How can I make a comfortable income from home

So many unnecessarily harsh responses on here. I get managing people's expectations but the OP asked for advice, not a scolding.

OP, in your position I would look into virtual PA jobs, as others have mentioned. I would also consider training in QuickBooks and becoming a bookkeeper, as last time I checked the training and access to their client database is free. I would also potentially look into buying second hand items in high demand and selling them on Vinted or Ebay (such as the most popular books of 2025 and going into various charity shops in your local area and buying any on the list you see.)

Another option, if you have some money to put into the initial training, is to qualify in a trade, such as becoming an electrician or a painter/decorator. This is massively overlooked by women yet can offer great money depending on how many jobs you take on, and great flexibility.

You could also do cleaning, with the view to managing your own cleaning business in the future. Ditto pet sitting, pet walking or pet grooming.

If you have any talent with beauty and some money for an initial qualification, you could do nails, eyelash extensions, etc. from home.

Don't jump into any of the above on a whim though, take time and consider all the options.

Good luck, don't let this thread dishearten you. It's great that you're considering getting back into the workforce.

I went back into the workplace after a 10yr+ career break in an admin type role fully remote, totally flexible and was on £28k for the past 3 years (inflation increase got me to £29.5k eventually). I've just got a promotion and now on £36k with some line management responsibility but very low stress easy job still. I work for a charity and would definitely suggest looking at this sector if you want fully remote with more flexibility.

I have just recruited two jobs that are administrators, both 5 days/wk, deliberately flexible 5 hours daily so that someone can do drop off at school and be back at the school gate, and term time only. Both flexible WFH or our office, most folk do three days at home and two in the office. I will have another job like this in near future, but as PA to senior staff team. There are a lot of good reasons why ensuring jobs accessible by carers, parents and more is a Very Good Thing for my organisation.

Gross they are jobs which pay £26,500-30k, and we pay higher than our competitors. So term time only and 25 hours a week they end up 30% or so less than gross (£19-24k) per year net. We offer to pay people 'as you go hours' or even salary out over 12 months - and everyone chooses the 'evened out' salary to get a pay day every month.

£50k from home on shortened hours seems improbable for administration.

If you had told me you were a specialist computer programmer with in-demand skills and could run your own consultancy, I would have said you might have a fighting chance of £50k...But you do not have specialist, high demand skills or an entrepreneurial approach.

I don’t think 50k is something to be lying about…

That sort of salary for part time,at home and flexible? Sorry but that’s cloud cuckoo territory for all but the most specialist and sought after skills

In the average 40 hour a week job someone works 2,080 hours in a year. On this pattern (assuming a 9.30am start and 2.30pm to fit around family time - or more truthfully school pickup's) you would be working for 1,275 hours (5 hours a day, 5 days a week for 4.25 weeks in a month).

So basically you want £50k a year for just 60% of the time of a full time job. As an administrator. Get a grip.

How about a virtual PA?

I work from home, but only get minimum wage. These salaries leave me breathless.

I earn 45-50k working 2.5 days a week as a freelancer in a creative profession. However I have been in my industry for 15 years. If you are creative and good at it it might be worth exploring, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket unless you’re sure it will pay off.

I was in pretty much your exact position over a year ago OP and I'm sorry to tell you that all I've managed to get is cleaning jobs, the first of which I literally only got because a family member worked for the company and put a good word in for me! After that long out of the workplace no one is going to want to hire you and your skills/experience will be years out of date, and that's before we even get to wanting wfh and your salary expectations.

The job market is unbelievably grim right now and I've come to the conclusion that even retraining/starting my own business is unlikely to get me anywhere close to £50k so I'm just picking up as much cleaning work as I can and keeping my eyes peeled for any and all opportunities, paid or otherwise, to get a foot in the door to anything else. Cleaning is hard but thankfully fairly flexible so I'm making it work for now, on the plus side I've lost 3 stone and am physically in better shape than I have been for years

Sorry if most of that was a bit doom and gloom but I can tell you from experience that what you're looking for doesn't exist in our circumstances, I wasted far too long looking!

For a reality check, if you were a qualified nurse and had the experience to work as a ward manager you would be looking at earning from £47k - £54k. This would involve maanaging a staff team, managing budgets and overseeing patient care and of course would be site based and full time. Hoping for a WFH part-time admin job that fits with school hours is total fantasy

I worked in a very niche business admin role prior to becoming a SAHM a year ago. I earned £60k. I should be able to get a WFH role or 1 day in the office role if I return to work, and I’d expect to earn £50k+. It is a niche, in demand specialism though and I specifically manoeuvred myself into it between my two DCs. I also live/ work in London which I’m sure helps.

OP I don’t think it’s impossible to achieve £50k but it’s going to take years, and you’re going to have to develop some in-demand skills so that employers are more likely to afford you the flexibility you want.

I think it attracts liars too

More like 42k FTE :(
And I also work one evening 5:30-9pm along with the three short days.

It's in FE so we have lower pay scales than schools.

We’re here but feel outnumbered. MN isn’t a representation of society as a whole, it attracts a lot of wealthy women but they are not what the majority of the UK are made up of.

Sounds like 3 x short days (~60%) so probably FTE around 58k, not that bad.

I am following out of curiosity as I've been struggling to find full or part time work for the last year. I'm quite skilled (or so I thought!) and experienced (or so I thought!) but the job market is crap.

I actually wanted to work in an office but there's barely anything going locally. So I looked on LinkedIn at remote roles hoping to find more variety even at NMW (I thought I was worth a bit more per hour but most roles are around £24-26k) and that was pretty hopeless too.

Beginning to freak out about the future, my cv and my career. ☹️

I'm interested in why you did the TA course if you need £50k per annum...

Definitely! I’m well-paid and part time with some level of flexibility (still need to do 60% in office, there are very few 100% remote jobs) but like you say I had to keep working through the nursery years for this.
Long days commuting before Covid, so wfh wasn’t a thing and children’s frequent illness days had to be shared between me and husband depending on who had the most important work going on that day. Missed school assemblies etc etc. Rarely are these things achieved without sacrifice or compromise somewhere.

Is that on main payscale? Or UPS? Doesn't sound a lot.

I'm a teacher on the highest rate of salary but I only work 3 days 9-2:30pm for the grand total of £21k :)

I’m a freelance consultant in the property industry. My hourly rate varies between £40 and £100 and I’m entirely flexible in terms of my hours. I wfh almost all the time but occasionally go out on site. I do have two degrees and 20 years experience. I think £50k working from home with flexible hours in an admin role is very unlikely. I have a friend who is an EA to a CEO in London who works full time, flexible hours, 3 days wfh, but she also has two degrees and experience working for clients that are household names.

I nearly spat my coffee out at £50k.

Many things can be done from home. The key is what skills and experience do you have?

Dh runs a company that makes professional kitchens (he only is on site one day a week around family life). I am an academic who has mostly always worked remotely unless I am teaching, which is only a few times a year. We collectively earn over £100k and both nearly always around for the kids outside of school hours. I went back to work when my dc were 9 and 11 months old, respectively.

But what are you good at? You need to find work that fits the skills you have.