Single parent, childcare costs

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Posting here for traffic.

I am a recently separated single mother to a 7 month old and a 22 month old. My elder child is currently undergoing assessments, I think for ASD, although the HV is obviously reluctant to specify her suspected diagnosis. I've been referred also for services offered to special need kids.

I was going to wait a little longer before going back to work, but want to be able to arrange private assessments and therapy for my eldest. I've been offered part time casual work in my profession which I accepted in a hurry because I was all too pleased to have this opportunity. I'm now worried sick about childcare.

I'm in a small 1 bed HA flat. No family nearby (closest family is 300 miles away). I'm getting by on UC. This really isn't where I wanted to be. Getting a nanny to care for the kids on the days I work will cost me at the very least 150/day which is almost all my daily salary. The person I wanted to use is a friend who has spent a lot of time with my kids and my eldest is very comfortable with her. Using her however will mean I cannot claim back some of the costs with my UC since she isn't OFSTED registered and doesn't want to be. She also cannot commit to all the days I need. I'm really not sure how my eldest will manage with someone else. My daughter is perfect in every way but needs a lot of support. She's also neither verbal nor communicative at present. She can cry to the point of vomitting if not consolled properly. I'm also worried about the benefit cap. I'm not sure if I'll be able to earn the minimum amount to lift the cap to ensure some of my childcare payments will be reimbursed.

Would be grateful for any advice or guidance.

ETA: exP is a fair distance away and sees the kids every month or so. He has other children and won't be able to travel down during term time.

Sorry to bump this 😔

Hi, sorry to hear you are in such a tricky situation. Can you move either closer to ex parent or family for help with childcare?

Thanks for responding. I've only just moved to this area. It was the only place I could get housing unfortunately.

Yeah moving isn't really an option anyway unless you have funds to! I think you'd need to speak to citizens advice, I wasn't aware myself of the benefit cap affecting child care reimbursement - I just thought it had to be proportionate to the hours worked but I could be wrong x

You need to earn a minimum of 16hrs a week at minimum wage to qualify for the 30hrs free childcare. So if you earn more than minimum wage less hours is fine. You would be able to get this from January. They qualify the term after they are 9 months so for your 7 month old this would be January, it would also be Jan for your 22 month old as you have to be working or have been offered the job before the start of term. You can apply online but look around nurseries first, they all offer different things I.e some only offer full days, some you have to spread the hours over 50 weeks so it works out around 20hrs per week, some add chargers on.

Are there any council run nurseries near you?
In my experience they can be better environments than private nurseries especially for children with SEN.

Alternatively could you look for an Ofsted registered childminder with experience of SEN?

It doesn't sound like your friend is a good fit unfortunately.

Thanks for your responses.

I think I need to find an Ofsted registered nanny with SEN experience as the last poster suggested. Just really anxious about how it would work with my eldest. I can prepare a document with as much information as possible but they'll be thing's I'm sure I'll miss. I'm also worried about the minimum amount I need to earn before being eligible for partial reimbursement. I'm going to see how my Sept dates go and go from there.

Thank you again for taking the time to respond. Feeling really down of late and I'm grateful to those who read and responded.