Lone parent struggling with work meetings

[ADHDPI]

I have to attend a work meeting once a month 2.5 hours away from my house. I really struggle to find childcare for my 4yo in this time. Both my parents work full time and babysitters are too expensive on top of a £1000 nursery bill. Any other lone parents have any advice on how I can manage this? Is there such thing as an Ofsted registered babysitter that I can put through universal credit? Don't want to miss any more meetings as it just makes me look unreliable.

If you explain about the difficulty about finding child care on the meeting days to your boss, would there be a chance you could be in the meeting via zoom?

What hours are you out of the house? Could your parents not help by dropping off and picking up from his usual childcare on those days, and still make it to work or are they not local? Or any other local friends who'd be willing to do that once in a while for a bit of cash?

Have you asked nursery if they allow staff members to do babysitting on an ad-hoc.

Reliable childcare outside of core hours is really tricky.

If you use a registered babysitting company that invoices you can put it through UC as long as you aren’t already at you £600ish max.
Single parent of a 4 year old here with no local family, it’s hard. Now he is a bit older sometimes I ask if he can go to a nursery friends for tea and I pay back with a weekend play date but apart from that it’s all paid help.

I'm assuming that the meeting is in the usual working day time-could you find childcare near to where you go for the meeting? It would reduce the hours you'd need it for-yes, it would be a long far journey each way for your little one but stick the nursery rhymes on and sing!