Well, I notice on the Student Loans website today (www.slc.co.uk)
that you can get the following (and not have to pay back any of it):

Extra help available includes;
Dependants' grant - up to £2,480 for one child, more for each
additional child
Childcare grant - up to £8,480 if you have two or more children 
School meals grant - £255 for under 11s, £275 for over 11s, per
child
Travel, books and equipment grant - £510
Access bursary - up to £500
(Note; You will not have to repay any of the extra help shown above)

There is a leaflet you can obtain from your LEA or by calling 0800
731 9133.  Not sure what the income threshold is to get this help
but there are a couple of girls on my course who are getting it.
 

We are elligible to apply to the hardship fund and last year I was awarded an additional £1500 for childcare costs.  There is also another fund called the Elizabeth Nuffield Foundation (based in London) where if you have children and your household income is less than £16,000 you can apply for additional help. 

or did I, as I had sent off for my UCAS form and was all geared to
fill it in just after I had spoken to Uni about a query.  They asked
me if it was the only institution I was applying to, which it was,
so they sent me their own application pack - basically the same as
UCAS I guess (from my foggy memory!), but with more flexibility in
terms of space for answers, ie could use supplementary sheets. 

However, I didn't escape a charge, as once you have been accepted
you had to pay £25 (but those who weren't accepted don't pay
anything as fas as I can tell, which is different to UCAS).

So, I guess if you only want to apply to one Uni, then it's worth
giving them a call in case they run an application process along the
same lines as TVU. - Sharon Rowe