No idea where to start.

I'm 28 years old, I live in Essex, I have a wife and a step-son from a strong 8 year relationship. I quit college at 20 years old and struggled with education due to chronic mental health conditions. I'm currently unfit for work due to those health conditions and receive benefits to live. I attempted to go to College at 22 again, but Universal Credit shut it down at the time very quickly as I was expected to look for work 45 hours a week back then.

I discovered programming a few years ago and decided to self-teach whilst unfit for work so that I could work towards something, with moderate success, I currently work a zero hour contract for a tiny company, and I have deployed websites for large corporate companies.

I'm confident that this is what I want to do, but I want to finally deep-dive and learn at a University level to open more doors in the future; it also just genuinely interests me.

A friend suggested Anglia Ruskin University, but it seems that they've moved the Computer Science courses to Cambridge, which would be an approx. 1 hour journey for me, which I could see being too much if I have to attend campus several times a week.

I don't know where to start, my age and my life circumstances terrify me and put me off of even trying to start the process.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? I'd appreciate any advice of insight. Thank you.

Good for you. Are you keen to attend a physical university, or would something remote like the Open University work?
Do you know how your Universal Credit would be impacted by becoming a full-time student?

I had considered online learning, specifically the Open University, but I had read a few reviews about the Computer Science (Software) course that were a little concerning. Most reviews about OU in general seemed to bring up lack of interaction with tutors in some way and that the cost of the course was not worth the quality they received.

I think I'd like to attend a physical University if it's possible for me, just so I can separate home life from my education, as I tend to struggle with this, even with my work that I do from home.

I am not yet aware how becoming a student would impact the benefits I receive from Universal Credit; I plan to call them next week and find out more.

OK. Then I suggest you check the web sites of some unis which are reasonably local to you and see how that handle entry requirements for mature students. This can go either way to be honest. Some will say that your A levels (or equivalent) must have been taken within the last few years or they don't count, whilst others will be much more generous. What qualifications do you currently have which might be relevant? (These would be things like A levels, BTECs, etc.)
See Studying at Essex as a mature student for what the University of Essex have to say on the subject.

Sadly, the closest thing I have to A-levels is either a single A-level or half an A-level that I achieved in a IT Networking Course during College when I was around 17 years old.

I was hoping that my work experience, portfolio and potentially an extra access year would suffice for entry.

I'm 28 years old, I live in Essex, I have a wife and a step-son from a strong 8 year relationship. I quit college at 20 years old and struggled with education due to chronic mental health conditions. I'm currently unfit for work due to those health conditions and receive benefits to live. I attempted to go to College at 22 again, but Universal Credit shut it down at the time very quickly as I was expected to look for work 45 hours a week back then.
I discovered programming a few years ago and decided to self-teach whilst unfit for work so that I could work towards something, with moderate success, I currently work a zero hour contract for a tiny company, and I have deployed websites for large corporate companies.
I'm confident that this is what I want to do, but I want to finally deep-dive and learn at a University level to open more doors in the future; it also just genuinely interests me.
A friend suggested Anglia Ruskin University, but it seems that they've moved the Computer Science courses to Cambridge, which would be an approx. 1 hour journey for me, which I could see being too much if I have to attend campus several times a week.
I don't know where to start, my age and my life circumstances terrify me and put me off of even trying to start the process.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? I'd appreciate any advice of insight. Thank you.

I'm 28 years old, I live in Essex, I have a wife and a step-son from a strong 8 year relationship. I quit college at 20 years old and struggled with education due to chronic mental health conditions. I'm currently unfit for work due to those health conditions and receive benefits to live. I attempted to go to College at 22 again, but Universal Credit shut it down at the time very quickly as I was expected to look for work 45 hours a week back then.
I discovered programming a few years ago and decided to self-teach whilst unfit for work so that I could work towards something, with moderate success, I currently work a zero hour contract for a tiny company, and I have deployed websites for large corporate companies.
I'm confident that this is what I want to do, but I want to finally deep-dive and learn at a University level to open more doors in the future; it also just genuinely interests me.
A friend suggested Anglia Ruskin University, but it seems that they've moved the Computer Science courses to Cambridge, which would be an approx. 1 hour journey for me, which I could see being too much if I have to attend campus several times a week.
I don't know where to start, my age and my life circumstances terrify me and put me off of even trying to start the process.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? I'd appreciate any advice of insight. Thank you.