I’m not being flippant- I genuinely don’t get it- childcare costs

[Strictlymad]

Please could you knowledgeable lot help me?

I promise it’s a genuine request I’m not being flippant!

theres been a lot of posts recently about childcare costs, being better off earning less due to benefits, UC top ups etc and I don’t disbelieve this but don’t understand what I’m missing. We are struggling and not getting any help at all. There was a long thread yesterday but I’ve lost tract now and didn’t want to hijack.

situation is - dh earns 41k, I earn approx 6k self employed from home whilst also being full time carer to toddler ds who has complex medical needs, we also have 6 year old dd.

ds can’t attend childcare due to his needs so work for me is limited. Mortgage on 3 bed house is 900 in south east, dh commutes to London so running two cars. Applied for uc but not eligible, get standard child benefit. Ongoing application for dla for ds but takes months.

i do appreciate we have more than many and am grateful for that, there is more to life than money- every day I’m grateful ds is alive. I’m just curious at these posts of others saying if dh earned under 100k we would be better of cuz of the ‘help’ - is there something I’m missing!!

thanks all

Yes, my son (8) is the same. He won’t take any medication orally. Doesn’t matter what we disguise it in. He ended up in hospital for 5 days in summer 2022 because a cold turned into a viral chest infection and he wouldn’t have steroids orally, so we had to give them overnight when he did sleep, via nebuliser, held a few inches from his face as he would wake if we tried to put it on him 🥴 So now I’m always on tenterhooks every time he has a cold. He also has ARFID, so this makes it doubly hard to hide things in his food. We can get vitamin powder in yogurt, when he will eat it. We were down to 1 food a few weeks ago, and slowly built back up to about 7 foods now. I know the struggle. We’ve all got Covid at the moment and he’s the only one not vaccinated so I’m ultra careful. Never ends does it. Anyway, sorry for de-railing the purpose of the thread! Feel free to DM me any time. Knowledge is power, and all that.

Thank you this is really helpful. Could I apply for uc now so it’s backdated to today? And put somewhere on the form awaiting dla decision? Or would it be better to wait to wait til we got the decision?

I’d apply today. If you’re not entitled then you can reapply when DLA awarded anyway. I get some UC, work full time and it makes a massive difference.

You personally might not be because your toddler isn't in childcare, but if he was the 30 funded hours and tax free childcare on the rest would add up.

Do you want him to be in childcare? If so getting the ball rolling on an EHCP might mean you can find a specialist preschool.

Have you used Turn2Us website to see if and what you’re entitled to? Being self employed can make it slightly more complicated. However with the figures you’re giving (mortgage and no childcare) it’s unlikely you’d be entitled until you get your answer about DLA. Even then, if your child gets lower or middle rate, if you apply for carers allowance (only applicable if your child gets awarded middle or higher rate), the disability/carers element may disappear due to carers allowance amount being removed. It will not be awarded until you have an answer from DLA - when did you send the form? I’d also join the DLA group on Facebook of you haven’t already.

Once you have DLA up and running you may be able to apply again for UC to claim for a disabled child and a carers element which is different to carers allowance

Your local council should provide high needs block funding to allow your DC to attend some form of preschool provision and use the funded hours entitlement. I know several children with disabilities/additional needs and all have attended childcare with 1 to 1 via this funding. This may enable you to increase your hours working and improve your family finances

Yes apply today! It takes a month or so whilst they review your application and you can always update as and when new information arises. It's all done alone and can even message employees with questions or more information. Even if your not entitled to anything you still have an account so as and when your circumstances change you can update it. For example, it may say August and September you'll be paid £0 but if in October you hear back and update your universal credit account it might say £150 entitlement. Hope that made sense. Good luck but don't delay in applying as you never know you might be entitled.

He’s only 18 months so not pre school age yet, and viruses in settings would be a huge hurdle at present but I will deffo look into the echp for when he’s 3! Thank you

Ah thanks so much I will do

Thank you! I’ll have a look on that site and join the fb group too. Applied in March so hopefully hear soon!

Once your DLA goes through then your UC basic claim before deductions will go up as you will get a carer element and also a disabled child element on there as well as your couple element and your basic child element. Your DH’s salary however may still wipe all that out. You will not however be ‘required’ to work which by a certain age you will be if you didn’t have a disabled child. You could also claim carers allowance separately once the DLA comes through. This is an income that is taken £4£ off the UC claim but if you aren’t earning above the carers allowance threshold and aren’t entitled to the UC anyway then you’re better off claiming the carers allowance. That plus the DLA will give you a decent boost you probably need. Also depending on your child’s disability entitlement to the mobility element of the DLA you could look into a motability car. But this would only be if your child had the highest rate mobility component of their DLA

Hi all, for anyone still following a got awarded highest band dla this week with a nice backdated payment. So next step would be carers? Then Uc and I think council tax reduction is that correct? Thanks

Sorry I can't help with what's next, but so glad to hear you've some more support with the DLA and just wanted to bump your update up.

Council tax deduction is dependent on where you live. Where I live I get a single person deduction but there’s nothing for anyone with disabilities.

Check your local hospitals disabled parking policy. Ours is free with a blue badge. Then check your council's blue badge criteria and see if your toddler qualifies.

We didn't realise that we were entitled to free hospital parking for years, it's in the tiniest writing ever. Has saved us £££'s

Hi Op I would go onto the website entitled to which is a benefits calculator and you should be entitled to the disability element of uc and the carers element of uc which is different to carers allowance. Should you claim carers allowance alongside uc they would take the carers allowance from your uc pound for pound.

if you put all your info into entitled to website they should give you a true reflection on what you would be entitled to including all your different elements on the claim.

I think council tax reduction will be dependent on your LA ,my son has been getting DLA since he was 3 and he's 14 now and we have never been eligible for a reduction in council tax
But yes you should be eligible for carer ,s allowance and maybe some UC.