UC childcare help, can this be right?

[Tisfortired]

Hi everyone, I hope somebody more knowledgeable than me can give me some guidance here. I am currently a SAHM to 2 DC, 10 yrs and 20 months. I quit work whilst on maternity as they offered 0 flexibility and the commute was very long.

My partner works full time earning around 33/34k a year. We currently receive UC top ups whilst I’m out of work, average about £700 a month.

I have just been offered a job, basically minimum wage (24.5k) but WFH and the company seem great and very flexible. However this means my youngest will have to go into nursery full time as we have no family support. This will cost around £960 a month.

I did a benefits entitlement calculator to see how the UC entitlement would change, expecting it to say £0 basically with a household income of 58k, but it said £700 a month for the childcare element.

This seems completely bonkers to me, can it be right? I did a few different calculators and got basically the same result for each. Can this be right? Does anybody else with a similar household income here get the same level of support from UC?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Do you pay rent?

If so how much?

Hi @Bromptotoo yes we do, £740 pcm.

Assuming your full rent is eligible for UC, ie no reduction for bedroom tax or LHA ceiling for private lets UC payable is in the order of £780.00 per month.

Without exact figures of your wages after deductions, it's hard to be precise, but it seems from calculations that your UC rate will stay the same, which means you'll be roughly £800 per month better off overall if you work, despite the childcare costs.