Stuck re returning towork

[Beth2511]

So this tax year OH will have brought home £20000 and me £8000. I've been on maternity as of October and due to go back July so that is a big chunk of my earnings.

My problem is my job is 5 days a week doing home care, typically I will do 2 hours first thing, an hour lunch time and 90 minutes in the evening. OH does shifts and my hours do not even come close to covering a session at nursery per day plus with my hours being so all over the place, sessions won't actually cover it. The other thing with my job is I don't get paid travel time, so whilst I 'work' 2 hours, I only get paid 80-90minutes! We have no grandparent help.

I know absolutely it is not viable for me to return to work in this job but I have no skills and all my experience is doing this! I have no idea where to start.

My question is essentially how many hours (min. wage) roughly would I need to do in a day to pay for nursery for a day? (£60)

I have to earn the same as SMP (£539 a month) + Child care fees to be able to afford to return to work as we have no scope out of OH's wage to cover a short fall in my wages covering child care.

If I can't financially afford to return to work would we be eligable for any help at all? So worried :(

I am doing an open uni degree to better my future options but now is the worry.

Should add these figures are before tax/CSA deductions.

I actually bring in £539+£82 CB, OH brings in £1200

If you don't go back to work you will be able to claim child tax credits, which will be somewhere between £80-100 a week roughly. If you do return to work and do at least 16 hours a week you can claim assistance paying for childcare. Have a look on entitledto.co.uk to play around with different scenarios :-)

Do caring shifts at night?

Claim the childcare element of working tax credits or work around your oh perhaps doing bank care work where you can choose your shifts to fit around his. Or give up work completely and claim the small amount of tax credits you will be able to claim.

Have a look at your local council job pages for vacancies particularly term time or school admin/lunch time supervisor roles. Universities and FE colleges also recruit admin /catering & manual staff so it's worth checking the website of your local one, now is a good time to look for new roles at these places because teaching has finished.

Alternatively, have a look at some long term 3-6 months plus temping/maternity cover roles in the areas that you are interested in to get the skills that you need. Brook Street / Office angels are a few temping agencies.

Have a look at the Guardian Careers website and look at how to improve your cc and present your skills in a positive way. You say you have no experience but you will be surprised by how many transferable skills that you have from your caring job and your studies. For example, where a job requires good time keeping/multi tasking skills then you are in a good position to mention handling several clients and coursework deadlines. Good luck.

Have a look at childminders as they are a bit more affordable than a nursery. Can your oh claim childcare vouchers via his employer to offset the childcare cost? Is there any opportunity for him to apply for a better paid job in your area?