Childcare for single mums?

Can any single working mums give me advice on how they deal with childcare costs and what is free and what isn’t? I’ve been claiming the 15 free hours at nursery as my little one is 2, he has just been doing a Monday full day as I work Mondays and Tuesdays then Tuesdays he goes to my mums as they didn’t have any availability. Nursery contacted me earlier and said as he is coming up to 3 the 15 free hours can only be claimed for 3 hours a day mon-friday which isn’t sustainable as I work an hour from home and do 7/8 hour shifts. I was under the impression I’d get 30 free hours as that’s what the job centre have been telling me when he turned 3 but apparently that’s for 2 parent households. He can only do the full day if I pay the cost which works out at a max of £157 a month which I think I can claim some back? I’m so confused I feel like with it changing when he turns 3 it’s going to be so stressful for me to navigate work as I have no one who can pick him up or drop him off.

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I'm not sure about the rest as my daughter isn't in childcare but you should be entitled to the 30 hours as a single parent household.

Gingerbread might be able to help you out here https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/

30 hours childcare has the same entitlement as 15, I’m not sure who told you you wouldn’t be eligible. However most settings do only let you claim within certain hours so you’d still have to pay something. You can claim up to 85% of your costs through UC x

The 30 hours is for working parents, regardless of how many adults there are in a household. It’s bizarre how your nursery are working out the hours as the whole point of the funding is to allow more parents to work, people can’t work when they only have 3 hours childcare a day. Maybe ask to go in and speak to them at nursery, they may not realise your working and are telling you how they do the 15 hours funding for parents who don’t work as that’s different funding x

@Kimberley i have checked and I’m £3 short with my unpaid breaks at work of qualifying for the 30 hours i think the 15 are the one that all parents qualify for as he is under 3 at the moment. I have been looking today and might have to do the claiming back but nursery only have one other day full day available. @vicky he currently does 9 hours on a Monday but they’ve said they can only use 3 free hours a day and I’d have to pay the rest for a full day so essentially I’ll only be using 3 full hours. Tbh it seems pointless to send them for 3 hours anyway as I couldn’t work and it would be a waste of time getting him ready and walking to nursery and back. Is it not every nursery that does this? She made it sound like it was usual

Oh that’s annoying I thought with the changes the income requirements etc were the same 🫠 it’s all very confusing isn’t it! Sorry to hear you’re having such a hard time with it all, never an easy ride for us solo mamas managing the juggle x

No i don’t think thats the norm. My daughter goes two days and 2 school hour days are covered by the funding. I pay for the extra hours plus a top up fee. Could you look into other nurseries in your area who allocate the funding in a more suitable way? X

F x

As long as you are working you can claim the 30 however due to child’s age jobcentre will expect you to increase your work hours to full time (32 hours minimum) as that is what the funding is there for

When child is officially 3*

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