Childcare funding nightmare

[bloomrose49]

I’m a single parent of 3 young children - I’ve just gone back to work this month after being a SAHM and I’ve had an absolute nightmare with the childcare funding.

I applied for the childcare at the end of July, got a code then had an email to reconfirm a few days later which I did so I thought it was all done from my end. I have just logged onto the portal tonight to check the code is correct as nursery were querying it today and I’ve found two messages on there - one saying they need to speak to me to to verify my income and another saying as I didn’t not respond to the message my son is no longer entitled to 30hrs and I have missed the 30 day mandatory reconsideration deadline. I genuinely thought it was all done my end and if they needed anything more I would have at least got an email or a text.

I’ve spoke to the childcare service on the phone this evening and they have told me to submit an appeal which I have done tonight - but this can take 30 days to just get a response. They have said if they reject this then he will not get any funding until January.

i have emailed the nursery and let them know everything that has happened tonight and I’m trying to sort this out somehow tomorrow and I will let them know if I need to reduce his days as he will get the 15hrs still. I genuinely think I’m going to have to give up my job as the childcare bill would be more than my wage. I feel absolutely gutted about it and so angry. Has anyone been through this before?

I haven't experienced this directly, but I know appeals can be a pain with this as my friend went through it for a while.
For future reference you should always get a response message to say that your reconfirmation for both tax free child care and funded hours has been successful. I usually get both a text and an email saying that there are new messages in my portal, it might be worth checking your contact details on the portal to see why you didn't get those texts/emails.
Unfortunately there is a chance that the funding won't be backdated so you might need to plan for that and speak to the nursery about payment options.
The termly funding does catch a lot of people out at the start, so it might not be the first time the nursery has had people in a similar situation.
We had to pay in advance for our nursery space, so funding/payment was confirmed 1st of the month and we weren't allowed to drop our kids off if we weren't paid in full.

If it isn't sorted can you claim UC as they will pay up to 85percent if child are costs if eligible which you must be id the coats are more than your wage?