Benefit advise please

BoojieBen

Hi all!
I'm after a bit of advice as we are struggling for money.
Here is our situation:

I am an IT Technician on £18500pa, my partner is a full time student and we have a daughter at 1 year old. We are struggling for money as it is but we need to put our little girl in nursery full time so I can work and my partner can attend university. After applying to the University for Child Care Allowance they have offered us a pretty dismal £2078 per year (this would only pay for 1 day of nursery per week). They won't give us any more as apparently I earn too much.
Tax credits won't give us anything towards childcare as Steph is not in employment, though for much of the year she is on placement working full time for no pay.
Out of my money I'm paying all our bills and the mortgage so there is very little (none) spare and I'll soon find myself spiralling into a world of debt. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Any advice would be much appreciated. It seems everyone takes your income into consideration but no outgoings!

Cheers all.

tomjonesrules

Student loan/ grant, child tax credits, child benefit ...

BigAunty

Open University?

BoojieBen

tomjonesrules wrote: »

Student loan/ grant, child tax credits, child benefit ...

It's an NHS course so she can't get a student loan. We do have child tax credits and child benefits, that adds up to about £300 a month but doesn't really help our situation.

BoojieBen

BigAunty wrote: »

Open University?

She is already on the 2nd year of her course. It's a bit late to move!

MrsManda

By childcare allowance do you mean the Childcare Grant, applied for when she applied for student finance through Student Finance England/NHS or something she applied for directly from the university?

Has she applied for Dependents Allowance and Parent's Learning Allowance?
http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Students/833.aspx
Does she receive an NHS bursary?
http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Students/1221.aspx

Have you put together a Statement of Affairs to see where you can cut some of your costs?

BoojieBen

MrsManda wrote: »

By childcare allowance do you mean the Childcare Grant, applied for when she applied for student finance through Student Finance England/NHS or something she applied for directly from the university?

Has she applied for Dependents Allowance and Parent's Learning Allowance?
Does she receive an NHS bursary?

Have you put together a Statement of Affairs to see where you can cut some of your costs?

We can't claim dependents allowance as apparently my wages are "too high".
Yes she does get a bursary, apologies for not mentioning that earlier it slipped my mind, I wasn't trying to mislead anyone. Without the nursery we can manage but childcare is so expensive! The nurserys around our area cost around £40-£50 per day and she needs to be in full time. We haven't really got anyone to rely on to babysit.

MrsManda

Does the university have a nursery your child can attend? They're often cheaper than standard private nurseries.
How did you cope last year?
Can you reduce your outgoings?

It may be worth your partner applying to go on the bank staff of the local hospital so she can earn some extra cash.

If you put your details into one of the benefits calculators it may suggest something else you can claim.

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

https://www.dwpe-services.direct.gov.uk/portal/page/portal/ba/lp?_piref278_36249_278_36248_36248.__ora_navig=

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10034876

It may also be worth your partner speaking to her university's student support services as they may be able to give her something from their discretionary support fund or suggest other funding streams.

Killmark

BoojieBen wrote: »

She is already on the 2nd year of her course. It's a bit late to move!

Maybe not.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/credit-transfer/index.shtm

BigAunty

Child minder instead of a nursery? Any option to switch to part time degree?

Do you currently have any actual debt? If so, go to the debt free wanabee board.

Download the MSE budget planner and work through the site to identify other ways you can cut back household expenses - cheaper tariffs, cheap recipes, etc. This site is a fab resource for ultra thrifty living. The debt free wanabee board members will also scrutinise your outgoings and suggest changes.

How much bursary does your partner get?

The Shelter website has good info for homeowners on how to cope with potential mortgage arrears and avoid repossession. Can you switch to an interest only mortgage? Are you able to take a mortgage holiday?

DorsetGirl_2

*pretty dismal £2078 per year* - its not that bad! It still works out at £39 a week, surely that is more than a day?

How much bursary does your Partner get?