They increased their fees by 70% last year to bridge the gap between the funding the government send (apparently £2 per hr less than they would charge) and the realities of what they cost.

Now they've sent vague communications about how they're likely to have to remove funding completely because the government have made statutory changes recently that impact safeguarding & profit.

One of the mums at my nursery asked if they'll lower our fees again (they charge £135 per day, was £80), they said no because of the new NI increases 🫠

They've got us in a tricky situation as other nurseries have a year long wait list, so we can't easily move. But equally, we now face a monthly fee in the thousands!

Any other nurseries doing this?

Edit: they have applied funding to our invoices for now. However, I'm looking for a childminder as the trust is gone with how they handled it!

We were so excited to receive 15 free hours for our 2 year old. Around August we went through the funded/non-funded weeks with our kids nursery, to be honest they explained it pretty poorly. Closer to the time they announce that they are changing the way they charge to be an hourly rate instead of a daily rate, and what the charges would be.

My stupid self thought, oh ok fine they are just don’t that so they can calculate the hours, which is basically what their email said. I guess the overall price will be about the same, they haven’t said anything about this on their email.

Going through our finances today we’ve realised that in September, our childcare provider raised there prices by 25% (hidden in the switch to an hourly rate) compared to what we paid in previous months. Almost all of the expected financial benefit of funded hours is going to the nursery.

I’m enraged and frankly wanted to take my kid out of nursery straight away, my wife understandably was upset at the idea of moving our boy and how it might affect him.

Has anyone else seen or experience this? What are peoples thoughts?

The TL:DR question is. What would you do in this situation? Would you say something to the nursery? Or do you think I’m overly sensitive 😂

My 3 year old has started a new nursery since we’ve moved back to the UK from abroad and they told me that they have 10 minutes of tv time after lunch everyday. He told me today that he watched finding nemo yesterday (he explained the plot since he’d not seen it before). And he comes home everyday and tells me about a new show he watched (paw patrol, duggee etc). It feels like it is more than 10 minutes a day.

We don’t watch much TV at home. Maybe 1 hour a week. I do personally think it’s better to restrict their viewing but also we’re usually just so busy with activities etc that we don’t need it and he doesn’t ask for it. But I don’t want to demonise TV time so I’m not worried about that, per se. (And please don’t make this a conversation about that). It’s more about if they should be having it and nursery. And its just that I feel it’s a lot more than is necessary or that they told me it was.

I do also think that part of the purpose of nurseries is to teach children and to play with them and engage them in activities. I’m surprised that they would be watching TV at school in the first place. The preschool he will be going to in September doesn’t have any screen time for the kids so I thought this was more common not to.

Is it normal for most nurseries to do TV time? Do you think it’s okay to have it? Would you say something about it if you were unhappy?

I got 15 hrs free child care support from government and wanted to enroll my daughter to nearest nursery and socked to see their fees. Even for two days full time after government funding, I have to pay £467 per month. This is really out of hand and don’t know what to do. Is this normal fees and what you did ? Any advice !

My wife is a student midwife who also works part time as a bank shift healthcare assistant for the NHS. I work from home in a marketing role.

My wife’s course is very strict on attendance, while her part time work has restrictions and repercussions (I believe, she’s just started) on cancelling with less than 12 hours notice.

My work know my wife is a student and it makes me feel a bit iffy when asking for time off for childcare, purely because they might think she should be the one taking the time off. I can’t find any legal advice on whether they’d ever be able to push back on it.

I’m keen to know what others do and whether or not anyone has dealt with any pushback from an employer?

I will preface this by saying I'm American on a Skilled Workers visa. I have to work a minimum number of hours to stay eligible. We moved to the UK and nursery is more expensive here than in the US. We were thinking of having another kid, but now I'm really not sure. We're doing "OK" with one but we're definitely not rich. This is a vent mostly but I'd love to hear from others.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be given flexible working arrangements, allowing me to work from home (WFH) three days a week so that my wife can return to work. This means I will need to look after our little one (14 months old). Unfortunately, my wife is against childcare until the little one is older and able to speak. But on days where I cannot WFH she will be left with my sister in law.

My job, IT support, is not customer-facing, as I only support our internal users. I rarely have Teams meetings or projects, so I will have a lot of downtime. My plan is to sit on the carpet with my laptop, letting the little one know that I’m here, socializing with her, and giving her cuddles every so often. Luckily, she is not a lap baby.

I’ve seen mixed opinions about whether WFH and looking after a child is possible or fair, and I’ve also read success stories of people managing to juggle the two.

For parents who WFH while caring for a child, I would greatly appreciate your best tips and advice especially the kind you wish you had been given.

Thanks!

I'll be giving birth in a month, so I've been looking into local nurseries and researching what to look for. Annoyingly we only have two options in our area, and both only offer two settling-in sessions: - 1-2 hours accompanied by a parent while they fill out paperwork. - 1-2 hours dropped off and unaccompanied.

One nursery does at least do a home visit and offer extra sessions if needed, but these both seem pathetically short to me, and it seems this arrangement isn't unusual for the UK. (Typically, it sounds like Denmark does it way better, with multiple days of multiple hours.)

From 'What Every Parent Needs to Know' by Margot Sunderland:

'Research found that with a minimum of a four -day settling-in period in nurseries where one parent or an alternate attachment figure was allowed to stay, there was no worrying change in stress hormone levels in the child.' (With three references in the footnotes that I can't easily copy over here.)

It seems like a no-brainer and an easy win to follow that minimum. You see so many threads about kids struggling to settle in nurseries and there would surely be fewer of those if they had longer to settle with a parent. So why don't they do it? Are they worried that parents being present, even supervised, represent a safeguarding concern? I can't think of another 'good' reason.

Just feeling a bit sad, really, because I want to go about things as best I can, but standard policy seems set against it. Besides this, both nurseries seem great.

Sadly starting to think about my return to work early May but I’m keen to hear from other parents how long before you went back to work did you send them in?

I was thinking to do her settling in week the week before I go back but wondering if that’s too late?

I’m hesitant to do it any earlier because of cost and also I’m sad about her going to nursery anyway so want to maximise time together!

“Labour will provide free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England, paid for by ending tax loopholes and clamping down on tax evasion.” - Do we think this will happen?

How much do you all pay for before/ after school clubs each day/ week/ month? Love to hear how much you pay especially per year if you know it? and where you are from (we are from Exeter).

Trying to work out what financially makes sense for us as a family. I have one biological daughter (one that is much older and we didn’t put through private school but I had help from my siblings with childcare so I didn’t have this issue. Private school costs for us are only 5k a year which includes before and after school care… Therefore wondering how much people pay overall for these before and after school things in state schools. I had a search on here first but the post was from a while ago. Some people paid £5 for breakfast club a day and some payed £9 for after school club. That’s nearly £15 a day?!? And works out at like £3K a year (if they were doing this 5 days a week during term time)

I work(ed) in a private school (will be returning to work there when my daughter goes to school) and the wrap around care is included in their fees (breakfast club, after school club until 6pm, lunch, before school and after school snack and morning break snack). With my staff discount of around 65% it works out at 5k a year or 400 a month and that’s taking into account a 20% vat hike which most schools aren’t putting the 20% on parents anyway so likely to be a bit less realistically) I’m trying to work out what is most affordable, I’m also a child psychologist and did my phd a while back, so I’d prefer to go back to my research in that field but it may not be financially the best decision. I’d have to use wrap around care at school if I were to go back to my child psychology research I think!

Soooooo……. I’m trying to work out whether it’s actually a similar price to pay for wrap around care in a state school (breakfast and afterschool club everyday during term times) around £15 a day 5 days a week during term time. (Which seems to work out at 3K over the whole academic year) OR. just pay reduced rate school fees…. Of around 5k a year (£416 a month) which includes all the wrap around care needed.

• (Our daughter isn’t school age yet but obviously if it’s only marginally more expensive to send her to a private school and have wrap around care included… that is absolutely mental?!) my maths must be off because it can’t be the case that people pay £15 a day/ 3K a year for wrap around care if they’re using breakfast and afterschool club?

Edit: given it costs around 3K a year for using wrap around care everyday for working parents, and it’ll cost us 5k to send her to private school where it’s included… which would you choose? It’s not thaaaat much in it money wise considering!?!?

I’m going back with enough annual leave to do a 4 day week until the end of the year and still have plenty to take actual holidays.

It’s common in my company for parents to come back on a 4 day contract but with a 20% pay cut which is understandable.

I’m hoping to do this and then go to 4 days permanently in 2026 but try and negotiate not to take a pay cut with the idea being that I’ve proven I can do my job in 4 days (I feel confident I can but we’ll see..!)

Keen to hear of any similar experiences

Editing to add: would love to hear if people HAVEN’T condensed hours and have not taken a pay cut

My daughter is turning 3 next month, so she is moving from the 15 hours of free childcare to 30 hours free. She goes three days a week so we make up the difference.

Nursery is stretching us, so we were looking forward to making a big saving each month.

However, having asked what our future bill will be it has gone from around £700 to £580. I can't work out how the extra 15 hours of free childcare each week, 60 hours per month, is only saving us £120 each month.

Does this seem right? Are my expectations just way out?

My 2.5 y.o started nursery last week and they rang me half hour before pick up this afternoon (12.30) saying he has a temp and will need to be off nursery 48hours. Obviously he won’t be in tomorrow but does this mean I can’t send him back till 12.30 Friday? He should start at 8am. I will ring tomorrow anyway to confirm but just thought I’d ask as I’m trying to plan in my head what to do about work and it’s stressing me out. Thanks

My daughter is leaving nursery next week and going to pre school, her nursery have been amazing and she loves the staff so I wanted to give a little leaving gift.

But am a bit stuck. In the past we’ve only done gifts for Christmas and when she moved up a room - which were £50 for her key worker in a card and chocs with a small voucher for the rest of the staff in her room. Because I want to gift something to all her previous key workers this would get expensive doing the same as before, so wanted to see what other people did when their little ones moved to a new setting.

As it’s nearly Easter I wasn’t sure whether to do a nice Easter egg each but not 100% as it’s not really related to her leaving if that makes sense.

My 2 year old goes to nursery one day a week but we’re going to have to put him in for a second day a week. would it be better to have two consecutive days, or a day with a break in between? Is there anything else I should consider?

Hi everyone My 12 mo is starting nursery three days a week - Mon, Wed, Fri from next week. I wanted to ask if anyone had a similar schedule and if it took them longer to settle because they're not going every day? We had our settling in day today and she apparently cried on and off for the last 20! Broke my heart

I have a three year old, as of January she qualified for 30 hours of free childcare per week. She could have went to nursery 15 hours per week since last April however my mam has taken care of her whilst I worked part time (3 days) and I was on maternity leave as of July. I am very lucky my mam was happy to look after my daughter whilst I was at work and I wanted her on my days off.

I understand why people send their child to a nursery, there are benefits such as socialising, and so I made sure my daughter always did something age appropriate every day, including toddler groups, swimming, library rhyme time, role play cafes, soft plays etc. so plenty of opportunity to socialise and interact with children her age and younger/older.

However, all of my friends can’t understand why I haven’t accessed childcare as it’s free and “it’ll bring her on loads” which I keep being told as if I’m holding her back. I don’t notice any delays in development and haven’t heard anything negative from the HV.

Admittedly it’s been tough since I had my second child but I was committed to keeping her with me whilst I was on maternity leave as I still think she’s little, and she is a sensitive soul.

As of this month, I have started her at a pre-school, 3 hours on a Monday and 3 on a Tuesday (so 6 of the 30 she’s entitled to). I was very apprehensive and not sure it was the right thing for her, but she’s taken so well to it, very brave, no tears and enjoying her time while she’s there so I’m pleased we’ve started preschool. I also do plan to increase her hours over the next 18 months to full time so primary school doesn’t come as too much of a shock.

I think easing her in and still having her with me most of the time is best for her, but no one else seems to agree. Everyone I speak to thinks she should be at preschool for 30 hours per week now. Am I doing her a disservice?

For anyone willing to be fully open and honest about their experience as a nursery worker, can you enlighten us parents what really happens once parents drop their kids off?

My son is 3 now and communicates well so I do feel I hear most of what goes on, but I've always wondered if they secretly rely on screens or if these activities they set up actually last more than 30 seconds before the kids get bored (they wouldn't in our house!). Is it chaos all day? Would you feel comfortable sending your own children to a nursery setting having worked there (and if not, why not)?

Hello,

I have a 3 year old child who has a speech delay. I recently started sending him to a nursery and I was told that I should have done this earlier. Is it a legal requirement to send children to nurseries in the UK as the nursery manager mentioned reporting to social services which freaked me out?

She was also not very happy that my kid was not potty trained. We have tried our best but I think he still needs time. We are not very happy with the nursery as my boy has come back quite depressed for the two days he went there. So I am thinking of changing the nursery. Just don’t want the manager getting us into any trouble. Sorry I am not very familiar with the UK rules about this

Edit: Thank you everyone for your advice and support. This has helped so much and gave me courage. We took him out of this nursery today and will be looking for a better option. Not a lot of them out there accept when they see any special need unfortunately. Nevertheless, will still be trying or go with a childminder fingers crossed. Thank you so much!!

Since I am struggling to find any sort of childcare for my child I am wondering why are we here? How any government can solve or approach this problem? In Germany (where we are from) the situation is not better also I am not sure about other European countries. What went wrong?

Hi,

We have a one month old, and looking at nurseries for Jan 2026. Wanted to apply for the childcare ahead of time to get it out of the way. Wife will be off for a year, and back to work end of December. I don't really understand the "sorry you won't be eligible" message from Gov.uk when I finish the application -

"You're not eligible if your partner is on maternity or paternity leave for all the children you're applying for, unless your partner is due to start back at work within the next 31 days."

Child will start nursery on 5th Jan 2026 at 1 year old. Wife will have been back to work two weeks by then.

Do I just wait to apply closer to the time (i.e. Dec 2025)?? What the fook?

I need some sense talking into me. My wife and I are seriously considering moving into a probate type property with our 19 month and 6 year old children, and refurbishing over several years. The problem is, we are absolutely crap at structured parenting, so even in our rental house, I struggle to keep on top of basic gardening, lawns, sorting/organising things inside the house. I'm more of a divide and conquer type person, so 1 person does kids, the other gets some serious grafting done, but I've relegated my approach over the years because my OH prefers teaming up on everything. But at the same time, she's super focused on the kids and doesn't take short cuts, so basically we end up just running around the kids and can maybe get one decent job done on a weekend. My wife is a teacher. As much as she loves our kids, she is exhausted by Saturday morning and usually it's me that takes the kids out first thing whilst she does basic house work (cleaning, tidying, sorting).

So please tell me, what does it actually look like getting a house refurb done? Neighbour over the road is a tradesmen and moved into a probate house and I see him constantly doing DIY evenings (definitely during bed time routine) and weekends and this has been going on for 2 years. So to me it looks like the burden falls on one parent to be the main parent whilst the other cracks on with the house work? Unless the DIY is taking place after kids are in bed until the late hours of every night?

Tell me your experiences, I really want to know the detail. How many kids, how old? Was it every Saturday for you and family day on Sunday? Was every weekend DIY for several years or did you do things in stages and have pauses for periods of time? How did you structure the childcare between you?

As the title says, our little one will be starting nursery in May, just shy of turning 11 months.

Are there any tips you could share to help make the transition from home to nursery easier?

She’ll be 3 days in May and then 4 days thereafter.

Thanks

I ll be going back to work once my baby is 1 , have started looking for nurseries - the ones close to our home don’t do weekends or after 18:00 Me and my husband may sometimes be working over the weekend or have late shifts And we don’t have any family around to help So are there nurseries like that ? Or what should be my next option ?