To ask how you work around DH?

[Weezy511]

I’m currently on maternity leave and due to go back end of May. My DH is a PC and his shifts have just been changed from a 5 week rota to 4 on 4 off. Not just his, the whole force.
This used to work really well for us as I work in a call centre and had a 10 week rota, so it matched up and no issues with childcare. Now though, we have 2 under 2, DD is under assessment for asd and I just don’t know how it will work.

My work will only allow me to choose 1 of 15 shift patterns, which is quite a lot but there aren’t 8 days in a week 🤷‍♀️ There are set common themes in each like 6/10 Saturdays, X many evening shifts each week etc

Does anyone have any suggestions for jobs to work around a shift pattern like this? I need to work to bring in around 800/900 month so sahm isn’t an option but neither is childcare as I’d never make enough to pay for that and have the money we need on top.

Is there an answer? Lottery win? Drug baron?

Some jobs are flexible when you work, as long as the work gets done. So some remote admin or virtual assistant type roles.

I sympathise. My husband is a PC too working a 5 week rota. I work full time Mon to Fri and kids go to a childminder 3 days a week. The other two days are picked up by him on rest days, I take flexi or annual leave or my mum or his mum do a day. It works out grandparents do 4 days between them over the 5 weeks.

You might have to accept that you will make a "loss" for a couple of years and eat into savings but have more money eventually, or tighten belts severely?

No idea, watching as in a similar situation. DH has a 5 week rolling rota.

DM currently does childcare on days we both work but I think that’ll have to come to an end soon. Barely scraping by so no chance of paying for childcare

I have the same problem, dp applied for a PER50 which has given us some relief, he still aligns with most of his blocks core shifts but has changed maybe 10ish shifts over a ten week shift pattern and it does help. Maybe he could look into that.

As far as I am aware most forces allow flexi work but depending on his role (front line response, firearms, traffic etc) it might be difficult to choose specific shifts. I feel for you as police regs have us by the danglies and often shift patterns dont consider family life (even though they claim to) maybe ask him to speak with his fed rep about his options or speak with him to see if he would consider a role change to something with more stable hours like NPT as these tend to be shorter shifts but longer sets ( my force have VSA2 shifts which are 7 shifts in days and latest only for NPT) although I understand that not everyone would want to do that especially if they are in one of the "Gucci" roles like firearms, traffic etc. Best of luck