Childminders are stunned at revelations that some Sussex parents are paying a staggering £39,000 a year for their services.

The most expensive in the country, one unnamed childminder in West Sussex, charges £750 a week.

In stark contrast, childminder fees average £162 per week across the county and £143 around the country, according to the Daycare Trust.

On average Sussex parents are paying more than £9,000 a year for childcare as nursery costs soar.

Meanwhile the cost of childcare in out-of-school clubs has risen by six times the rate of inflation to an average of £43 a week.

Julie Stormer, from Bexhill, is a childminder for children up to the age of eight. She said she was astonished at the report's findings.

She said: "It's a horrendous amount of money. I can't see what they are offering that every other minder or nursery doesn't.

"We are all governed by the same body so unless they are giving them gold-plated meals and silver service I have no idea what they could be offering."

The report found costs were higher in Britain than elsewhere in Europe, and that London and the south east had the highest prices of all.

It said typical childcare costs in the region ranged from £161 to £202 a week.

Wendy Jameson-Franks owns Daisy Chain Nursery in Lewes Road, Brighton, and charges £165 per week. She said she found it hard to believe that people would fork out £750 a week for childcare.

She said: "I've never heard of anything like it. Other than celebrities I don't know who would use it.

"If people are prepared to pay £750 a week they don't need childcare. The people who would pay that would have nannies living at home.

"How much better can it really be? Any nursery would have Ofsted rules so all the child to carer ratios are the same around the whole country. I can't think what else they could offer to warrant that sort of money."

The Daycare Trust said the average cost of a full-time nursery place for a child under the age of two in the south east was £179 per week, or £9,308 per year.

The organisation could not tell The Argus the name of the £750 a week childminder or what town it was based in.

Amanda Willis owns Jigsaw Day Nursery in Scaynes Hill, Haywards Heath, and charges £185 per week for toddlers under the age of two. She said: "I know the cost of childcare is a huge payment to make and we work for parents and so try to keep our costs down as much as possible to help them out.

"It's extortionate to hear that some people are charging as much as £750 a week - particularly for a childminder, working from home without many overheads.

"She must be providing an exceptionally outstanding service, but then so are we and we don't have to charge those prices.

"A lot of people go into it for the money and their heart isn't in it. But I do it for the love of the children. I cover costs, but that's it."

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