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Going Back to Work After Maternity Leave: Planning Childcare

By Filipino Nanny | Updated 21 August 2026

Plan childcare for your return to work by working backwards from the return date: confirm your working pattern, decide where you want care to happen, shortlist the childcare category, allow time for settling-in, and check any funded-childcare application dates that apply. The earlier you define the timetable, the easier it is to compare realistic options.

This guide is for parents in England returning after maternity leave. It covers childcare planning, not employment advice about your own job; for workplace rights and flexible working, use GOV.UK or Acas guidance.

Start with your real return-to-work pattern

Before comparing nannies, nurseries or childminders, write down the hours you expect to be away from home. Include the commute, handover time, likely late finishes and any days worked from home. If your working pattern is still changing, identify the minimum childcare you definitely need and the parts that remain flexible.

Employees can make a statutory flexible-working request from the first day of employment. GOV.UK says a request can cover changes to hours, start and finish times, days or place of work; the right is to request flexible working, not an automatic right to a particular pattern.

Compare the childcare category before comparing providers

The practical categories solve different problems. A nanny provides childcare in your home across agreed hours. A nursery provides group childcare in a registered setting. A childminder generally provides registered childcare in a domestic setting. An au pair is a live-in arrangement with its own employment and right-to-work considerations and should not be treated as a cheaper synonym for nanny.

Use our childcare options for working parents in London to compare the categories, then move to a provider or candidate search only after the category makes sense.

Check funded-childcare timing before you assume the cost

For eligible working parents in England, the date you return from maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave can affect when you can apply for Free Childcare for Working Parents. GOV.UK publishes term-based application windows and says parents can apply from when the child is 23 weeks old, subject to the scheme’s eligibility and start-date rules.

This matters because a nursery or childminder comparison can look very different once funded hours or Tax-Free Childcare apply. A registered nanny may be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare if the provider meets the scheme requirements, but nannies are not listed as a provider type for the Free Childcare for Working Parents funded hours. Always check your own eligibility and the provider’s approved status.

Build in a settling-in period

Whatever childcare you choose, avoid making the first full working day the first meaningful handover if you can. A settling-in period lets the child, parent and provider learn routines and gives you time to discover practical gaps such as keys, emergency contacts, feeding or sleep information, nursery pickup instructions and travel time.

If you choose a nanny, the role should already have agreed hours and duties before the start date. Our nanny job-description template helps separate the recruitment brief from the later employment contract.

What our enquiry form shows about return-to-work planning

Our current client-enquiry dataset contains 203 submissions from 13 April 2025 to 20 August 2026. We do not ask families whether they are returning from maternity leave, so we cannot claim that those enquiries are maternity-return cases. What we can observe is the information families need to turn a general need for help into a workable staffing brief.

The form requires families to specify full-time or part-time status, approximate weekly hours, days required, postcode and intended start date. Across the dataset, 118 enquiries selected full-time and 85 selected part-time. In the optional free-text field, 33 entries contained the word “baby” and 5 contained “newborn”. These are aggregate keyword counts, not case histories.

That pattern is why we recommend planning the calendar and working pattern first. A family can be certain it needs childcare but still not know whether the right solution is a full-time nanny, a part-time nanny, nursery, childminder or a combined nanny-housekeeper role. Start date, days and hours reduce that uncertainty quickly.

A practical planning timeline

Several months before returning

One to two months before childcare starts

In the final weeks

When a nanny may fit a return-to-work plan

A nanny may fit when the family needs childcare in its own home, the working day does not align well with setting-based sessions, or siblings and school logistics make one in-home role simpler. If you are considering a nanny, compare nanny vs nursery and nanny vs childminder before deciding.

If in-home childcare is the category that fits, the next step is to understand Filipino nanny services in London and the nanny hiring process. At this stage, the objective is still a workable plan rather than a rushed booking.

Sources and methodology