Working in London

[Victoria Conlan]

> Provided you are using a registered childcare provider (which you'd be mad not
> to) and your employers signs up to the scheme (which most employers have) then
> *each* parent can apply for ?243 of childcare vouchers each month which come 
> off your gross salary so you pay no tax or NI.

I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to depend on who you worked
for - ie, if you were with a big company, they would probably have it all
set up and ready, but if you are at a small company and you are the first
person to ask, it may take a while to get organised (or they may just
refuse).  And if it's a big company that /doesn't/ already have it organised
then chances of convincing them it's worth bothering with are small!

Robin - where abouts in London are you talking about?  It does make a
significant difference to childcare costs.  ie, at the moment I pay, I
think, 47/day for a HappyChild nursery in W12 (near BBC White City), but
when our city centre nursery closed (was BBC run and 'cheap' at 27/day, but
alas, no more *sob*) the people who had to look for alternate childcare
arrangements were talking about 75/day average costs.

I think you /can/ do the shared nanny thing here, but more typical is a
childminder - the downside being that you don't get to choose which other
families you share her* with, but generally a lot cheaper, and she provides
her own accomodation.  I think my childminder just went up to 4.75 an hour.

Hth.