Citizens Advice: Help with back to school and childcare costs

Kirklees Citizens Advice & Law Centre chief executive Nick Whittingham writes:

Going back to school or starting school for the first time can be daunting and the initial cost of things like uniforms and buses can be large and stressful.Kirklees offers some different schemes to help you get prepared to get back to school:

○ Kirklees Council Uniform Exchange – visit the website to see how you can donate items that your children have grown out of or how you can receive free school uniform items. The aim of the scheme is to recycle uniforms rather than have them thrown away, and there are collection points around the area – find them here: http://www.uniform-exchange.org. Local community pages are often a good source of excess or ‘grown out of’ uniforms, and have become much more popular over the last 18 months.

○ Kirklees Council ‘Schools’ page – information about free school meals, bus passes, special educational needs and more, with email and phone contacts. Find here: http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/schools

○ West Yorkshire Metro – information about school buses including timetables, applications forms, eligibility criteria and guidance for low income families and more. Find here: http://www.wymetro.com/schools

For some parents with younger children the increased pressure of childcare costs can seem overwhelming, particularly if the start of the school year coincides with a return to work. If you aren’t sure where to start, we’ve compiled some of the Government’s programmes that may help you reduce the cost of childcare below:○ Tax Free Childcare – for children 0-11 (0-16 if disabled), for every £8 you pay for childcare, the Government will top up by £2 up to £2,000 per child, per year. Available for working families including the self-employed earning under £100k and at least £152 a week. However, you cannot be receiving Tax Credits, Universal Credit or childcare vouchers to take advantage of this scheme. Not all childcare providers use this scheme yet so ensure you check in advance.

○ 15 hours free for aged two – available for families on Universal Credit and other benefits.

○ 15 hours free aged three and four – available for ALL families (some criteria still apply).

○ 30 hours free aged three and four – available for working families earning at least £142 a week.

Universal credit for childcare – This allows up to 85 per cent of childcare cost to be claimed back if paid in advance. There are some strict eligibility criteria for this which are more complex than other childcare systems, so please check the website below for further details.

Eligibility criteria apply for all of these programmes and they can be hard to navigate, so please ensure you visit http://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk or call us at Kirklees Citizens Advice and Law Centre on 0808 2787896 to talk through your options. Alternatively, you can visit http://www.kcalc.org.uk/contact-us for help and advice on this and a range of subjects including benefits, housing, debt, employment and more.