Wait out this debt situation, or address it now?

Hi all,

Myself and my partner are in a predicament and I'm hoping I'll be able to get some advice.
We made some silly mistakes with money in our early twenties when we first moved out and into rented accommodation, and now we are really paying for it in our late twenties. Our debt is around £20k. It feels like we've been worrying about debt for most of our twenties, and whilst we only have ourselves to blame we are now finding it pretty all consuming

We have a baby and are currently living with my parents after relocating, I am yet to go back to work so we are currently living on just my partners wage and even paying a much reduced rent to my parents we are struggling to keep on top of debt repayments whilst having enough to live - we aren't frivolous, just money for basic living and to keep us sane. I am hoping to go back to work soon but it is hard as where I am located is quite remote and I can't drive, so I have to find jobs that are on the bus route of which there aren't many. As well as this, nursery fees are so high that they pretty much cancel out any wages, especially once you take into account the bus fare. Once we can get to move out again this will change as we will be more central with more job choice and better bus routes, but we aren't anywhere near being able to afford to move back out yet. We aren't entitled to any benefits apart from child benefit, and it sometimes makes me feel jealous of people with council houses and benefits that they get so much help for not doing much (not everybody but some!) When my partner has trained for 6 years to do what he does and works long hours, 10 years into the job and we can get no help when we are struggling to live on one wage. Even without the debts we would be struggling to run a house with a young baby, even if I were working as the nursery fees basically equal the minimum wage, which is why we had to move into my parent's house.

However I do realise the debt (most in partner's name) is completely our doing and that we've made our bed etc. We do hope to buy a house one day (far off), and for this reason we are trying to preserve my partners credit rating, which has already dropped to the lower end due to late payments etc where we are struggling. He has no defaults or CCJs. My credit rating is poor where I have come to arrangements with my creditors and I have defaults, this goes back a few years now.

My question is, do we just struggle with it a few more years, after which my child will be in nursery (30 free hours once 3) so I can go back to earning a decent wage, our debts also should have reduced significantly by this point (2 years until 2 loans drop off, plus a family loan will have finished, freeing up £750 pm).
Or do we address this now and ask my partner's creditors to enter into arrangements, to ease up the pressure on us now? If our repayments were lower now, we could save to move back out quicker, which would mean I could get back to a decent wage quicker and getting back on top of things. It would mean that our situation would still improve by the 2 year mark as mentioned above, however we would be left with defaults on my partner's credit file for 6 years which we want to avoid because of the (far off) possibility of getting a mortgage in the future.

What would you do? We are both so, so fed up with the worry and stress of all of this, my partner especially. It is the thought of the loans ending that is keeping us going but 2 years seems so far away and so much more time of this stress.

Thanks for reading, sorry for waffling!