To consider redundancy with an unemployed husband

I just don’t get answers like this, no thought to family, friends, social network, support network. Just up and move to wales.

🙄

This.
Or not necessarily up north .. there are places on Welsh borders or even in Wales for instance. You could buy easily and with a small or no mortgage. This would free you up to not need such a big income.
Getting away and starting to look for jobs further afield might unlock your OH's unemployment situation.

I would wonder if it’s time to get out of London, buy a house outright and consider self employment.

Move out of London (up north) and buy a modest house or flat outright with your savings. Get DH doing some research into areas to move to.

I would take the redundancy package because there is no guarantee that there won't be more redundancies coming with a less generous package. Basically even if you stay for now there is no guarantee your job won't be at risk in the near future.

You have enough money saved as well.

You also have the choice of moving out of London for somewhere more affordable where you could use your savings to buy something.

I think your main issue here is your husband though. Why hasn't he found a job? With a baby on the way he shoukd be taking any work he can find...

I assume the 260k is probably from an inheritance and that your plan is to buy at somepoint with that? In your position I'd return to your job, just having a decent boss who doesn't micromanage and family friendly when you are returning from mat leave is a massive pro. If course 50k is a decent amount after tax but if you end up returning to work in a much lower paid job you've not only taken that year off or whatever unpaid you are now bringing home less too, it will also impact how much you can borrow if you do plan to buy.

Id keep the job, protect the savings for a house and hope your husband can get back into his decent paid field of work.

I’m also curious what happened with the husband, he lost his job several years ago but only spent the last year looking, is he maybe unwell? As said i think the likely hood of your husband now finding anything well paid is incredibly low as he’s been out thr work force several years, it will be back to the start, and if he needs to do supermarket work so he brings money in, then you need the money between you and your expenses will go up with a child, they get more expensive as they get older.

one of you needs to bring the money in. 260k is not enough for you both to be unemployed and you could end up in the same situation as him.

I think sadly as your husband is not gainfully employed you need to keep working;

I am baffled- he lost his job SEVERAL years ago, what on earth has he been doing all this time?

is the 260k savings “yours” or joint? I ask as you refer to him not having any now… how are you keeping an entire family afloat on 40k in London and managed a 260k buffer? Amazing.

in answer to Q, I don’t think that payout is worth the difficulty of trying to get back into govt job.

Omg where? I'm on my way!!!

Keep the job. AI is going to decimate the number of jobs like that in no time. Suspect that a skeleton staff will be left behind, amped up by AI tools.

Everyone I know in any kind of non "frontline" job is being offered voluntary redundancy.

Seriously, if its not killing you, hang in there as long as you can and get saving up. Hard times are coming.

You'd be mad to do this. Finding a job at the moment is really difficult, there's a real possibility that both of you will be out of work with a baby. There will be other opportunities for redundancy in the future.

Invest the money too.

Absolutely, what he earns in a supermarket will be less than childcare costs, he should stay at home and do child care whilst she works.

No way I’d leave. The odds of your husband getting a well paid job are very low now, and a supermarket isn’t going to bring in much. Unless you want to blow through your savings, I’d stay.

Hi op your redundancy is barely a year and half’s salary why would you risk 40k a year for that. If your working and your dh isn’t he can take care of childcare until the time comes when he can’t also if you have 260k in the bank and not using it the 55 will just sit in the bank until it’s been dwindling away then you might only get a job with 30k. I think with the savings I would have bought rather than rent as it becomes yours at the end of the day and now your wasting your money by renting so I would stay buy a house get some security use the savings then worry about your future nursery is only 3 years jobs and houses are for much longer.

Don't take the redundancy!
You got a cushy job, great benefits, wfh etc.
Doesn't sound like your husband's going to get a job any time soon.
Employment scene is VICIOUS out there!
Don't risk it!
(But buy a house with the savings)

Please keep your job.
Why will your DH not do childcare if he’s unemployed?

I work in local government and we're getting yearly invites to apply for voluntary redundancy.Not everyone is accepted but there's a definite policy of encouraging redundancy.They then employ even more people so I'm not sure what their reasoning is.
If you're entitled to maternity leave it would make sense to use it.

With that amount savings I would've got a mortgage years ago!

I vote keep your job.

Everyone saying buy a house will then miss out on the income the £250k can generate invested reasonable - 20% (£50k) in the FSTE100 last year. Covers the rent and then some. A house up North might go up a bit over the years but nothing like as much

If OP is on £40k and her H unemployed- her borrowing ability is very low. £260k is a great deposit but if you’re living in a £750k rental it’s out of reach.

very roughly OP could probably borrow another £150k. That’s “only” a £410k purchase.

everyone’s suggesting they move up north but obviously this isn’t something they’ve done, or plan to do.

not your question but that’s a ridiculous amount to have in savings. And I hope it’s not with one bank as you’re only protected to £85k per bank. Why on earth dont you own a property even jf you rent it out? I personally wouldn’t leave; civil service pensions are great and your job sounds very flexible for when you return after maternity leave

Your pros are assuming that your DH finds a well paid job, which he hasn’t managed to for years, is it realistic that he will find one soon?

Other Q, will they pay you during maternity leave? If you leave, it would be unpaid, so that offsets the 50k - at least partly.

My husband took 18 months to get another job and we went through over £100k of his settlement money (SEmortgage, household bills, 2 kids in uni, 2 at home etc) so I wouldn't be giving up an income if I didn't need to...I've managed to get a public sector job after 10+ years of PT working so I could be at home, and have no intention of giving it up unless and until I absolutely have to!)

What is the likelihood that if you don't take voluntary redundancy, you find out a couple of weeks after returning that they're doing compulsory redundancies instead - with only Statutory payments?