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Original poster

What benefits am I entitled to?

5 replies

TheOriginalXENA · 02/11/2008 13:56

Am in a little of a panic as what to do...
A quick run down

DH left this morning

I have 4DC's

i currently work (and pay a c/m) but I work shifts so some evenings and weekends- will now be really hard with DH gone.
So what do I do? Can I give up work and claim any benefits (i'd rather not!) or should I try to find a live in nanny??

Thank you if you take the time to reply.

OP posts:
TequilaMockinBird · 02/11/2008 14:06

So sorry to hear about your DH leaving

You will be entitled to tax credits if you carry on working and will probably be better off than you think.

Check here to see how much you could get

TequilaMockinBird · 02/11/2008 14:08

Oh sorry just re-read the OP

You might be better finding a nanny if your cm will not work evenings/weekends.

Tax credits will usually cover some (but not all) of the cost.

SmugColditz · 02/11/2008 14:10

Argh nightmare!

How old are your kids, would an au pair do? A cm and aupair may be cheaper than a nanny.

You should get some help towards childcare now that you are on your own, unless you are on a really high income (by this I mean over 50 grand). Have a word with your Cm to see if she could cover the shifts for at least a bit, or if your eldest is over 14 maybe he/she could hold the fort for a few weeks?

You need entitledto.com

Original poster
TheOriginalXENA · 02/11/2008 16:52

Thanks for replying. Being in the sticks the phone line - and thus the BBand- went down as it was abit windy!
So do you think keep working is the answer? I can cover myself for the next three weeks (spent the day sorting it)
Colditz - I looked into the aupair again today but because I will now need to rely on Tax credits (which I can't use to pay an aupair) I think a nanny is the only answer. Which is awful for the children as they love their childminder . The other thing of course is that the local nanny agency wants 3 x net weekly salary.

OP posts:
TequilaMockinBird · 02/11/2008 19:43

Xena, The best thing to do is probably to go onto entitledto.com (I linked in above post) and put in different scenarios to see how much you could get.

I think Tax Credits pay up to about 70% of the childcare cost so it may not work out that expensive for you once you take that into account

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