Start new job on 9th August need to sort childcare

[sansgender]

Hello, I was offered a job last Thursday evening (a bit out of the blue really) to start on 9th Sept. Currently my almost 4 year old goes to nursery 15 hours a week, I need to extend to 40 hours. I immediately applied for the 30 hours free childcare code and sent that to nursery on Friday morning. I've been chasing them since then as the deadline for September term is today according to government website. They said they would try sort it out but the manager was on AL and they need to figure out if they have space. Looks like I haven't made it in time and wondering if anyone can give me some advice.

If they get back to me too late but they do have a space, can any of this be claimed back after being paid upfront?

If they don't have space, if I went with a child minder for the rest of the day, do you usually have to pay for the same sessions every week or are there more flexible ones? As due to his father working 4 days on then 4 days off, he will be able to have him on quite a few of the days but they will be different every week.

Have been trying to Google but my heads all over the place and I'm stressing. Thanks!

Ugh ignore date in title that should read Sept

1. As long as you have the code by today it will be fine.

1. Personally I charge for set sessions each week but some CMs offer flexible shift patterns so you need to contact each one individually.

To add, childminders can also accept the 30 hour funding.

So long as you have the code today you will be fine to claim so long as you find somewhere with a space. I doubt you will find a childminder or nursery who will offer you a 4 days on and 4 days off arrangement who won’t charge you while you are not using the space as they will be losing money and be most unlikely to find fill the days you dont use. You can also not backdate the funding. Any claim will start from the time you start the funded hours.

Ok Thanks very much that's good to know