and watching trisha can be

Ha! You sound just like my husband!

It's alright playing with the kids until one wanders off with a felt tip pen and does some wonderful artwork all the way down your newly decorated hall way, then when you go to make the coffee the middle child nips to the loo and unrolls all the toilet roll, squeezes out the toothpaste and dumps all the shampoo and bubble bath in the toilet. Now, what happens when you flush a toilet with bubbles in it? She flushed twice before I realised what was going on. When I try to watch Trisha a pesky child comes along and types in 618 on the remote and I am trasnported to a world of mind numbing childrens TV.

 

[bhaexpress]

Two words. "Cost" and "Accountants".

True but a far greater degree of productivity would be acheived as well as a lower staff turnover. It's rather like training, a whole lot of companies seem to think it costs too much but have many 'person' hours are lost anaually becuase people don't know what they're doing. Anybody who works in IT will agree with this.

 

[Rangdo]

Are you specifically talking about Cost Accountants, or are they two seperate reasons?

I'll defend my profession here and say that it's not down to the Accountants. As with all spending, there is a cost benefit analysis to be done, and there are some very definite benefits from having a creche.

Recruitment costs are high, and a creche would increase staff retention, certainly increase the numbers of women returning from maternity leave.

Very good benefit for staff, which would enable you to get new staff over a company who doesn't offer the creche facility. From a typical tight accountants stance you could probably get away with dropping the salary you offer, because people would still be drawn in by the creche.


The main reasons they are not more common are down to the problems of where to have the creche, and the hassle of running it. Combine that with the problems of how many does the creche need to cater for, and it becomes a headache that a male-dominated boardroom just decide they do not need.

Partnerships with a local creche that is already in existance is the most logical solution.

I mean that in a large company an accountant or someone with similar responsibilities will decide on it based on the cost and won't necessarily be interested in the long term business or social benefits. That will be someone elses job.
It wasn't a dig at all accountants like the Estate Agent lynch mob that rears it's head on here every couple of months. It was just an observation from my experience working for large companies and how they often use cost as the justification.

 

[looney]

A couple of reasons I guess.

1) It is actually good for the child to go to nursary. Children need to learn how to interact with other children. It helps with their confidence and social skills. Not to mention the facilities there will be far better than what you could provide at home.

Thats highly debatable, data can show it is negative.


My veiw is if you have kids you should bloody well look after them yourselves. Dont expect others to cover for you at work or fork out for your breeding costs, this goes for male and female.

Doesn't matter if its the state or firm that provides child care, its still a financial burden wrt countries that dont.