In November I registered with universal credit. It was a joint claim and I did it primarily to receive some financial support towards childcare costs.
UC made me jump through a lot of hoops and there was a lot of back and forth but eventually in January they approved the costs.
Now I didn’t actually receive any money due to deductions from my husbands wage (he received a bonus) in December or January.
Despite approving the first set of childcare costs, when I submitted the next set, they sent me a message saying they won’t pay out because they don’t cover “top ups”. My 2 year old has 30 funded hours and then I pay for consumables (food, activities etc). This is optional but in my opinion better for her and for the running of the nursery.
Previously I’ve used the tax free childcare (before uc) so I hoped to go back to that. Coincidentally I had to reconfirm my details for the funding so I informed them I’m now registered for UC and they almost immediately messaged me to say I’m not entitled to use the tax free childcare account now.
I have appealed this decision because it seems unfair that UC have categorically told me they won’t pay towards my childcare and I can’t use the tax free account even though UC isn’t paying me the childcare element?
I am now on a single clam as my husband and I have separated so I’m hoping that my whole payment will change now he has moved out.
I just don’t know they expect a full time working mum to make this work?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Please also note, I have not attempted to use both UC and the tax free account together. I stopped using the tax free account when I made my UC claim.