Multiple children

[looby2803]

Hi all, seeking some advice regarding nursery.

I have 17 mo twins and am desperate to get back to work part time as I'm struggling at home all day everyday with two children and think it will help with PND and children's development too.
Our local nursery is £42.73 per child per day and I wouldn't earn enough to cover costs, is there any support for multiple birth family's with costs

I don't think there is any help for multiple births guess no different from someone having 2 young close together in age children and having to pay childcare.

Have you looked at a childminder? I pay £4 a hour for my dd and in school hols when paying for my older dd to go to I pay £7 as you get a sibling discount, might make it more worthwhile for you

If you are elligible for tax credits and child tax credits you can get up to 70% of the cost of your child care paid. Have you looked into this?
If not have a look on here.

www.gov.uk/child-tax-credit

PS Not all cm's do a sibling discount. They have two kids to look after, two lots of paperwork, 2 lots of snacks/meals etc why should they charge less for doing more work?

There is no specific help, no.

Nursery where I am is £150 a day for two. The only way I went back was with parents helping out.

It is slightly different to having siblings as depending on age gap you won't need the most expensive day care for two at the same time.

Don't the funded hours kick in at two years old now as well?

Depends on earnings but no help. I was fortunate as I took redundancy but all my wage goes to childcare. Some think I should take time off but nursery is fab and I had mine there at 9 months. If you can do it it is good but don't expect to earn a penny

Have you looked at the cost of a nanny?

Worth shopping around at the local nurseries, the nursery I used for my daughter used to offer a discount if you had more than one child with them (either siblings or twins)! also worth looking at potential free childcare hours at 2 but you have to be in receipt of other benefits. see www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-and-education-for-2-to-4-year-olds

I couldnt find any help mine are 7 now and I didn't go back to work .

The only people with twins who have gone back to work is those who's parents/relatives look after the kids

Are you eligible for any kind of tax credits ? You can get help with childcare costs, look into it on one of those benefit calculators.

I have twins, there is no financial,help,for childcare but of course same as anyone else you csn use childcare vouchers and start getting free hours from age three so thr costs do decrease as time goes on.
I paid £14k per annum for nursery for three days per week.
All but one of my twin mum friends went back to work after a year, one stayed off till her dcs started school to reduce childcare costs. Nobody had parents to look after kids we just had to fork out.
If it will be good for your mental wellbeing then it's worth considering.💐

"How much does the government pay for child care?
Maximum costs are currently set at £175 per week for one child and £300 per week for two or more children. So, if you have one child in childcare and you pay £175 a week or more, you could receive a maximum of £122.50. With two or more children in childcare, you could receive up to £210 (70 per cent of £300)."

The Childcare Element of Working Tax Credit is for

Single people who work at least 16 hours a week; or

Couples who both work at least 16 hours a week; or  

Couples where one works at least 16 hours a week and the other is incapacitated, in hospital or in prison; or

Couples where one works at least 16 hours a week and the other is entitled to Carer's Allowance

Couples where one works  at least 16 hours a week and the other is in hospital or in prison (serving a sentence or remand in custody)

You must be paying for registered or approved childcare for a child you are responsible for.

I could only afford nursery for mine because I had help from GPs otherwise it would have cost me to go to work. None of the nurseries I looked at offered any kind of sibling discount as others have said if you're child wasn't filling the space another full paying child would be.

Really feel for you. I was sinking fast before I went back.

Our nursery gave 5% sibling discount.

My friend with twins needed to go back to work for her own wellbeing - she went back 3 days and her dh moved to 4 long days so they only actually needed childcare for 2 day per week - is something like that an option for you?

I would also be looking at a nanny or nanny share situation.

Good luck finding something that works for you :)

I recently was thinking of maybe returning to work until I priced up how much it would cost for my dt's to go to a cm 9-5 mon-fri.... 380 quid. Im lucky that we can afford for me not to work and that my two are fairly easy so I do enjoy being at home with them.

Hope you manage to get something sorted.

Similar situation here - no family or financial help.

Couple of things you can do :

1. Look into childcare vouchers to see whether you and / or your husband's employers offer then (you can both claim, saves the tax and NI upto about £500 if you can both do it)
2. Look into different nurseries - some will offer a discount (I got 10%).
3. See if childminders are cheaper / if you can find one you'd be happy with.
4. Maybe think of other things if you can't afford the childcare - could you do 3 days' hours in 2 long days (so you'd only have to pay for childcare for 2 days)? Could you work from home (appreciate it would be tricky but you could work when they nap / in the evening?

Good luck, its tricky!

Hi all, thank you so much for all your replys! It's very appreciated.

Think I'm gonna have to face the fact going to work isn't an option for me, receive no benefits and dp earns too much so feel I depend on him 100% which is hard as the twins were born 9 months after getting together :/ ( I know it sounds bad please please don't judge) we don't struggle but I would love to contribute something and feel like we are partners and not a glorified nanny :(