Help with Nursery Costs for 10 Month Old Twins

[iiyama]

I am a mother of 10 month old twins and would like to put them into nursery for one to two afternoons a week to give me a little break. we have checked out the local nursery but it would be quite expensive for two babies per week and we only have one wage coming in at present. I was wondering if anybody could let me know if we are entitled to any financial help. We do currently get tax credits which will go down quite substantially when they are 1 year old and we have been informed we are not entitled to nursery vouchers until they are 3 years old. My boys, although I love them very much are quite demanding and I am currently at my wits end. Please help!

Why do your tax credits go down when they're a year. Check with your employer if your co is doing the childcare voucher scheme where you dont pay any NI or insurance on it. a lot of firms do this now. I gewt tax credit and it covers all my fees thankfully.

sometimes local councils run much cheaper nuseries which can be excellent worth calling them

if that fails had you thought of your local leisure centre or adult ed centre, they often have a creche where you can leave children while you do a class, our local one will take them for up to two hours but you have to stay on the premises

the other option that might help is childcare vouchers. new govt scheme all workers can elect to have the first £50 per week of salary paid in vouchers for childcare this is tax and ni free and saves £800 for basic rate payer and more for a higher rate payer. need to get employer to agree to operate the scheme but most do and all nurseries accept the vouchers, if my employer agrees and dh's it will pay for 1.25 days in nursery a week well worth having, for more info look at the daycare trusts website or contact the inland revenue they have a leaflet
good luck

I don't know the answer because my twins didn't go to nursery - but you might find it worth asking this question on the forum at www.twinsclub.co.uk - everyone there has multiples so you may get a few more answers there.

do you have surestart in your area? They operate a volunteer scheme where you can get someone to come into your home on a regular basis to help you out.

My DTs are 15 months and yes the tax credits do drop considerably once they turn 1. I don't know about nurseries, except that the vouchers don't kick in until they are 3.

Thanks all of you for the good advice, We have recently moved to this area so just finding our feet at the moment. I will certainly check out the local council and see if they run a cheeper service and the Sure Start scheme sounds pretty good too, well worth looking into. As regards to the childcare vouchers I am no longer working I'm a SAHM but would like to go back to work part time eventually. I have recently booked into the local doctors so waiting to here from the Health Visitor, I'm sure she will know of some local schemes!
Thanks again

a quick other thought, though it may be too late (it was for me), try calling your local college to see if they have a student from a childcare course who needs some experience being with babies. They tend to only want them up to 1 but with twins you should chance your arm. You never know you may get a placement.

whereabouts are you btw?

Hi Marslady

Sorry to take so long to reply been busy with babies and picking d up from school. My Health Visitor in the last place we lived tried to get me some help from the local college but we were informed that they could no longer run this scheme because if anything happened to my boys they could not accept liability and would not put their students at risk of blame. Currently living in Hampshire area.

re childcare vouchers your partner can get them in his salary and you can use for any age of child, check out daycaretrust's website

The childcare voucher scheme might be offered by your husband's employers - worth asking them?

Cheaper alternatives might include a childminder, or employing a mother's help to come in a couple of mornings a week while you are around, to take the pressure off you - if you don't mind someone term time only, you might get a good parent with kids at school? But doesn't get you away from the kids.

with respect to the childcare student - our local colleges do this, and I've got one at the moment, but the babies do have to be UNDER 1, so too late for you. I have to supervise her all the time.

I have twins(16months) and a 3 year old, simply cant afford nursery fees

Thanks pinksofa & SoftFroggie

Will definately get my husband to check that one out. If he can get vouchers that would almost certainly help with the finance issue. Looks like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel after all.

Hello jambo1707

Hope some of the advice given here will help you too. As regards to your 3 year old I think that every child over the age of 3 or maybe it's 4 is entitled to a nursery place I'm not sure about this though. Or alternatively see if in your area there is a playschool if there is such a thing anymore, my dd went to playschool 7 years ago for 2 mornings a week and absolutely loved it.

Hi folks

Just found two really good and useful sites to help with the search for childcare and info about costs, check them out.

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