Single parent - career

Mumofone1xx · 2025-07-02T18:39:25+00:00

Hi all, for those single parents with primary school aged children and with little to no family childcare, what do you do for work? :) I have a Masters degree and only early on in my career but would love to get to get to the point of feeling financially comfortable and build savings without lots of wrap around care. Ive just reduced my hours a little as was struggling with 40, which is lovely to have more time with my daughter, but obviously comes at a financial disadvantage

Mrsttcno1 · 02/07/2025 20:26

I’m not a single parent myself but I do know that lots of the women I work with are single parents & I would say of all the jobs I can think of mine is one of the more flexible and easy to do as a single parent. My actual role is quite niche in that it sits partly in the CS & partly private law but my colleagues are 100% CS and those who are single parents find it to be great.

I will say though it depends on the level you’re working at. If you came in at entry level working in the contact centre for example then it wouldn’t work because it’s very rigid, set shifts, set breaks, set hours, no flex. But if
you were able to apply and come in at HO or above in most departments that I’ve worked within it would be great. You could work 4 days hours over 5 days for example to give just under 6 hour days while still earning a good salary and would allow you to do pick ups & drop offs. You’d also get flexi so if you did have a chance to work a bit longer you can then take that time back, or if you had childcare help on a Monday and a Tuesday you could work an extra hour those days and then finish an hour early on another 2 days. Can also use flexi to generate more days leave, it’s great for progression internally and it is a good pension although not as good as previously I know.

Original poster

Mumofone1xx · 03/07/2025 06:42

Mrsttcno1 · 02/07/2025 20:26

I’m not a single parent myself but I do know that lots of the women I work with are single parents & I would say of all the jobs I can think of mine is one of the more flexible and easy to do as a single parent. My actual role is quite niche in that it sits partly in the CS & partly private law but my colleagues are 100% CS and those who are single parents find it to be great.

I will say though it depends on the level you’re working at. If you came in at entry level working in the contact centre for example then it wouldn’t work because it’s very rigid, set shifts, set breaks, set hours, no flex. But if
you were able to apply and come in at HO or above in most departments that I’ve worked within it would be great. You could work 4 days hours over 5 days for example to give just under 6 hour days while still earning a good salary and would allow you to do pick ups & drop offs. You’d also get flexi so if you did have a chance to work a bit longer you can then take that time back, or if you had childcare help on a Monday and a Tuesday you could work an extra hour those days and then finish an hour early on another 2 days. Can also use flexi to generate more days leave, it’s great for progression internally and it is a good pension although not as good as previously I know.

Thank you for commenting 😊 how did you get into that line of work?

I think an issue for me is I'd be coming in at entry level to most lines of work as haven't had much work experience. I have years of education and a 1st at uni but I feel that's sadly not as important as experience these days, especially for decent paying jobs which makes it hard as a recent graduate (catch 22 kind of situation)

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Original poster

Mumofone1xx · 11/07/2025 09:23

Bumping :)

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