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What does Flex mean to you?

In a flexible world, everyone works differently and for different reasons, and so for this year’s National Work Life Week, we’re asking people to share – what does flexible working mean to you? 

Tell us what flex means to you!

Navigating childcare challenges – Hayley’s story

Published: 3 Sep 2024

A young woman sits on a large tyre swing facing the camera and smiling as she supports her young child on her lap.

My little boy turned one in April, so he’s going to be eligible for the funded hours from September. I returned to work three days a week and my partner works shifts, but originally, the plan was for my little one not to start nursery for another year, as my mum was going to help out. Then it all changed. She has been on the waiting list for a knee operation for over 18 months, and out of the blue was told the operation will be soon. This means she’ll be off her feet for a minimum of 12 weeks, and definitely not able to chase around after an active toddler.  

So instead, we decided to put our son into nursery. As expected, most nurseries were full or didn’t work logistically for my partner, who doesn’t drive and would be doing some of the drop offs and pick-ups. But we did manage to find a nursery that had availability and that we were happy with.  

I applied for tax free childcare through my existing Government Gateway account. It was straightforward and as I already had an account, this part wasn’t a hurdle. I do find it odd, that despite using the same log in details, I can’t use my personal tax account and my childcare account via the same portal. 

We are only able to put our son in nursery for seven hours a day, two days a week. We don’t have the funds to do any extra because we have to pay £6.50 for lunch and a daily top-up of £6 which totals £25 a week – £20 from us and a £5 top-up from the government. We can just about afford it at the moment, but it means that every other week I have to use an hours holiday two days a week to pick my little one up due to his dad working. If we paid for the extra hour it would be an additional £10 a day –£7.50 for the extra hour and £2.50 for tea, which we can ill afford in the current climate, and after tax and National Insurance my earnings would be wiped out. 

As great as the initiative is, and we are grateful for the funded hours, it still doesn’t cover what we need as our son can only go term time due to how the hours are calculated. Most parents don’t get 14 weeks holidays so would either need to pay for the childcare or find a suitable alternative. We will hopefully have the alternative of my Mum once her op has been done.  

We might look to use more of the funded hours from next September, but again with the additional cost associated, this may not be something we can afford. It is a very fine line.