I am a single mother of a three year old, a survivor of domestic abuse and a full time PhD student. I work 4 days a week on my PhD and my daughter is in nursery for that time. I am paid £1250 a month to do the PhD – it’s not loads but would be surviable if i didn’t have to pay out £600 a month on childcare. I was receiving the 30 free-hours and the tax-free allowance which brought the nursery fees down to £320 which is affordable, but now the government have decided my PhD doesn’t count as earnings and they are taking away their support. The university don’t offer their hardship fund to PhD students and when i spoke to CAB they advised me to speak to the father for money – who is violent and dangerous! The system is so broken and unfair, the cost of childcare is crippling especially for single parents – considering 90% of single parents are women it is deeply deeply sexist. I don’t know if I can afford to finish my PhD because of the cost of childcare! I am so stressed out and start crying everytime I talk about the situation. something must be done