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So I'm looking at applying for a full time job. I'm trying to work out whether it would be more cost effective to keep my 2 children in daycare full time or look at hiring a Nanny. If you hire a nanny what (if anything) do you get from Centrelink? Is there something special I need to look out for when looking for a nanny?? Anyone got any suggestions for a company to use in Melbourne if we decided that a nanny was better for our situation?
Most Nanny services are Registered Care Providers through Centrelink (if they are listed with c'link at all) - Registered Care does not attract CCB or CCR - Registered Carers can give you a receipt that you submit after care is used (generally every 6-12 months is when most submit them) - you get back less than 70c per hour. Both parents must meet the work/study/training test to qualify for payment. it can take several weeks for the payment to be processed once you claim it.
I was just looking at some cost info and I don't think it would realistically be cheaper than day care where you get both the other benefits. Ah well, will keep crunching the numbers :D
We had a nanny for a bit, sort of! You're right, realistically it is cheaper to go with day care. They provide food and nappies, they aren't in your home running up power bills and you get much more back using long day care.
Make sure you choose a good one if you go down the nanny path. I'll have to tell you some of my nanny horror stories next time we catch up ;)
I just number crunched it last week and I couldn't come up with a way that nanny was cheaper - I don't really want to go back full time but might have to, when I looked at it due to the ceiling on the CCR it worked out I wouldn't earn anymore going full time than three days a week due to childcare fees - if I wanted to go back full-time and job was good enough career wise that might not necessarily matter though.
Would you consider family day care? It's a much more economical option that a nanny or day care and they can do kinder and school pickups and drop offs. The carers are qualified and registered and quality checked and are under the same department as kinder and day care. Contact your council for more info.
Is family daycare really cheaper? In the other thread I had about working full time the figure DIVVY mentioned was higher than long daycare. I had always assumed previously FDC would be cheaper. (For me personally I would have always preferred FDC but isn't the availability in my area)
Depends where you are wysiwyg, we were paying $88 per day per child at one centre near here which is about average heading closer to town and FDC would have been much cheaper but impossible to get 2 places.
I found FDC comparable to long daycare per hour, but you only book and pay for hours of use (usually a minimum number of hours though) but by the time I factored in meals and the convenience of not having to pack food, long daycare was the winner :) Also, when my FDCer was sick, or her child was sick, I had to take a day off as well.
Have you considered sharing a nanny with a friend? You could split the cost that way. A nanny will also take care of household tasks and you don't need a day off if your child is sick at home.
We use a part time nanny and the cost is not as high and more comparable to child care that way.
Another option is an au pair, but their qualifications will not be as good.
GL!