Childcare, work hours etc

[Hecubasdaughter]

DD is 6 weeks old. DH was made redundant Christmas week so all work, childcare plans, everything are out the window. We also have a 6 year old.

I have a part time job which involves working Saturday and the odd evening. I have asked for extra hours but nogo (hiring freeze). I plan to speak to my boss about going back earlier than originally intended however it won't earn us enough to live on.

Obviously if DH is still unemployed we won't need childcare but financially this is not viable.

The problem is the jobs market is so bad where we are that DH is only really finding minimum wage jobs to apply for. So far nothing in his field has come up to even put in an application. If he is successful in getting a weekday job he will not be home until after I should leave for work (leave just before 5), compounded by the fact all jobs he has been able to apply for involve a significant commute. My initial plan is to ask for a change in shift time so I can leave later.

I cannot think of a solution for a back up plan if my bosses say no. With him only earning minimum wage we couldn't afford paid child care. We only have a couple of elderly relatives in the area who rely on us to help look after them.

I plan to start job hunting in earnest tomorrow to look for a full time job.

It may all be academic as we may never find a job :( but I need a plan in place. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can work this?

I thought these days working tax credits and significant help towards childcare is available to those on low incomes. One of my colleagues told me her daughter gets about 70% of her childcare bill paid for her as she's on a low wage. I'd check it out

I think your plan of looking for full time work yourself is a good one, if your DH would be happy to be a househusband for a while and you working f-t would cover the bills. In effect you could do a role swap - you go full time, he looks for something, anything local part-time. If your DH didn't like the sound of this arrangement it probably wouldn't work. But if he did there are quite a few people on here who do similar. There are probably some old threads on this topic about how they make it work. Good luck with your job hunting - I really hope something comes up.

You both need to be working 16 hours or more in order to claim help with childcare costs from tax credits.

Is your dh on jobseekers at the moment? I think it would be more workable if you could look for a part time job during the week, then if your dh finds a job you can sort childcare and get some help?