How to go about starting a job without relatives to watch your child

[Girlmommy]

My maternity is coming to an end and I want to start working again as I am struggling financially without a job as I’m only receiving universal credit. My dd is only 8 months. I wanted to put her in a nursery but you don’t get funding till they’re 2 I believe . Anyone got any ideas how I would go about going back to work . Will I literally just be working to pay for her childcare costs or? Also it will only be me paying not her father as he don’t bother with her. I just don’t really want to be stuck on benefits as I personally can’t afford to get by on them alone .

www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/universal-credit

UC will pay up to £646.35 or 85% of childcare costs.
This has to be paid upfront and they pay it back(there is a discretionary fund for help towards the upfront costs- ask your work coach).
EG I get £1500 in wages each month and £900 UC.
30 hours kicks in the term after your child turns 3. 15 hours at age 2 is only if your take home pay is less than £15k

Childminders are generally cheaper and offer the same service to the same standards as nursery.....the website childcare choices will explain what your entitled to

Yes tbh you will prob be working to pay for childcare costs but this won’t be forever

get through the next 2yrs till 3 and then 30hrs will kick in

thrn obv once at school be less and before and after school plus holidays

what job do you do

plus as above uc if you are on they will pay towards childcare costs

Anyone know roughly how much nursery’s or child minders actually cost on Average

If you Google nurseries near you they usually have their prices listed. DS went 4 days a week and it was nearly £1000 per month but it does depend on your area.

Nursery or childminder charged depend on where you live. In my area a full day at nursery is about £50. You will probably get help with childcare though Universal Credit. Go on the universal credit website and there will be a calculator there which will give you an idea.

Where do you live?
In the East Midlands I pay £57 a day for my child to go to nursery all day and that includes all meals. He's not in nappies now but when he was I had to supply nappies wipes and cream

Varies massively depending on where you are in the country, and what the nursery provide etc. The nursery we use for DC1 who is nearly 4 is now £53 a day for the under 2s (8am-6pm) and for an extra £5 a day you can drop them from 7.30am. That includes 3 meals and a snack, all their activities and materials, wipes, sun cream, and they do provide formula for babies under 1 but only a choice of a few brands. You have to provide nappies yourself. Local childminders cost around £40 a day in comparison but that is often a shorter day say 8.30-5.30, and you need to provide a packed lunch and snacks then as well.

Really depends I'm in north nursery is 36 a day and childminder around 30.

Do you get child maintenance from your daughter's father? If not contact CMS and put in a claim.

You can find information about average childcare costs here www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/family-and-care/becoming-a-parent/childcare-costs
but as everyone has said, it varies a lot, so contact your local nurseries and childminders for find out.

As PPs have said, you will be able to get up to 85% of your childcare costs paid through UC.
www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/new-to-universal-credit/children-and-childcare/

Make sure you look for all help available to you via UC and if you are with a housing association.

You could get funding to retrain and maybe work towards something worthwhile than just a job that will take you away from your child and not give you much in return.

My housing association helped me a lot to get back to work after moving in.

Also if you work part-time and get the most UC you can, you can get into an okay financial position. I was actually quite well off when I first had my child due to benefits.

Go easy on yourself, it's great that you want to get back into work but it might be better to take the time and help to improve your skills and go back a little bit later than right now if you can hang on?

Her father doesn’t have the choice of not supporting her. If he receives enough from income or benefits then he has a legal obligation to pay support.

I have a flexible job working from home mostly. I work 24 hours and my daughter goes to nursery for two days a week, I do the rest when she’s napping or in the evening. We pay around £500 (after tax free childcare deduction) a month for two days at nursery excluding nappies, lunch etc… I make about £1200 after tax so essentially work for £700 a month.

If you did something like that you’d still get universal credit so would be better off, it’s still a frustrating that childcare costs so much!

Her father has to provide financial support if his income is high enough. That’s the law. Most people don’t have family to do childcare. They pay for a nursery or childminder. But as others have said, there’s help available for this. The first year or so may be hard until the free hours kick in, but it’s worth hanging in there just to get yourself established in the job market.

This is what you need to do:-

• put in a claim for CMS from her father
• call some local childminders/nurseries and ask for their rates
• do an Entitled To online calc using possible childcare costs and possible income amounts and see what the figure comes back as (estimate but close enough)

What's your home situation atm?

Wow, I'm in the north too and no way would you get a nursery anywhere near that price round here!

It's very localised I'm in South hillingdon Greater London and a childminder is around £4.50 to £5.50 in North hillingdon its over £8 a distance of 1.5 miles.

hi I’m in universal credit and I have a 9 month old I have been offered a cleaning job which is something I want to do the hours to start with are 8-12 hours over Monday and a Wednesday with potential to do a third day when more cleans come in I have checked the local childminders and they are all full at the moment and I don’t drive so the rest are too far away and the nurseries are only offering time slots which are 7.30-6.30 full day or part day 7.30 till 12.30 my son will need to be in nursery 8.30-3 for 2 days so the only option would be the full day option will universal help with this or will they say that il have to look for a different job .

It does depend on the area....but if I Google my local childminder rate I find a rate £2 or so higher than anyone I know is charging.....it's best to ring around.

@Beckyboc85 you’re best off starting a new thread

yes UC will help towards it. There’s no limit on the hours really it’s more the value but you could really claim for 30 hours when only working 5 for instance. The childcare claimback asks for values and dates not hours. It’s up to 85%
speak to your work coach and see if you can get help from the discretionary fund for the first month.

Thank you I will give them a ring today