Childcare funding help?

Hi
Can anyone tell me what the cut off amount for income is to get help with childcare?
My husband earns 34,000 which yes is a good wage but it soley supports our family of 5 as I am not working. We have twin girls aged 1 and a 3.5 yr old too. I don't work as childcare would be more than my wages, we have worked out that to do the midwifery degree it would cost us £15,000 a yr in childcare fees!!!!!!!!!
We can't afford this, there isn't much left at the end of the month after mortgage and bills certainley not £1200 for nursery fees.
I am not expecting to get it all paid but some help would be nice.
Can you check what help you are entitled to before you apply?

Hi Twinmummy!

I am also a twin mummy to 16mth old boys! My husband earns a little less than yours and we have other children too (aged 8, 13, 15) but we do receive childcare allowance. We have the boys in nursery 3 full days and our 8 yr old in breakfast and afterschool club and we receive the full childcare award which is approx £187/wk... It doesn't cover all of our childcare costs (which are over £1k monthly) but it helps a lot! To cover the other days my hubby takes every Tues off work and I keep my fingers crossed that we don't have lectures on Wednesdays.

It is possible, remember you should get 15 hrs a week free for your eldest.

Good luck! xx

Thanks Potbella you have given me hope again!!!!!
Who do you apply to for childcare? I want to give them a ring and see what chance I have of funding?

You apply to the nhs bursary for childcare help, it is an additional form to the main bursary form. They will assess you for bursary, dependents allowance (we don't get any) and childcare allowance. You can also get help towards travel costs for placement if your placement area is further than uni campus.

Don't forget you can apply for a student loan too... It's £2300 ish annually if you live outside the London area (more if you are in London).

Plus the bursary (plus allowances) and loan are not 'income' for tax credit purposes as they are not taxable.

In addition if you and your hubby are the only adults living in your home you should receive a 25% council tax discount when you are a full time student.

xx

That's good to know, I am also a mum to twins, they will be 3 at the time I start. I assumed as my husband earns over 25k a year that I wouldn't be eligible for any childcare help, as I thought I read somewhere there was cut off point.
Fingers crossed that the new bursary doesn't affect this.

Lxx

Is it also true you cannot use family as child carers who are registered childminders?
My sister was going to mind my girls but we now have to find someone else, she would only have my 3 children.

You can use them so long as they are ofsted registered and looking after other children that are not related. You can't claim for family who are not registered... Think that's the right way around.

As always very helpful potbella my hubby on quite low income ATM but hoping it will go up..is the bursary based on when you submit application or from a certain date? Very excited to be starting to look into this!!

It's based on 1st Sept to 31st Aug each year... Although the income you put on will be tax year as on P45 docs etc.