Won't be able to work when son starts school in September

[Maxine3477]

My son will start primary school in September and, having weighed it all up, I'm not gonna be able to manage the twice daily school runs AND keep a job. My job is coming to an end anyway (lack of funding) and the organisation is planning to redeploy all affected staff.
I'm a single parent without childcare help and don't feel I can put the burden of school runs onto his elderly and sick grandparents.
If I were to give up work till my son is a bit older, would I be entitled to any kind of benefits etc? I get WTC and CTC at the moment.

If they’re redeploying can you go in first and ask for a school hours contract? Prob won’t work but don’t ask, Don’t get.

You would have to claim Universal Credit.
Here's a link. www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-to-claim

I think if you quit rather than are made redundant you have to wait a period of time before claiming but I'm not too sure on those details. You would be entitled to Universal Credit which would include help with rent if you don't own your house, but because your youngest child is school age you would have to actively be looking for work (Job centre might make you go for interviews etc).

What about looking for a job in a school? As a receptionist or teaching assistant?

If you are already getting Tax credits then you could keep getting those and may get more, but if you need to add an element - eg help with rent - then you would have to make a claim for UC. You can get a fairly good idea of figures from one of the benefit calculators online like Entitled to.

Can’t you use wraparound care/childminder?

Does the school have no wrap around care?
Are there no local nurseries/childminders/out of school clubs?
What do other working parents do?

@Maxine3477

My son will start primary school in September and, having weighed it all up, I'm not gonna be able to manage the twice daily school runs AND keep a job. My job is coming to an end anyway (lack of funding) and the organisation is planning to redeploy all affected staff. I'm a single parent without childcare help and don't feel I can put the burden of school runs onto his elderly and sick grandparents. If I were to give up work till my son is a bit older, would I be entitled to any kind of benefits etc? I get WTC and CTC at the moment.

You’ll be entitled to universal credit but they’ll expect you to look for another job.

Is there no wrap around childcare at all available? You’d likely get help with the cost either through benefits or tax free childcare.

What childcare have you been using up until now/September?

They will absolutely expect you to be looking for a job! Documenting those you've applied for, grilling you on why you haven't applied for more, expecting you to go to the job centre frequently etc etc. Choosing unemployment is not the way to go about getting benefits, you should consider changing your contracted hours, wraparound childcare or childminder

No you can’t claim benefits if you decide to give up work to be a SAHM.

If you quit you won’t be entitled to anything

Personally I would wait and see where you'll be redeployed and see what flexibility that job has and whether you can put a flexible work request so you can do some school runs.

Does the school have a breakfast/ after school club. My school's breakfast club is really cheap- about £2 per day and that includes breakfast. Have you looked into nurseries/ childminders?

Does he see his dad? If he is involved he should be taking some of the burden of school runs.

Where does he go now? Childcare gets cheaper when they are at school rather than dearer.

Use breakfast clubs, after school clubs and child carers. Why do you not want to work?
In the long term you both will be far better off if you stay in employment.
Plenty of single parents manage to work.

Can you work part time and top up your salary with UC? Have you looked into the cost of clubs/ childminders around school hrs?

A good place to ask about childminders could be your local Facebook site if you have one.

having weighed it all up, I'm not gonna be able to manage the twice daily school runs AND keep a job.

Well no, overwhelmingly parents can't. That's why there is a whole industry based on wraparound school provision. Childminders, before and after school clubs. Nurseries that provide wraparound provision.

Not all areas have wrap around care available and what there is may not be available to new children in September. I know my son's school breakfast club is reopening but with significantly reduced numbers. It's not necessarily as simple as use wrap around care or to get a job in a school.

People are being obtuse and stupid not to realise that most provision of childcare has either stopped or been reduced. And no they are not going to reopen for September.

Well no, overwhelmingly parents can't. That's why there is a whole industry based on wraparound school provision. Childminders, before and after school clubs. Nurseries that provide wraparound provision.

Up and down the country, wraparound care is not being put on at all, childminders have left the job and the ones left are full. Even nurseries have closed down. So many sanctimonious, seemingly unaware people on this thread.

@flirtygirl

People are being obtuse and stupid not to realise that most provision of childcare has either stopped or been reduced. And no they are not going to reopen for September.

Well no, overwhelmingly parents can't. That's why there is a whole industry based on wraparound school provision. Childminders, before and after school clubs. Nurseries that provide wraparound provision.

Up and down the country, wraparound care is not being put on at all, childminders have left the job and the ones left are full. Even nurseries have closed down. So many sanctimonious, seemingly unaware people on this thread.

I have every sympathy for people struggling without childcare but the op hasn’t said she needs to give up work because there isn’t any childcare. There might not be, we don’t know.

However she said she wants to give up until her child is older, not until childcare is back up and running which implies that lack of childcare isn’t the issue.

People are being obtuse and stupid not to realise that most provision of childcare has either stopped or been reduced. And no they are not going to reopen for September.

I'm in Scotland and childminders are now open. Im being neither stupid nor obtuse, maybe slightly ignorant as I posted based on what's happening here and not England but I do think it's safe to assume things will be up and running by September unless there are huge increases.

UC might ask for evidence that you looked at childcare options and that there genuinely weren't any available.

You normally have to look quite a bit in advance so did you have something in place and this has been taken away?

Wraparound care is being planned to reopen at many schools from September all over England, using it is not an unreasonable suggestion.

Its great that obviously in some areas there is lots of wraparound childcare available. That isn't the case in my area and the number of available places has dropped significantly because of COVID. There are a lot of parents scrambling around trying to find care for September, particularly with the unusual arrangements that will be in place with one way systems round the sites and staggered drop-offs and collections.

Plenty of single parents manage to work

Yes, they do. And plenty of non-single parents don't have one clue about the difficulties faced in this situation, particularly when there are multiple children in different settings, poor public transport networks, special needs, a lack of family support etc. etc. It is not helpful to berate someone without knowing the full extent of their personal situation, access to own transport, family support etc All of that even before we had corona to contend with. And I say that as a full time single working parent.