Im a single mum of 2 girls my eldest starts nursery in september but i also work part time and im struggling

Question

to find people to have them.is it best to give up work?my eldest daughter will be at nursery from half 12 till 3 and then ive got my youngest daughter to get cover for.im not with the girls dads we split up but he doesnt pay out towards and he works and he wont help me out either.does anyone know of good childminders who can work weekends aswell.thanks for listening

Answer 1

It is hard to tell you of childcare options since i don't know where you live. But you can check out social services in your area. there are programs that help pay for childcare, you can get WIC for the children (It's a food program for young children.) And you can ask for help to get and receive child support from the father.

Answer 2

First thing you need to do is get the CSA to make the father pay up.

Answer 3

put up a wanted poster if you want to find someone local or contact your local Children's Information Service (http://www.childcarelink.gov.uk/) for a full list and vacancy information.

Answer 4

are you in the uk? do you work over 16hrs? If you do then tax credits or child care vouchers from your employer will pay towards child minding fees, which means you can pick and choose a qualified child minder as long as they are a registered childminder, you would need to look at sites specifically for your area to choose, most councils will have a list of registered nurserys and private childminders.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ntcmanual...

(sorry put wrong link, have corrected now)

ps: im presuming you are claiming working tax credits? (if you work over 16hrs) and that you are claiming child tax credits which are paid to all parents of children under 16 if they have an income less than £60,000 per year?

you can find out if you are entitled to tax credit etc here:

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/

if you are entitled to tax credit but are not claiming it phone the tax credit helpline: 0845 300 3900, and they will help you

Answer 5

As long as you are working a minimum of 16 hours per week, and you have an ofsted registered childminder then tax credits will help you with child minding costs.

As for your kids dad, take him to CSA, or whatever they call it nowadays. They're his kids as much as yours, and he should be paying towards their upbringing.

I wouldn't give up work altogether if I were you, you'll loose working tax credits, and then only get income support, which isn't very much.

Don't know what other benefits you have, but try for housing and council tax benefit if you haven't already.

Trying private nurseries may be an idea, although I'm not sure if they open weekends, I suppose it just depends on the nursery.

Good Luck.