London based social workers

[unmp]

Hi everyone

Have name changed as obviously outing but need advice re work

I am social work qualified and currently in management outside London, I am perm so basic salary is £52k with about £13k in retention, golden hello etc

I saw my payslip yesterday where I was heavily taxed after awaiting a retention payment and all in all this month paid around £3k in taxes, pensions, student loan etc

I cannot afford this obviously with COL crisis and soon to have 2 kids in secondary school etc

Thing is I stepped up into current role hence going perm after locuming and whilst salary sounds a lot, mortgage and bills is £1500 before food, travel etc considered

I am the breadwinner

Considering quitting to locum again in London but worried about no pension, leave etc with school aged children

Role is away from frontline so would have to go back which I dread!

What would you do?

Bump

Not a social worker, but do work in public sector and the one thing I'd say is that if your kids are nearing secondary school age, it may only be a few years before you begin to think how much longer do I need to work.....at which point you will be really glad to have been paying into a pension, even if taking it is still decades away.

Thank you for your reply, this is very true

I guess the question is also would you go for a more stressful job with worse job title that is walking distance from home compared to one that is a lengthy commute better job is further away

Both jobs mainly twice a week in the office the rest WFH though worse job also will have a week every month when you have to attend the office daily?

I'm interested to know about the 13k retention as I'm in similar role retention is 1k per year? Also how much were you making locum per month? I have two under two and job security of permanent works for me but with two school age you can earn more as locum with less of a worry. Can you save at all as locum?

That is the question it seems re having it all. As a locum I was fed up of constantly feeling on edge as a manager when they employed a perm member of staff

Even though I could technically take time off as leave, with no pay on the days I didn't work I felt like I was losing money whenever I was off which isn't ideal

I am happy to be away from frontline practice but miss the weekly pay and feeling like I wasn't being conned by the government who were taking excessive tax

I mainly WFH and only in the office 2x a week, I am doing ISW work to bring my pay back in line with my previous locum pay, it's just that the extra work and staggered pay after submission of assessment is really annoying!

The £13k is made up of £10k broken down monthly as an enhancement then £3k yearly every April, but of course all of this is taxed!

Ah yes I see what you mean, I haven't locumed before but yes there is a huge drive for permanent staff in post ATM and reality is management locum is it affordable. Are there many other locum management posts about if you were given notice as a locum? To be honest I like the job security and a/l plus worry about sickness with my two kids if I can't work and would only ever see locum as a quick way to make extra cash. The tax on retention is bloody annoying. Any way you can speed up the staggered payment or you're not waiting to be paid it's just you're paid in part for each bit? Any way to reduce your outgoings

I personally couldn't see myself having a caseload again

I think I would go for better job/longer commute, as I think there is nothing more tiring/ageing than stress. I appreciate neither are stress free though. At least a commute is your own time, you can listen to a podcast/zone out/do your supermarket shop.

I'm in management and my locums no doubt bring in more than I do each month but I would not want either job insecurity or to go back to frontline case holding. Could you explore locum management positions? There are often maternity cover or hard to fill posts around?

Definitely seeing the drive for staff to go permanent and when in management the opportunities are fewer and it is more competitive hence why I am not working locally, as a SW You have your pick of the local authorities to work for as the council always need social workers but as a manager there are less positions available

That's how I found myself in this position, I can't imagine being on the frontline at the moment with the anxiety and stress!

Yes I use my commute to mumsnet, online shop etc

I had done locum management for 3ys plus, this role is senior management at SM level so technically pay is probably what a locum SW takes home