To not go back to full time work

God, I'm glad my mother wasn't such a wetwipe.

I get you’re not fussed for marriage. But this isn’t about a ceremony and fuss and expense. This is business.

Get married (doesn't have to be a fancy do).
If you're not earning enough to pay income tax then look at the Married Tax Allowance.

lso, is your partner on board with you throwing away your career and ambition? I have a friend who did this, she became a mum and a housewife and her husband quickly got frustrated with her lack of get up and go, her drive and diversity of conversation (which is inevitable when you're focus is on the home and parenting).

😂

His pension at the moment is very small so I guess I haven't felt much of a rush as we don't have an assets etc at the moment to worry about

Give it 10 years when it's had the opportunity to compound. Then you'll see why marriage is important.

Pensions and long term stability are sort of on hold whilst I am on maternity and we are clearing some debt and looking to move areas. After that and we have more spare income we will look at increasing pension contributions and paying mortgage quicker

Good plan to clear debt. I also recommend doing the free Rebel Finance School on YouTube. You'll learn about investing, pensions and whether it's a good idea to pay off the mortgage early. Take a look - it's fab!

And remember, you can catch up with pensions but you can't catch up on your children's early years. Once DD was grown up we were able to put a lot more into our pensions and they're doing just fine.

You seem to have made your mind up. Just seems a shame to me to not try to find something where you can progress and build a career. Particularly as it doesn’t sound like you’re particularly financially stable with debts to clear etc.

In my experience, the optimum scenario is to get as senior as you possibly can before having children because that gives you more options in terms of flexible working after you have children.

there’s almost nobody I know in any job who has children and is working full-time hours with no flexibility at all. For example, I know a nurse who has an agreement that she doesn’t work Wednesdays so she knows she’ll never need childcare on that day, I know loads of people who do early finish on a Friday so they can pick up from school at 3, I know lots who work from home on certain days which means they don’t need breakfast club because they can drop straight to school and be back at their desks around 9, I know shift workers who do a certain early or late pattern so they pick up or drop off.

See . .. politely your understanding of the long term being solely related to pensions is what we older Mumsneters are worried about. You are unmarried work part time, your labour is in childcare and the domestic which as an unmarried partner has no protection in law. You might value it but legally society doesn't unless you are married.
What happens if/when your kids are in their late teens you split? You've spent 14 odd years working at a basic level (less than your current role) and part time. He walks off with the earning potential of someone whose focused full time on his career for 14 years. You've no claim on assets AND you've given up your safety net because you've.assumed he'll support you whatever.. without the legal protection of marriage it's just your choice no joint decision will be recognised. A court won't care that "you both felt that the best thing was...." You are choosing to make yourself vulnerable. Which is fine, but if you end up being 40+ with only 2 days a week experience in a customer facing role that a 20 something could do then trust me you're doing to struggle to shift that.....

Can you really afford for you to work so few hours? Especially as you sound like you have some debt and want to move house?

I went part time when I had my dc. Never went back full time and dc are now adults. It works for us. DH likes the fact that I am not dead stressed with work and I enjoy cooking and gardening etc which means he doesn’t have to do it. I agree with others that you are vulnerable being unmarried but there is nothing wrong with working part time if you can afford it and if your partner supports the decision. Many posters would be horrified at my lack of ambition in climbing the career ladder but I am very content with my job and what I have achieved. We don’t care much for material things. We can afford to live in what I consider to be a nice home and have a holiday every year. We have no debt and enjoy our situation very much.
If I could go back in time I’d do exactly the same again. I adored spending as much time as possible with my children.

Employers can be more generous. Many will do 8 hour days including a whole hour of paid lunch break, but they don’t have to. In law they don’t have to pay for breaks and they only have to offer 30 minutes after 4 hours work. Obviously many jobs don’t work like that at all. You are paid for the job, whether you have time for a lunch break or not.

Between now and then, your boyfriend can change his will, pension beneficiary, and death-in-service beneficiary without telling you.

If you depend on him for rent/mortgage, you’re at his mercy.

Why have you started mat leave when your baby is not due yet?

Full time is 40 hours a week with a right to a 30 minute unpaid lunch hour.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record:

Do. Not. Financially. Depend. On. A. Boyfriend. When. The. Roof. Over. Your. Children’s. Heads. Depends. On. It.

The grass is always greener. I always worked full time and I do have regrets about missing out on more time with my children when they were younger.
But… I have kept a good career going and hopefully can reduce hours a bit now, whilst still maintaining a good pension (those early years count for so much more than trying to set one up later). And, most importantly, I was widowed at a young age and I’d have been absolutely fucked if I hadn’t had a good job. It meant I could keep the house, and stability for the children during an awful time. Life doesn’t always work out how you think it will.