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...

You work out the cost of full time Nursery and take it away from the combined money from yours and your DH salary after bills then work out if it’s affordable.

Then you do the same if you were to drop a day at work I.e. taking home 80% of what you do now and a day less at Nursery.

Then again for dropping two days at both.

Then you decide which is most cost effective and what you’re both happy with.

If one of you can’t do drop off then you agree that they do pick up. So they go in early while the other either finishes on time (but still ends up home after Nursery closes) or works later.

If one person physically can not do either drop off or pick up (and I mean actually can’t rather than won’t entertain the idea that parenthood means changes to current lifestyle / working patterns) then you have to look at how much that’s going to impact the person who will be ‘doing it all’.

I have two in childcare and was on a FT salary of £34k. 3 days a week with two was my breakeven point, eldest didn't get funding till I had been back at work 6 months after second mat leave finished.

We use Tax Free Childcare, did have Chidcare vouchers but moved over to Tax Free as it worked out better for us.

However our nursery costs are a lot more than yours, we paid £72 a day for youngest, under 2 rate.

Look at things like season tickets as well if you are on trains, I know lots near me find travel more expensive if they can't get the 5 day a week season tickets etc.

Can your partner drop a day? If you earn the same but he works more hours for that pay then it's probably better for him to go part time than you.

A childminder is often cheaper and more flexible than nursery. Ours doesn't charge for closed days like bank holidays

Re the bank holidays, I work in the NHS and went PT after I had first DC. Didn't realise until going on maternity leave that I get pro-rata bank holidays worked out in hours but because I work on Mondays and the majority of BH are Monday's, my pro rata-ed BH hours didn't cover all the BH so I had to use almost a weeks worth of my annual leave on these!! Obviously not all employers work this way but from what I've googled many do. I'm trying to negotiate different days back when I come back from this maternity leave!

and I mean actually can’t rather than won’t entertain the idea that parenthood means changes to current lifestyle / working patterns

Just want to point out that my partner works in a role in which he physically cannot drop any hours. He works in a small construction team and it is in his contract that he is not able to work flexibly. They are extremely tight re who takes leave when. When one is off sick they have to pay a fortune for people to come in and assist. He will be 'let go of' if he doesn't work full time. I am going to be doing a lot more dropping off and picking up than he is, but he is going to be contributing a hell of a lot more financially. He wouldn't have a problem doing pick ups and drop offs if he could. Sadly not everyone has a flexible role.

@onewayoflife sadly he's not able to. It's in his contract that it is a full time role and without giving away exactly who he works for, it's not a job you can do part time. Frustrating I know!

So it maybe then that you need to look at reducing your hours but not your working days.

Dropping off at nursery at the earliest you can and then factoring what time you need to leave work in order to do pick up plus leaving yourself some wiggle room for delays.

One thing though, how likely are your work to accommodate any flex request?

I thought mine would be no problem, I was then assured it wasn’t likely to be a problem by my line manager. But it got taken out of their hands and with virtually no time left before my return to weigh things up I was told I could only work the flex request I’d asked for with a considerable change in role and obviously salary.