Tax Credits And Universal Credit

[Dave20]

I wonder if anyone can assist. I’ve looked into the benefits calculator to see if there’s any benefits we can claim.
Originally the gov website said we may be eligible for child tax credits, but I’m aware new claimants can’t claim tax credits. The newer systems of universal credit just said we’d be entitled to child benefit, which most people get.
Our situation is;
I’m 39 and work 39 hours a week. I earn £432 a week before tax. Annual salary of £22,500.
DW is 35 and works 22 hours a week. She earns just under £800 every 4 weeks.
We have two children, a 6 year old and an 8 month year old.
From September we are sending our 6 year old to after school childcare, £30 per week.
We also own our own home.
Anyone know if we can actually claim anything? Our joint income is around £32 k per year, mine and DW salaries combined.
It’s a bit of a minefield.
Thanks

If you're putting them into childcare that you didn't previously use, is that to enable one of you to increase your hours? Obviously that would have a knock on effect in your eligibility

Pay MORE than that into your pension. It's a legitimate way of reducing your net and increasing your UC. Play about with the figures online.

The nursery is our daughters primary school. She went when she was three years old, we got 15 hours a week free then.
We used family the rest of the time, however we are in a different situation now and our family has other commitments, although can help when they can.
I already work 39 hours and can’t do any more, DW works 23. She could increase her hours, but that would mean we would need to worry about more child care, and her wages would ultimately be spent on that.
A catch 22 isn’t it!

I should add, I looked at the sites Turn2us and entitled to.
I’ve never claimed UC or any other benefits before and heard of people who have claimed and later received bills from them asking them to pay it back !

The only time I've known people have to repay overpayments on UC is when they've failed to notify them of a change in circumstances.

Because the monthly payment is based on earnings as uploaded ed to HMRC every pay period by employers, the income it's based on should be accurate for any claimant who's employed. It's very different from tax credits, which were based on estimated income for the year. That led to massive overpayments.