If your take home pay was 5k a month, would you do this?

It is roughly an extra £30 per day (after parking). I doubt its worth it. When kids are young they really need to decompress with mum after school/daycare. Its invaluable having that time with them and the flexibility of your current role

Go for it. That is still relatively short hours and £1000 is a lot of extra money when you are on your own.

“i can’t help but feel that the majority of posters here saying flexibility is the most important are likely not single parents”

On the contrary, I would have thought flexibility is even more important when you’re a single parent with no one else to cover days when the child is sick etc

If you can manage on what you currently earn then I’d stay with the lower paid, more flexible job for this stage of your child’s life. Some things are worth more than money.

Depends if you need the money? Your mortgage could be 1k or it coukd be 2 or 3? Impossible to say.

If youre managing fine then I'd take the flexibility for now. That is priceless.

X

Flexibility becomes much more valuable when you move from the nursery years (nurseries run for the convenience of working parents, with full-time hours) to the primary school years (run for the children, and weirdly often seem to assume that there's a SAHP who can drop everything if needed).

As a pp said, there are assemblies, concerts, stay-and-read sessions, nativity play, sports days etc which you won't want to miss. With a flexible WFH job, you can just make up that extra hour in the evening - not so easy from the office with a commute.

And the forgotten snack/instrument/PE kit to drop off. Of course you don't have to, but it's nice for your DC if you can.

Unless this is a short-term move and you expect to have moved on again to another job before your DC starts school, I'd definitely keep the flexibility.

So your current role is 5k a month? Does that comfortably cover your bills etc.

I can only talk from my own experience. If your DD is anywhere near to starting school, I would personally stick with current role which has more flexibility - it seems to get more rather than less hectic when they start primary - clubs, playdates, nativities, parents evenings. There is time for career progression later but those early years are so full on.

I definitely wouldn’t, flexibility is worth it’s weight in gold.
Think of all the long holidays, inset days , the days when child is off sick etc.
I would stay where I am and try and get promoted or overperform to get a raise!

Childcare isn't longer. It might be worth the extra thousand a month.

i can’t help but feel that the majority of posters here saying flexibility is the most important are likely not single parents. Financial security is also important. As is progressing career for future financial stability.

single parents with unsupportive Co parents cannot necessarily afford to turn down the extra ££. I say this as a single parent who works full time with no family in the UK to help. I’ve had to pay for limited after school help some years - and could afford to do it because I earned a decent wage.

its true that there are lots of school events, illness etc. many school events I do on work time, then make up an hour or two in the evening. Like everyone else does for dental appointments etc. If your child is ill the world is far more accepting these days of WFH when needed. If the new role can be occasionally flexible when required I would go for it

I would not give up the fkexible job. I’m in a different situation - have a husband but left a very flexible job about a year ago for one like you describe. Pay difference was £85k/year versus £140k/year. It’s not worth it. I am so much more stressed all the time. I feel like im
a treadmill. Going back to old job!

Our finances are not at all tight so would maybe be different if so but you just can’t buy time.

That extra money will melt away with expenses. I worked 9-3 five days a week. The stress when a child was ill, getting back to collect them. I think I'd stay put for now. WFH I would have loved back then.

As a single mum with 2 kids in a similar earning bracket to you, I'd very much stick with the flexible option for now. I thankfully WFH and it makes life admin so much easier.

Flexibility wins for me. Sickness, school closures (weather, burst pipes, asbestos, etc) inset days, fixtures of primary school calendars (harvest festival, Christmas play, summer events, etc) all eat in to your time, and can be managed much more effectively if you have flexibility built in to your role.
Factoring in lunch, parking and travel costs eats in to the salary bump.
Can you negotiate with your current employer for a raise, commensurate with the new offer? Can't hurt to ask.

Keep the flexibility. I had a high paying high stress job when I was a single parent to young children, it was just exhausting.

This. Think longer term. If you don’t take this now, will you get the opportunity later? Will it help you get even further up the ladder in a few years?

I did this. I found the flexibility of having nursery/wraparound far out weighed the job flexibility. So don’t look at it as the job being more flexible- but your childcare. When your kids are in nursery/primary that’s when you have decent, reliable childcare. As they get older and into secondary that’s when I found job flexibility more important as you don’t have childcare to pick up the slack.

worked well for me. Worked hard and climbed the ladder in nursery/primary. By the time kids were in secondary I was at a level where I could be more flexible at work- the more senior you are the more autonomy you tend to have. That meant I was around more when the kids got home at 3 as no after school club in secondary. Chunk of the mortgage paid off, money available to we’ve had some decent holidays together, and they’ve benefited from the spare cash in driving lessons, extra curriculars etc.

i’m also looking at earlier retirement in my mid 50’s/early 60’s. Again I can spend more time with the kids as adults, visiting them at uni or going on city breaks etc.

Take it. Your career will grow and later you might regret not accepting it.

No. The flexibility is worth more, especially when you already earn £4k.

I can't see the age of your child/ren.

It is relevant.

I wouldn't do it as it as you'll need more flexibility when your child starts school than you do currently for nursery - later drop offs, earlier pick ups, the many drop in things for parents (shows etc). I think being happy where you are and the flexibility (plus presumably the good will you've built up while you've been there) is worth more than 1k when your kids are that age.

I would take it. It doesn’t just affect your earnings now, it also affects your future earnings prospects as any future job will want to know what you earned most recently (depending on your field, but in most cases). You’ll presumably have increased pension contributions as well.

Could you use the offer of the new job as a bargaining tool for more pay from your current job?

And then after parking you could factor in things like whether you're likely to be careful about making yourself coffee and lunch to take in, or whether you're going to spend another £10 a day on lunch plus £3 a day on coffee, or find yourself going out for lunch or coffee with people. I am not super organised and personally could really myself blowing through that £1K just by parking and buying myself lunch and a coffee outside the house.

I wouldn't do it, personally, I think a job where you can set your own hours and work from home is really amazing. What about if your DC falls ill and you have to drop everything to go and pick up?

I'd keep the flexibility - an extra 1k is lovely, but not a fair trade for calm weekdays!

I switched from a very flexible job with more WFH to a less flexible job with more set office days last year, and tbh I have found it very difficult. I've missed out on things like the school Christmas performances, there's less flexibility with things like medical appointments, and all of your non-work life has to get squeezed into the evenings or weekend. Only you can make a decision about what's right for your family finances, and obviously any working set up can change, and employers can start increasing in-office days, but personally I really value the flexibility.