When Should I Start This Course?

Spendless

I have found an office skills course at my local college that I would like to do. I can either start the course in Jan or Sep next year.

I would have to pay for childcare for youngest for the 3 days a week that the course runs.(it runs for 17 weeks). She currently attends nursery one day a week and the cost is £30 per day, so that would be £90 a week. My hubbys employer offers childcare vouchers and we use them but we have already specified the time span assuming we'd only need 1 day nursery per week and I'm not sure if we can change this.

From easter next year my daughter will get the funding at 3 but the course would be 2/3rds thru before we got this.

I currently work on a lunchtime at a school and would have to pack in my job in order to do the course.

My hubby has got his heart set on holidaying in Canada late Aug next year something we can do if I continue with the dinner lady job but don't know if we can afford it if I pack in work early to do course and we're paying a lot out in childcare too.

Alternatively I could carry on with the dinner lady job and start the course in Sep next year when daughter would be funded all the time I'm on the course and we could still use childcare vouchers to reduce the cost. However it would mean that daughter can't attend the school nursery that I would have liked her to go to.

Any Thoughts/ideas/suggestions anyone

TIA

plumpmouse

It's difficult spendless and really only you and hubby can decide.

If it was me I think I would start in September, depending if I was happy with the nursery for daughter. The april start depends on if you can afford extra costs with no income from yourself. Canada could possibly wait until next year?? Nursery fees will soon mount up.

I plan to return to studying when my child and any future ones are at school. Its difficult to judge when is best but whatever choice you make I'm sure it will be right for you and your family

Spendless

plumpmouse wrote:

It's difficult spendless and really only you and hubby can decide.

If it was me I think I would start in September, depending if I was happy with the nursery for daughter.

I'm happy with the private nursey she attends. All I'd be doing is changing her from 1 day to 3.

aliasojo

I really think that when God gave us all the great gift of procreation, he should have also supplied us with books of vouchers for chocolate or wine or a hairdo or some other little personal treats just to take the edge of the harshness that is......raising a family.

It always seems that once we have children nothing for ourselves will ever be easy from that point on. (Chocolate wouldn't have actually fixed it for me...but it would have softened many an issue )

Anyway, for what it's worth...if it was me, I would opt for September. That way, most of the issues are taken care of. (However, what do I know....I'm always asking you lot stuff, lol!)

I wish you luck with whatever you decide.

misty

I've a couple of suggestions but not sure how relevant they are - it would depend on your individual circumstances. Would you be entitled to child tax credit if your child was in nursery - which would mean your not paying the full ninety pounds? Or - does the college have a nursery - this would be free/subsidised. It would be term time only but you could still keep the 1 day at the nursery she is already at and the other 2 days at the college's. She would need to be two to attend the college nursery.

With regards the vouchers again not sure which ones these are? If its like the busybee ones - these are linked to tax (I'm not sure of the ins and outs) but I think anything you get at the moment would be pro ratered to the one day your daughter attends nursery and therefore shouldn't be a problem to change it to 3.

The college will also have a student services section and they would know of any help you may be entitled to etc.

edit - found this on vouchers http://www.nurserysearch.co.uk/index.php?file=parents_vouchers

Spendless

misty wrote:

I've a couple of suggestions but not sure how relevant they are - it would depend on your individual circumstances. Would you be entitled to child tax credit if your child was in nursery - which would mean your not paying the full ninety pounds? Or - does the college have a nursery - this would be free/subsidised. It would be term time only but you could still keep the 1 day at the nursery she is already at and the other 2 days at the college's. She would need to be two to attend the college nursery.

With regards the vouchers again not sure which ones these are? If its like the busybee ones - these are linked to tax (I'm not sure of the ins and outs) but I think anything you get at the moment would be pro ratered to the one day your daughter attends nursery and therefore shouldn't be a problem to change it to 3.

The college will also have a student services section and they would know of any help you may be entitled to etc.

We don't get help via the tax credit system as we'd both need to be in work for 16 hours a week. Even if I was in work for 16 hours we already have to add £7,000 onto hubbys salary (due to his benefits in kind-company car and petrol) as well as adding my potential 16 hours on so we wouldn't qualify for help.

I did mention to the course tutor about the childcare issue but she said that this particular course no longer ran with childcare help.

I've double checked and nursey fees are £28 a day not £30 (so £84 a week). It is the busy bee vouchers we use-hubby salary sacrifices £28 a week in return for busy bee voucher the money he's sacrifirced is exempot of tax and NI. Hubby filled in a form only last month asking for £28 a week in vouchers to run until end of Feb- I'm not sure know we've said it, if we could change this. You can only salary sacrifice upto £50 a week so the £34 over and above this (till we get the funding at 3) we wouldn't get anything knocked off.

Everything is pointing to it being far more sensible to do in Sep. I could earn till then, we could go away as planned and the childcare costs would be less. A friend has also pointed out if i do the course in jan by time I've finished I'll still have 15 months before daughter is in full time school and I'll be forking out more for childcare costs out of wages whereas leave it till Sept and I've only got about 8 months before shes in school all day.

It's just I'd always thought that little girl would attend school nursery like my eldest did. I know if I did the course early and then got a job she might have had to go to private nursery anyway. Tell me if I'm being nuts!

dianeh_2

Hi,
I am not sure what course you are doing, but what about doing it at night when hubby could babysit. Also, try learndirect.co.uk. they have local training centres and it is usually flexible. You may be able to do it online.

Hope this helps

Spendless

dianeh wrote:

Hi,
I am not sure what course you are doing, but what about doing it at night when hubby could babysit. Also, try learndirect.co.uk. they have local training centres and it is usually flexible. You may be able to do it online.

Hope this helps

It's not a course that runs on the evenings, but even if it was hubby is often away o/n or not in at set times. It's why I can no longer work at an evening job the way I used to. It only runs 3 days a week for 17 weeks and includes a work placement for couple of weeks but it has all the things I'm looking for on it and is only £15!!! Can't beleive it thought it was a typo when I got e-mail.

misty

It looks like you would be better waiting - it's a shame because when you find something, you want to get cracking straight away. You can salary sacrifice more than £50 per week - but it is only the first £50 that is exempt from tax and national insurance. I would double check with student services when you start any course now or in the future because the tutors don't always know the latests updates. Whilst your waiting could you do another course to fill the gap between next Sept? - one that's less hours - it would give you chance to meet the tutors, pick up some extra skills and giving you that extra qualif to get on the course even if you don't need it.. Good luck whatever happens. My son starts school on Fri (sob) and I'm still going to be jumping through hoops to try and timetable everything for least disruption.

Spendless

misty wrote:

It looks like you would be better waiting - it's a shame because when you find something, you want to get cracking straight away. You can salary sacrifice more than £50 per week - but it is only the first £50 that is exempt from tax and national insurance. I would double check with student services when you start any course now or in the future because the tutors don't always know the latests updates. Whilst your waiting could you do another course to fill the gap between next Sept? - one that's less hours - it would give you chance to meet the tutors, pick up some extra skills and giving you that extra qualif to get on the course even if you don't need it.. Good luck whatever happens. My son starts school on Fri (sob) and I'm still going to be jumping through hoops to try and timetable everything for least disruption.

Yep-soz thats what I meant only the 1st £50 would be tax and NI free. I am currently on a WP course which finishes at end of year. So to do this course in Jan would be wonderful as a follow on and you are right I've been itching to do it since I found out about it. If I started in jan the course would finish end May. That would give me 6 weeks to job hunt before the next school summer hols start.Daughter would be funded for all those weeks and I could knock her down to 2.5 sessions so all were funded.In the event I didn't find anything I could leave job-hunting till after summer hols and then decide what to do next. The school nursery would be free so even if I wasn't earning it wouldn't cost me either.

If I start in Sep then daughter is funded during term-time so though I get more cheaper fees for more weeks whilst I do course. When its not term time I'd have to pay full fees. As the course finished in the jan/feb time if I didn't find work I'd still have nursery fees to pay until the school year end in July and some weeks would be funded, others not.

The school nursery is always full so unless I take place from day 1 I'll not get in, so putting her in school nursery after course has finished isn't an option. I did ask about lunch times as I wondered about having her in private nursery for AM session and then running her to school for PM session. That way i keep both options open but the lunch-times don't allow me to do this.

My MIL and gran are both retired but both have ill-health and gran is in her 80s and though they are able to help me out for short spaces of time, having a 3 year old for longer periods isn't an option. I will need help with picking up/dropping off older one at school for days concerned and they will help me with that.

The course is a office skills one and includes things like CLAIT which I've looked into and it was over £100, whereas I can get this and other skills all in for £15. I really want to do it, it's just I can't decide when

Spendless

UPDATE- Well we decided to go for it, and tightened our belts so I could start the course this month.

I've changed daughters nursery to one closer to home and that has saved me £12 a week. We are using the maximum £217 childcare vouchers, saving 41% on them, and using the child benefit and tax credit money, which we never included in our household budget to pay the balance. After Easter daughter is funded and our costs will reduce.

I've discovered that there's a free student car-park, which will save on car park fees and enable me to take eldest to and from school and lessen the burden on my relatives currently helping with the school run.

My daughter can now attend the school nursery in September and I'm hoping once my course finishes to find another that will fit in with these times. This will mean I also get the school hols off for the next couple of years, and hopefully I'll have gained enough skills to be able to return to work when daughter goes to full-time school.