Nursery start fees, help please!!!

[Junebabyjoy]

Can anyone help me?

I'm a single parent and I've just been offered a teaching job to start just after half term.

I've found a private nursery for my 2 and 3 year olds but have absolutely no idea how it works in terms of funding/payment. I understand I will get help with tax credits but will I be expected to pay an amount upfront to the nursery?

How does it work?

I would ask your specific nursery their policies. In the case of the private nursery we used, we were billed at the end of the month (usually due the first Friday of the first week of the next month) for the proceeding month. Funded hours were accounted for in this bill, the rest was paid through taxfree childcare (which reduces the bill by a further 20%). I don't know how tax credits work, but I suspect that whether you get paid them before or after you're billed depends on when your nursery expects payment as I imagine they come on the same day each month.