Universal credit towards childcare costs - advice please, I'm stuck :(

Hi lovely! I’ve been doing it since Feb with UC. You have to pay the invoice first and then UC will pay up to 85% back. I think for the first payment you can call and ask for support to pay the first one upfront but they won’t help after that. As long as you pay the invoice and submit the evidence in your journal before the end of your assessment date (mine is 7 days before payment date) then you’re fine. I would do it as early as you can as I’ve had a few months where I’ve had to contact them because they’ve only paid £200 from a £1100 invoice because they hadn’t verified my evidence in time but they have also submitted it into my account within a few days if this happens. Do you already have a UC account open? Xxx

@Courtney thank you so much! No account opened yet. I was planning to make a claim on the 21st August and submit payment evidence on 5th September which should be plenty of time, right? So you need to do a journal message to submit the invoice and the proof of payment? What is acceptable as a proof of payment? Is the bank transfer screenshot enough? Sorry for all these questions and Thank you :)

@Shannon thank you :) so with the up front payment, does it need to be paid back? Can they pay it up front if I don't have the invoice? Thank u

@Shannon not everyone is entitled to FSF upfront cost..I wasn’t. I was told to call by my HV to apply for it through the uc portal. No one got back to me so I called and explained my situation (single mum going back to work 3 days a week etc) and they said that because the fees being charged were in keeping with others in the area and that I had already applied for and awarded the sure start maternity grant (which I did but when he was 3 weeks old…I didn’t go back to work until he was 8 months old) that I then wasn’t eligible for their FSF. Thankfully I work at the nursery he goes to and the owners (my bosses) are phenomenally supportive so we did manage to work out a plan that helped both of us but if it wasn’t for that…I’d have been fucked royally. It’s sometimes an option but unfortunately not for everyone, especially those going to childminders or nanny’s who aren’t ofsted registered x

@Shannon I know - I said the same thing in my original comment that she can ask for help for the first month payment. I only replied to your comment because the “UC will pay the first month” that you said isn’t true as it’s down to UC’s discretion and is misleading as sounds like it’s something eligible to everyone. They don’t pay the first upfront for everyone, even if you’re on one income of SMP and going back to work, where it seems the most logical time to use, like I was. That was all x

The childcare service will provide you the details you need and if you log on to your portal there is a part for childcare costs it will ask you for the details then you will need to submit invoice and proof of payment to make sure u receive it in time for your next payment as soon as you pay o would submit your evidence , hope this helps

@Lauren thank you :) do you know if the nursery somehow finds out that you take UC?

@Courtney thank you so much. So you applied for it through the portal, right? I wonder if I should even bother with the up front costs. Do you know who is eligible then? It sounds like you should have been eligible but yu weren't :(