Maternity leave, part time and working out what to do. This is so hard...

[SweetAntiguan]

Afternoon folks. First post on mn though have used the app for a while throughout my pregnancy. I really need some help...

AIBU in saying that working out childcare costs, how many hours in work to drop (ft to pt), factoring in childcare vouchers, cost of nursery etc etc is really difficult?

Me and my partner want to work out what is affordable for us both, how to get the best deal, and don't want to get it wrong and end up paying more than we need to, or me dropping too many hours when financially it doesn't make sense.

Can anyone advise on how they worked out what was best? My head is absolutely frazzled to the point of near tears as I am horrible at maths and just can't work out what to do...

Do you already have children and if so, what ages are they?

@Kpo58 no this is our first child together. My partner has a 6 year old daughter from a previous relationship however his ex partner claims tax credits etc, whilst my partner does not claim anything (don't think he is entitled to) as she is with us every other weekend and is in school (so no childcare costs).

I started calculating finance first. find out how much I can afford for nursery if I were to continue working full time.

It was difficult to begin with but once you get started, it'll all fall into place. Worst come to worst, just continue full time first then slowly drop to part time if thats your goal.

Thanks @Janeinthemiddle - problem is, we want to work out what is best and implement it as soon as I go back to work. It would be nice to gradually go back to work part time but at this point I will have already entered in to an agreement with a set number of hours at nursery, and I can only alter my working hours once a year, so once I go part time that's it, I can't guarantee they will look at another alternative working arrangement within the following 12 months. What we really want to do is have it all worked out as soon as possible. It's just so unbelievably confusing and there are so many things to factor in. Someone needs to release a calculator so you can type in childcare costs, salary etc and it will tell you exactly what the best option is for you! Ideal world hey...

Would you rather work full time or part time, or is it just a case of what makes the most money?

What is your salary?

What is the going rate for nurseries in your area?

Once we know that we might be able to help!

There's an app called the salary calculator that will work out your take home based on your salary. You can input pension and student loan info so it's pretty accurate.
Can you do 4 days instead of 5? I think a lot of people find this the best pt option. Or compressed hours? So you work a 5 day week over 4 days.

It's a headache and I only managed a best guess. What tipped us was an increase in general costs associated with children (needing regular bigger size clothes and shoes) and needing to book extra days to facilitate things at work where I wasn't paid extra but got TOIL instead. So I was paying out but not getting more money in. Not awful, but worth bearing in mind that there are bound to be times when you need to swap a day etc and it could cost you extra in childcare.

There are online salary calculators that might help work out part time salaries taking into account reduced tax and NI contributions. The .gov website will let you know all about the tax free childcare scheme.

You will also need to think about how your family budget might change too. Extra costs associated with your child; nappies, clothes, shoes, food (packed lunches for nursery/CM??). We had to get a second car because the only way me returning to work would work was if I did the childcare drop off and DH did the pickup. The only way we could do that was if we both drove, therefore needed a car seat each too. Two lots of car insurance, fuel, MOT, servicing etc. Not saying this is the same in your case but there will be logistics to consider.

I found it was better to work a number of whole days rather than half here half there, this seemed to minimise the running around etc. I did two full days to make 16 a week, so two full days in nursery. For me this was the level at which the household was not losing money on childcare costs. I also chose a nursery with minimum inconvenience, which was a way from my house but very near a train station so I could pick up very quickly. So I had three weekdays with my LO until she was school age, then I increased my hours to 30.

As a previous poster mentioned you can use the Take Home Pay Calculator website and work out what your total pay will be on reduced hours. I just did some trial and error to work out what hours of work would allow nursery costs, usual bills etc and some disposable income. Took it from there. We don’t have childcare vouchers but the tax free childcare account scheme which we’re seeing as an added bonus rather than relying on that extra government money to live on.

I know what you mean!

There is the Tax Free Childcare scheme that is easy to use. You pay in an amount and the government will top up 20%.

@Twotailed we want to do what will save us the most money!

Me and my partner are in 30k each. I work 40 hours, he works 50 per week. He wouldn't be able to do any morning drop offs as his work isn't flexible so I don't want to work full time. Nursery doesn't open until 7 and I would end up getting my long train at 7:40 which due to the length of my commute means I won't be getting home until late. This is fine however I wouldn't want to do it 5x per week.

Nursery is £3.90 per hour plus £4.20 for lunch

Thanks @Janeinthemiddle - I've just found that! It looks like a brilliant scheme, one which I think we will take advantage of

I agree with a lot of what has already been said, work out what childcare you want and how much that costs (per week/per day) then use one of the online calculators to work out what your exact pay is and then work out if its worth it!
One thing I have found difficult is that my childminder charges by the hour and i use her Monday - Wednesday, some months that's 12 days, sometimes it 15, so it varies (especially taking into account holidays etc!). So some months I have spare and some months I am skint, so I work out my entire budget (money in and out) for the year (I am a spreadsheets/budget nerd!).
See if you are entitled to any childcare payment schemes (we have vouchers, so save just under £1000 per year in tax). I went back to work for 3 days and then upped it to 4, I also changed my hours which equates to one extra day per month and means more money and didn't affect my hours with the childminder.
Personally I think my work would be happier to up my hours than to decrease them, so although you said you can only change once in 12 months you might want to keep that in mind if you did want to change.

I spent hours with a complicated spreadsheet working out costs per month for the whole time our twins would be at nursery and preschool, plus costs for our older daughters remaining time at nursery then wraparound care. Accounting for funding, also considered my tax, season ticket costs, etc. And I also had to work out whether we should stick on childcare vouchers or change to tax free childcare which was another whole day!
Then our nursery ramped up their costs and changed how they account for funding and it was all a pointless waste of time. I have had to take a career break until they’re 3.
Anyway my point is, I guess, don’t spend too long doing it. A decent estimate as someone says above is the best you can do.

I put together a spreadsheet. It takes into account things like if I work full time we want a cleaner, if I work part time I'll do the cleaning etc. All you need to know are your outgoings, childcare costs and what you'd be taking home after tax and NI (use the salary calculator to figure it out). That will give you a good idea of the balance. For example working 3 days works out better for us than 4 days because of the lower student loan payment.

How flexible are your jobs? DH & I both have 9-5 office jobs, and he was able to agree compressed hours (10 days over 9) so he has one day at home with DD every fortnight - cuts down on childcare costs. I went down to four days a week as this was the best balance for me in terms of workload/ pay/ childcare costs. I agree that you probably need to work out the costs of every option (pay vs childcare costs/ commuting costs) for different hours and see what looks best.

We use the childcare vouchers scheme, which I think is still open to join. Remember that you'll get the 30 hours funded childcare when your child is 3, so after a couple of tight years things will be easier!

Also I had accumulated leave while I was on maternity leave, so when I went back to work I had reduced to four days a week but took a day off each week for the first month so it wasn't as full-on.

Lots of people have answered the finance stuff for you so just to add a suggestion for your wish to return gradually to work;

You still accrue annual leave when you are on maternity leave, so depending on when your leave year runs to/from and your employer's rules around how they agree annual leave you could use your leave accrued on ML to e.g. only work one day a week for a few weeks going up to two nd then three days.

Your employer has to give you your accrued leave as time rather than just financially compensate you for it, but they may insist you take it all as one block before you return, or they may let you do it as suggested above.

Just to add to the mix..

If you have any say in it I would have Monday as one of my days off. You should still get the bank holiday added to your holiday allowance 'pro rata' but it's 4 days/year when you don't end up paying for nursery when it's shut!

And yes to using accrued holidays flexibly if you can. I officially went back full time (was paid f/t) but used my accrued holidays to only work 3 days/week. I then dropped to p/t hours but it did soften the blow financially for a couple of months.

As a couple of PPs have suggested, I am using my accrued leave to work part time without changing my contract. I have done 2 months of three days and will do few months of 4 days before deciding what to do, getting full salary.

To those who have suggested spreading my leave out, that's a brilliant idea! Why didn't I think of that? Ok... that's a start! Thanks all

You first need to decide in an ideal world what you would do. Part time, full time or stay at home.

The calculation for ft and sahm are relatively easy. Then as a proxy divide your net wage by twenty days to get your day rate. So if you work 3 days, multiply by twelve and multiply nursery by twelve. It won’t be exact because of marginal tax rates but gives you the ballpark

@FreshEyre call me stupid... I'm confused about the bank holiday thing?

It might vary in different places but with nursery we found that we were contracted to still pay for the Bank Holliday Mondays, even though they were closed. It's only 4 days/year but still a bit annoying.

P/T workers should still be entitled to their Bank Holiday allowance even if they don't work Mondays - it's often added to your annual leave in hours/days. Again, every workplace is different but worth checking.

Not here to say anything hugely pragmatic but wanted to say I am going through this too and it sucks - hang in there my love. Psychologically (work vs being a mum) financially, etc I have found it the biggest challenge.

But I agree with others - sat down with a spreadsheet, found the closest possible nursery to reduce travel times...all the sensible stuff.

I have no idea how I thought I would be able to afford more children.

On the bank holidays, I’m a part time worker (3/5) and the way mine works is I have all bank holidays pro-rata, so 3/5 of 8 days bank holiday = 4.8 days. The advantage to not working on Mondays or Fridays like I do is that there is more flexibility in when I take those 4.8 days, though I must use 3 days holiday over Christmas regardless of which days it falls on, and those are the only bank holidays that aren’t fixed days. Depends on your employer and what the system is.