Childcare Options For Returning To Work

You may feel like 9 months on maternity leave seems like a long time, but the weeks will pass by quickly in a blur of sleepless nights, crying and morngy babies, meeting old and new friends and feeding, encouraging and nurturing your new bundle of joy. Then once you are about 6 or 7 months in comes the decision on whether you return to work or not. Your decision may depend on money, so how will you afford childcare, will you go back full or part time. The government helps families claim up to 70% of their childcare costs back depending on the joint income for the household. So if you earn less than £41,000 per year currently you will be entitled to some help paying your childcare costs.

Then you need to decide which childcare will fit you best:

·Childminders – These are people that are self-employed to care for children in their own homes. They usually have a range of kids in a homely environment and takes the kids on visits and generally look after them. The cost of childminders is usually around £3-5 per hour depending on whether you provide nappies, milk and wipes for your child.

·Nurseries – You take your child to a type of mini school where they are played with, educated and looked after for the duration they are there. Nurseries charge around £40-50 per day or some usually do a half day.

·Nanny – This is someone employed in your home, employed by you to look after your children, they can also be employed to do housework and general household jobs. This is a great option if you and your partner work shifts or if you have a spare room as you can offer a nanny living accommodation as well so they are always there. A great thing about a nanny is they work around the hours you need them and you pay their full wage. The downside is having to deal with their tax and national insurance contributions.

You may be able to use grand parents or share the care with your partner depending on the hours worked or you may find it doesn't really benefit you going back to work with having to pay childcare, so you may decide to work from home. There are many options available when working from home such as Avon and other party plan companies or you could start your own business from scratch and do something you have always wanted to do. Deciding to work from home can be tricky and should be considered at the start of your maternity leave that way you can do all the research and start up and test to see if it will make money before you start deciding whether to go back to work. Obviously for financial reasons you need to be making an income from home, but to go out to work you need it to be worthwhile paying for childcare.

Gemma Dawson, is a mum of 3 who started her own business while on maternity leave, offering a huge choice of party products including Thomas the tank engine party supplies.