So, your kid has graduated nursery with their teeny cap and gown and a drawing of what they want to be when they’re older and you’ve paid your last nursery bill. Welcome, then, to parenthood’s new rules.
Rule one: School doesn’t serve tea - you have to make that now.
Rule two: You’re not going to get a full day’s work done for a decade.
Rule three: Surprise, your days of paying for childcare are not over. (Sorry.)
You’re about to embark on another of Britain's big ‘screw yous’ to working parents which is the scramble for wraparound care: the ‘privilege’ of paying for the kids to be looked after in those lost hours between the end of the school day and the close of yours, at work.
It’s a bit like one of those primary school maths problems: Mummy starts work at 10am so she can drop little [insert child’s name] at school. She finishes at 6pm but school ends at 3.15pm. How many more hours is mummy meant to be in the office/ on shift/ at her laptop than [child] is in school (and how, actually, is mummy meant to juggle and pay for that?)
The disparity between school hours and work hours is a major headache that starts when the days of 6pm nursery picks ups that you were paying through the nose for - but, actually, it turns out had at least some benefits - ends.
What is wraparound childcare?
School wraparound provision, in the form of breakfast and after school clubs or after school activities, is inconsistent and costly, (expect £7-£12 per day, per child) adding to upwards of £800 a month for parents of two who need the childcare daily to bridge the two to three hour gap after lessons finish and before it’s acceptable to log off emails or walk out of the office. Those who rely on a childminder, or even a childminder and clubs, will pay even more to get something close to a full working day done - another indictment of a system in which parents pay to contribute to the economy and support their families.
Last year, a Department for Education survey of nearly 300 primary schools found that only two thirds - 64 per cent - offered childcare before and after school, 15 per cent only offered it before school, in the form of breakfast clubs, and one in five had no offer at all.
And last month the government selected 16 areas to begin the roll out of nationwide plans, announced in March’s Budget, that promise to ensure wraparound care, from 8am to 6pm, at all primary schools by September 2026, although both the cost to parents and the question of who will fund it, long term - government of schools? - remains.
I’ve been fine tuning this balance for half a decade. The eldest of my three sons started school five years ago, his brother a year later and the youngest last year. Since then, I have re-negotiated work patterns and variously begged, borrowed and forked out for childcare and clubs, along with every parent I know, in order to complete a working day, hit deadlines, earn money, retain employment and make sure my kids are happy and cared for.
It is a manoeuvre we have all - parents and kids alike - come to accept as normal but when I ask the most trusted people I know on this topic - yep, other mums - what aspect of relying on wraparound frustrates them most, they are unanimous.
The first, a single mum of three, in Manchester, sums it up neatly: “There are many annoying things but the most annoying is that my children’s after school club only runs til 5pm because the after school staff want to finish at the end of the working day. That means that, even though I’m paying extra for it, I can still only work til 4.30pm because I need to leave in time to pick them up on the dot.”
Like me, she has perfected the scheduling art of parking up outside the school gates half an hour early and taking the day’s final call from the car, with the phone or laptop propped up against the steering wheel, in order to both maximise work minutes and not be fined for leaving a child past pick up time. I have done the same from the side of football pitches and gymnastics classes to buy back an extra hour after ferrying them between school and a 5pm activity. “Not an ideal work environment,” she says.
Anna, bringing up her nine-year-old daughter in London, agrees: “Clubs are 'til 5pm and they’re really expensive, £12 each. Then, you’re still scrabbling for childcare after that because most jobs finish at 6pm and you’ve got to travel across London. Even after school care, which finishes at 5.45pm for us, means you still have to get out of work early.”
And Lauren, a mum-of-three: “At school, they offer a few clubs but they all finish at 4.15pm which isn’t really helpful as wraparound goes. If I want them to go to those clubs, so they’re doing an activity they’re interested in, I have to pay for the club itself then after school club as well which is two payments. After school club is pretty good, they don’t just sit about, but it’s generally a pain that school finishes at 3.15pm and no working day finishes at that time. I also have my youngest in nursery and she finishes nearly three hours later at 6pm. It feels crazy that she’s occupied for longer than the older ones.”
She adds: “The other thing is, things like swimming which is a life skill, is never going to help with the childcare situation ‘cause you have to arrange to take them through the working day, ie after school, or at the weekend which is then filled with managing activities instead of doing something you want to do together as a family.”
Depending on circumstances, workplace and budgets, some people find childminders or nannies work best for them, to avoid the termly scramble for a space in dance club, forest school or after school sports. I felt like I’d won the lottery when my 10-year-old bagged a place on gymnastics after a four month wait. Sometimes you have to beg a favour of other mums and dads, or sort a rota with a friend so you’re taking it turns to do a full day at work. And of course there’s the other, brilliant free option if you have them - grandparents.
One of my friends, a mum of two, has a colour-coded calendar shared four ways with her kids’ dad and both grandmas so that, between the four of them, they can cover after school without incurring extra costs.
While a lot of families need to invest in the later part of the day, many also use school breakfast clubs to rebalance their work day earlier or support shift work.
Gemma, a single mum to two girls, explains: “I pay £5.65 per child for breakfast club, four days a week, so that I can be in the office for 8am. That’s £248.60 per half term. I work 8am til 2.30pm and pick them up everyday otherwise there’s not much point in me working if I had to pay for after school wraparound care on top of that. It would be too much.”
If this era of new rules parenting all points to wraparound for you, let me give you three tips to run alongside and ease you in.
Tip one: Fastest fingers first: the rush for a place on the clubs every kid wants is real, do not park that sign-up email.
Tip two: The best childminders, babysitters and nannies in town are a scarcity: find them, nurture them, never let them go.
Tip three: Other working parents are your allies, find at least one you can rely on to help you out of a bind when a 5pm meeting appears in your diary and be prepared to do the same for them. You have to feed their kids too.
Breakfast club
Cost: £3.50 - £5.50
Pros: On site care that starts an hour or so before the school day, usually around 7.45am. The kids will be supervised by staff while they play with school friends.
Cons: Don’t be fooled by the name, breakfast is not always included. Term time only (unlike your job.)
After school club
Cost: £5.50 - £7.50
Pros: On site care at the other end of the day where the kids will play games/ colour/ roll around/ maybe do homework, depending how good your provider is, all under staff supervision. They usually get a snack too.
Cons: Doors close between 5pm and 6pm, depending on your school which, as above, is a major stressor and means you’re probably continuing emails while their tea is on - or your kid is the one stood outside the door holding a staff member’s hand when everyone has gone home cause your last call ran wildly late. Like breakfast club, this one’s term time only.
Activities (eg. dance, arts and crafts, football, music, forest school)
Cost: £8 - £12
Pros: These are clubs that the kids really enjoy and a chance to learn life skills you want them to have. There are often at least two or three a week on offer on school premises and children are seamlessly collected from the classroom and occupied for an extra hour at the end fo the school day. Some offer slight discounts for siblings.
Cons: It’s only an hour. That means they’re usually done by 4.30pm so your colleagues and inbox are still not done for the day. There are many more available off school premises, at local leisure centres or sports grounds. For those, you need to be at school pick up at, say, 3.20pm then ferry them to their next session before you pull your laptop out at the side of the swimming pool.
Also, because these are run by outside providers with their own overheads to cover, they are expensive and you should expect them to escalate in cost every year.
Childminder
Cost: £6-£8 per hour
Pros: A trusted, local care provider who will pick up a small group of kids and take care of them at their setting, usually their home. Hours are longer and they’ll generally work year round. Tea can be part of the package too.
Cons: Childminders are people too, often with their own kids. They will need holiday and sick days like the rest of us.
Grandparents
Cost: Free (hopefully!)
Pros: The kids love them, they love the kids and they’re free of charge. If you’re lucky enough to have them healthy and nearby, it’s a winner.
Cons: Childcare can be hard for grandparents as they grow older; balancing how much to rely on them is tricky and it’s not likely to be available everyday. Also, don’t think you can just leave them there - you do still have to pick them up at some point.
Nanny
Cost: £12-£15 per hour
Pros: If you have more than two kids this can actually become a fairly cost efficient approach. Most nannies drive, they can do school pick ups, bring the kids home and will do child related chores including laundry, making their tea and bath time.
Cons: For one child, this is far more costly. Additionally, if you can’t find a nanny who is self-employed and splits their working hours across multiple families, you will need to employ them full time which is prohibitively expensive and requires a massive amount of paperwork.