childcare money from working tax credits

[LAURACOLLEY]

I'm currently at university and am due to finish at the end of june 2009. I have a 2 year old who attends nursery full time on week days. I have earned zero last tax year (07 - 08) and will probably earn zaero this tax year (08 - 09). My partner earned 18750 before deductions last year (07 - 08). Last year we were entitled to about £2000 worth of child tax credits but no working tax credits. My partner is predicted to earn about 19200 before deductions this year (08 09). It is the LEA and the university that pay 100% of my sons nursery costs at the moment but all this will stop at the end of June 2009. This childcare costs are £573.75 a calendar month (132.40 a week) and this is all weeks or months of the year. The question is is how much can myself and my partner earn this year (08 - 09) to be eligable for the working tax credits again and the 80% of the childcare costs next year (09 - 10) if from June 2009 I was working 16 hours a week. And then does anyone know or can predict how much we can earn next year (09 - 10) and not have to pay any of the childcare payments back and still get some for the following (10 - 11) tax year. After that my little lad will be at school. I thought I'd better ask about the following year becuase I'll take a 16 hours a week job back on the checkouts or something until find a degree related job. This I hope will then put me on about £18000 or £20000 a year. It's just that how am I going to search for work and attend interviews up and down the UK with no childcare paid for? There's no way we will be able to fund a nursery place on my partners wages alone.

well why are you trying to plan it now?

dear god

cos i like to know what we are going to do

well you can't

sorry

you can't plan your job interviews for the next 2-3 years today

go do something else

Do some research about what you actually want to do career-wise and then look into how you will fund it would be my advice.

Look into how grants for MScs and PhDs are allocated in your department. How likely is it that you'll get a studentship there?

You could well find the job market a very different place to what you expect it to be, the situation could even change between now and when you finish, and you could well find you have to take a lower paid, seemingly less dynamic job just to get established in your field of interest or even in a completely different role , just to get by. I fear childcare costs for interviews could prove the least of your worries. Sorry if that sounds harsh but it sounds as if you need to face reality. There simply may not be as wide a choice of exciting opportunities and interviews as you seem to be expecting. Nor can you rely on there being funding of 12k for you to study further, possibly deferring the inevitable unless you can find some sponsorship which might lead to a job placement at the end.

I think what I find the hardest to understand is that if you can't afford to live now who do you expect to be able to live when you do an MA?

And the fact you just expect your c/care fees to be paid.

I was in the same boat for 3 years & if my dh had been earning 18 grand a year we would have thought we were on the pigs back!!

23 isn't really that young for you to be able to have some grasp on life.

I also have the feeling you have lied somewhere along the line if you get c/care paid for you as you are a 'single parent' yet your partner lives with you, bringing 18 grand home a year!

i have not lied about anything. every year when completing the student finance forms I ring up the LEA to ask them if I need to include my partners income as mine too. Each time they say that I am classed as single as because I am under 25 and we are not married I do not need to tell them anything about his income.

This is again not my fault that they do not class me as dependant on my partner.

I am in a similar situation to you Laura, i am in 2nd year of biology degree, have 2 dcs, aged 2 and 4 and dh who earns 15000 before deductions. i also think you have been lucky to get the help that you've had but i'm not coming after yyou with a flaming torch - like you say, we all take what we can.

I was wondering about your dp's working hours. you say he sometimes works lates and earlies. My dh works permanent nights which means my cm arrangements are more flexible, as in he can be there to pick eldest up from school and dd from cm at 3 o'clock. this way we are not having to pay the full day of nursery fees and after school payments. Could this work for you? A cm would be a lot more flexible than nursery imo.

Also, would it not be better to plan for job applications and interviews before you graduate? Then you will know what you will need to plan for.

i will try to plan as many job applications and interviews before I graduate but will if non of these are successful then will have to attend after graduation too.

My partner works 4am to 2pm and 3pm to 1am alternate weeks for 5 or 6 days a week.

When he's not at work he does the housework. I help out on this when I can.

Suppose I'm lucky to have a good partner in this way.

According to the LEA site, there is help available with childcare for low earners - I cannot see any exceptions made where it says to discount your partners earnings if you are under 25.

I'm also surprised the LEA don't expect him to support you and pay for your son's chidlcare, espeically since you share student accommodation anbd he isn't one. Maybe the policy isn't cast in stone though, but I think you ought to at elast declare it on the fomrs for them to make an informed decision rather than just over the phone. Anyway I expect you can work your interviews around his shifts if needs be, assuming he is on the same work pattern by then. He must have leave he could take too.

Welcome to the real world Laura.

Finding a job is your responsibility.

As is your child.

What makes you think the state should finance a babysitter whilst you look for a job? How many interviews do you think you will need or get?

You have a partner on a decent wage, are paying very little for bills and accommodation and will need a babysitter for a few hours here and there. I am sure you can find someone to have your son whilst you attend interviews.

i do put it on the forms but they always tell me not to bother in future.

i think i might have to attend a good 40 or 50 interviews before getting a job.

40 to 50 - think you may be lucky to find 4 or 5 course related jobs who invite you for interview ! You may have to submit 40 or 50 applications though.

i know people who have attended over 100 interviews before becoming employed after uni

then I would suggest you make a more focussed search. They cannot possibly have been serious about all those jobs and that would have come across with each application.

oh and people do tend to exaggerate !

well its from a trusted source

Laura, I do sympathise, but my sister works for the LEA so I'll ask her advice for you, see if she knows anything

oh and i'm classed under the old student finance system

why are you classed under the old system?

because I started in 2004 and had a year off for my son in 2005 to 2006

40 or 50 interviews?

Seriously?

Are there really 40 or 50 jobs around for an environmental scientist? Lucky you if there are!! This gives you a much broader scope to find employment!

I have to agree that a c/minder would probably be a better idea for you if you need c/care for job interviews.

I've asked my sister and TBH she was surprised you have hAD a lot of your childcare paid for as you do have a partner. She seems to think being under 25 isn't taken into account when you have a partner in work.
Again, as you have a partner she thinks you won't have much luck getting ad hoc cover paid for you.

Well I ask my LEA about this every year but thats what they say. They say why do I ring up every year it isn't going to change

I rang tax credits up. Next June when I leave uni (I think) and if I work 16 hours a week on minimum wage and my partner earning £19300 (predicted amount for this year) we will get £100 a week out of the £142 a week childcare costs. So its there is black and white, end of