My DH is doing a full time PGCE and has been since Sept 13. I went on maternity leave in Feb 13 and have just returned to work on 70% of my previous salary part time. We applied for help with our child care costs through Student Finance England and his two course mates who have children have received money. We have been turned down. They have 2 children each but one only has one in child care. They have husbands who are presumably working full time in at least as well paid jobs as me part time. I appreciate you get 'points' or whatever for number of dependents but I just can't see why they have been given money and we have got absolutely nothing. I've worked with people in poverty in the past and checking the current figures a couple with one dependent child under 11 the poverty line is £272.16 per week. Our comparable income (with the same methodology of deductions) is £188.67 per week. So how can we be refused child care cost support?? We've queried it twice and are now appealing but I really can't see how we're not eligible. From the £188.67 we're supposed to (according to the government methodology) pay for food, heating and transport, as well as in our case child care costs of £111 per week!!! Our childminder is £10 a day less than the local nursery rate so we've already saved by going with a CM as we knew we couldn't afford nursery. Can anyone advise what we should do? Is anyone else in receipt of child care cost support through Student Finance who can show me if SFE have ballsed up or if we really are going to be even more skint than I thought?!