To feel I have been set up to fail.

[Happywifehappylife18]

Well long story short…ish
I had a great job before having a child, pay was not great but I loved it. I was made redundant while in my maternity leave as the alternative job that was offered meant splitting my work between two different sites on opposing sides of London 50/50 which was not feasible with a young child.

three years later, I have really struggled to find a job that works for my new life dynamic. Universal credit have really pushed me and hounded me to constantly apply for jobs even though I would not realistically be able to apply.

I have finally found a job. It’s amazing a real good cause doing good work helping people. It’s as flexible as you can get which I need. BUT my son’s nursery today have told me that they have no space for him to move to full time. Their waitlist is at least 9months from being able accommodate this. Not only this but this is the case for all the nurseries in my very small town. And because of this there are no available childminder or Nannie’s in my area either. I’m in such a pickle.

and I could not of applied for full time earlier as we moved here a couple
of Months ago and I also needed to be working to get the 30 hour entitlement.

really what can I do I don’t know. But I really feel like I’ve been set up to fail.

Where is the child’s father in all of this? It sounds to me in this instance you should really try to make this job work. Are there other nurseries in the area? Anyone that could step in and help with childcare temporarily?

The system is crap, particularly for parents and carers.

You haven’t been set up to fail, nobody has done this to you. It’s a bit of bad planning and some bad luck. Can the dad alter his hours to help? How many days can nursery take your son?

Have you got the space for an au pair? They get to learn English and you get someone to help with childcare. Someone I know had a different au pair for years.

Could you split your son's days over different settings?

How is it bad planning? She got made redundant

Is there any nurseries that have part time place with opposing days? If it’s flexible can you work around your partner’s shift or can he move some shifts around? If not to all of those then could you speak to the job and see if they could accommodate a wait time till you start. Also most nursery’s have more spaces in September when most of the the 4/5 years olds go off to school. There’s probably at least one nursery or childminder that has a space from September.

You must be in commuting distance of London from your op. Look on Childcare.co.uk there will be something. How about putting your child in childcare where you work instead of where you live on the days you don’t already have childcare? I split my DCs between 2 settings for a year because it was the only way I could work.

Not checking nursery wait list times/availability sooner as she’s only looked into this after being offered the job. Long waiting lists are very common. Nothing to do with being made redundant 3 years ago.

if your job is flexible can you and your dh tag team it so where you can you work when he can be home and vice versa? Can one of you do evenings for example? THen you wouldn’t need 5 days of childcare. It’s so hard op, and tons of juggling but it is doable, a lot of us don’t have family help and we get through it

I’m glad to hear UC are pushing people back into work!

You need to find a childminder somewhere or can a relative or friend help out over the next 9 months?