DT, salary and 30hrs free childcare

[SteppingOverTheMark]

Hello,

I wasn’t sure where to post so hoping here is okay for the traffic.

I have DT that will be 3yo this summer and currently go to nursery one day a week. As they’re summer born, they almost lose a year of nursery compared to winter born children so we have them down to attend nursery 3 days a week from September to get them ready for school the following year (they also lacked socialisation due to lockdown).

I work in a school for 15hrs a week, term time only. My salary is £6192 after pension contribution, NI, etc. but this is spread evenly across the year so it works out at £516 p/m. Is this the figure I would use for when looking into the 30hrs free childcare which means I’d have to find more hours to qualify (which is stated on the website as you have to earn on average over £1853 over the next three months to qualify)?

Or, would I use my actual hourly rate as this would mean I earn roughly £635p/m over some months (but less over others). Would that put me over the qualifying threshold or not?

Is the salary taken into account before or after tax, etc?

Childcare is already so expensive with DT along with the area we’re in…even if we do manage to qualify for 30hrs free a week then our nursery fees will still be £750p/m 😵‍💫

I contact CAB but they didn’t really help, just told me to apply and see what was said but I need to potentially plan/look for more hours if need be.

Thank you!

X post a bit, sorry!

All they're interested in is the gross pay in your salary over three monthly pay cheques. They don't care how many hours you work or when.

I have, like you twelve equal pay packets.

In the three months, I had to earn the qualifying amount. I just added the top line up for the three months. I was short, like you. I worked 15 hours, plus 30 hours inset/holiday. I had to up that to 18 hours plus 36 inset/holiday hours, and then three monthly pay packets qualified.

@butmumineedit
Thank you but there aren’t any like that near us…plus DT have settled so well after being thrown in at the deep end, I’d really prefer not to move them unless completely necessary.

[quote SteppingOverTheMark]@Troublesometooth
Thank you - with my salary being split equally over the 12 months then I would still be earning £516p/m despite school holidays.

So, basically, i need to find an extra hour of work per week?

I think my friend is looking for an office cleaner once a week so that would work?

It’s unfair that it’s judged on minimum wage for over 23s, what about younger mums that work?![/quote]
You need to be earning £618 monthly by my calculations to make the £1853 every 3 months.

So you need to find an extra £100 a month.

I’m not sure if the rental income would cover this.

There was another thread about this recently in terms of the income divide, but thus shows the shocking reality. You pay 700 plus extra for three days a week and earn two hundred less? With the supposed 30 hours .

That makes no sense. I hope you can sort it.

Scotland here. No income barrier. Just 30 hours regardless from 3.

Thank you all so much!
I’ll look into this cleaning job then 😊

@Troublesometooth
That is worrying…I really don’t want DT having 6 weeks off nursery to be at home with me 24/7 before starting school - they’d really struggle!
I suppose if it’s based on salary then they wouldn’t know…

@DogDaysNeverEnd
That’s good to know…I better find a crafty talent…or j could set up as a self employed administrator to DH…although he’ll be a start up too. Does that mean we’d both get grace periods so it wouldn’t matter how much either of us earned?!

@Peasandcabbage
Someone earning a fortune for fewer hours would still qualify too…it’s not the best system, is it?

Or someone under 23yo would have to work more hours as minimum wage less.

It is a little bit flawed…

Ah. The 30 hours is term time only so we chose to have it as 22 hours a week year-round. So unless you pay in that summer holiday then they would be off with you.

We can only afford nursery at the moment thanks to a generous relative leaving some inheritance. My salary is being saved to cover the cost difference if next years nursery fees.

DH is studying at the moment for a career change so he needs to get earning sooner rather than later. Nice to know start ups get a years grace though. Phew!

I digress but this is complicated.

@SteppingOverTheMark sorry for taking it off but jeeezzzz that's terrible

@Peasandcabbage
It’s DT, I think there should be some help for parents or multiples…ours our identical so not hereditary, hard to predict.

I know people will jump on me and say “you should have known there was a chance” but if people only had children based on whether they could potentially afford to have twins, triplets, quadruplets, etc then only those in a very fortunate financial position would ever have kids.

Massively off topic though, apologies and thank you to those that have replied 😘

@ToykotoLosAngeles
Ahh, well that’s why out monthly nursery fee is so high. They won’t let you take the kids out for the school holidays and not pay, they only offer year round childcare.

You don't have to work 16 hours but you do need to earn a minimum & it's based on pre tax

@bindud
Thank you, that means I need to earn an extra £71p/m to qualify 👍🏻

The 30 hours is only for 38 weeks of the year so if you want it for more you will have to top up anyway.

Just in case you don't know and it's something you want to consider- children don't have to start school until the term after they turn 5 so whilst you can start them next year you don't have to. They could have longer in nursery that way.

@Pastnowfuture
Thank you, we had considered that depending on development, etc. but they’rr doing really well and should hopefully be more than ready for it…we also can’t afford an extra year of nursery, sad but true. I can’t even think about what we’d do if they NEEDED that extra year

@bindud
Thank you, the nursery only let the children go all year round so the £750p/m quoted accounts for that.

What is your gross salary without deductions?

OP, you may need to check this but I believe you only get the 30 hrs if you are both working and earning. Me and DP had to both declare our incomes and working hours when we applied. Does you DH earn anything?

@Policyschmolicy
I think it’s £6560…I think I’ve just worked out that I need to earn £71 more a month.

@Dogsandbabies
He is earning £12k p/a while studying but these studies finish in April/May time so he’ll then be setting up as self employed and will get a years grace. I hope he’ll be earning over the threshold by September anyway though!

It’s so complicated 😂

It is also based on taxable income so pension contributions that are made pretax do not count. It will be your gross salary minus any contributions you make that are not taxable, like pension, NI and charitable donations.

Ah that's great and a relief for you!

@Dogsandbabies
Thank you, I’ve just dug my contract out and it’s only £71p/m difference that I need to make up. I wonder if they’d increase my pay by £71 if I promise to donate it back to the school…🤔

Failing that, DH can employ me as admin as I’ll be helping a lot anyway 😂

Failing that, cleaning it is!

Thank you all, I feel better for clarity - I was panicking!

Good luck! Twins sound tough and expensive 😊