KIT days aren't an advantage if you don't have free childcare?

[DreamyNavyMentor]

I've got 9.5 days KIT but no childcare so pointless me doing it. Little one can get the 15 hours in September but childcare is £210 per week (full time).

I earn £31k a year so £2k take home.

Aibu that kit days arent beneficial for single mums or those without help?

Yeah but it's a choice and offered.

I understand your issue, OP.

But the purpose of the KIT days is not envisioned to be the salary earned. It is to allow attendance at events, training etc that may make it easier on return. And of course they are paid because it would be wrong for a woman to work an unpaid day for such things

My work place did say usually you'd come in for half day just catch up then go home but be paid for the full day. They also said no pressure up to me if i want to use or not. Even said to bring in my baby so they could meet so no childcare needed. I went in once for half day just to get a new laptop and meet the new supervisor. Didn't bring in my baby as it was easier without.

So i'd say just depends on your workplace and the KIT day culture there. They can be seen as social just keeping in contact days not actual work days.

If it's not important to your job and childcare is an issue then I'm not even sure why you're considering it.

I'm a team manager and there are a few things our team do annually that are important, but no point me handing them over in May to someone who won't actually have to do them until October, and then only as a one off.

If the company want me to then I'll go in for a couple of days to assist / advise in October, but I can do that as I have the partner / family support for childcare (or I'd take him in and the band of broody hens that make up our accounts team would watch him for me )

I didn't do any KIT days for similar reasons. I'd have had to arrange a full day at nursery each time and pay for a peak time day return train ticket to London (hugely more expensive than a season ticket). This was pre-covid so online meetings/ home working wasn't really set up.

I had quite short maternity leaves anyway compared to most people who seem to take the full year so I decided to enjoy the time with my babies. Maybe if I'd been off for a full year some KIT days might have been beneficial but I've absolutely no regrets about not having done them.

And it's your choice whether to find childcare and do a few hours KIT.

You don't have to do a whole day, you can do an hour in the work places I know.

You can do them at any time too. Just in the weeks before you return to work if you like. I presume you're arranging childcare for when you eventually return to work?

It's a choice that is offered. Better to have the choice than not wouldn't you say?

I never used any. I’m married, but it wouldn’t really have made sense financially for DH to take a day off so I could do a KIT day, if £ was the main reason. He would have done if it was important for career development or similar.

I think, unless you have handy friends or grandparents willing to cover the odd day free, childcare for KIT days is a PITA for all!

It wasn’t an option when I had my kids…I don’t think I’d have done it if it had been, I enjoyed the time away from work, and if I’d done KIT, it would have felt like I’d never been away (I had 18 months off with eldest then 29 weeks with youngest as that was the max allowed at that time)

I did some right at the end of maternity leave and planned it in with starting childcare.

So did some half days to settle baby in childcare first, then did 2 days a week kit days over 3 weeks to transition him to childcare.

It worked really well and meant when i went back properly we were both ready.

Oh and i earned more than the childcare cost, so it was just as "worth it" as returning to work ultimately would be.

They're to give you flexibility.

For some people the extra income towards the end of maternity leave is a bonus - lots of people have a partner or parent who can mind for a day.

For others, keeping on top of work is important, whether for their self esteem or to ease their transition back to work.

If neither of these apply, then just don't do it. I never considered it for a second.

Totally depends on your job I think. If it’s not a job that you’re anxious about certain projects and keeping in touch with those projects then I agree not really much point and a lot of hassle if no childcare, perhaps you can do a few visits of the office with your baby just to literally keep in touch with your colleagues and say hello.

For me, I definitely plan to use them to get the ball rolling on some projects so I’m not totally behind when I return to work. They’re really useful in that I can do this without my mat leave ending. I wish the UK had fully flexible mat leave to be honest, would be great if you could return part time on mat leave or take mat leave in separate chunks etc.

SIL does KIT days and has her baby and 6 year old DS. She’s fairly lucky as her work can involve travel so she arranges short breaks or in half term so she can do the work, her DH can do childcare as he’s with her. If he was working and couldn’t go away with her it would be tricky for her to do them. She could leave 6 month old baby with my DM (grandma) but she doesn’t like doing this.

SIL likes the extra pay KIT days bring but with you as you say OP, you’ll prob have to think if your baby will be ok with you having 5 full days work and how you’ll work that (nursery?). Unless you can drop a day.

OP, I never bothered doing KIT days. I worked in the same school for eight years on the same school calendar cycle with the same friends, same colleagues and it was the same after I returned from mat leave.

I know what you're saying - I'm not a single parent and didn't do KIT days because I had no childcare.

My daughter hadn't started nursery yet and required all the paid for settling in sessions before they would have her for the full days, plus I couldn't put her in for ad hoc days it had to be arranged for multiple days a week ages in advance

So that meant the only option we had was for my husband to take annual leave so I could do the Kit days and I didn't want him to do that as I wanted him to spend his annual leave with me as well on going on holiday, days out etc

So yeah all in all I didn't bother

How did you get ad hoc childcare

The purpose of the post is to say I can't afford to take them as I'm single and such childcare doesn't exist?

Because it's a way to return to work without using holidays.

So I was considering doing them in September before I officially return to work to get the full holiday entitlement.

Childcare! Not holiday

The intention of KIT days isn't getting 9 or 10 days worth of salary, they're helpful for job roles as detailed in previous posts, where attendance at conferences or involvement in projects or key meetings will be beneficial to the Mother's career after Mat leave.

As unfair as it may be, roles for which KIT are genuinely mutually useful to the employer and employee are probably highly paid enough to make the ad-hoc childcare cost worthwhile. For jobs without a level of responsibility or involvement in long-term projects then the benefit of them to anyone is negligible.

I've used all my KIT days both times. I get full pay for them so they were hugely beneficial when on stat mat pay.

I found KIT days useful at the end of maternity to test my childcare arrangements for my return. I organised a few hours leading up to half days with work during her settling in sessions. It helped me establish things like the time I needed to get her ready to leave in the morning and how the commute to nursery drop off then work would be. It also meant she was settled in at nursery before I returned to work. If you’re using annual leave before returning to work though that does the same job.

I think OP’s point is that she is unable to do them due to no childcare. Which is something a lot of single parents / parents with no support around them struggle with. It is offered to everyone but not everyone is able to take it.

Personally I never did my KIT days, even though I had someone to look after my baby.

I'm a lone parent and found them really useful. I just put my son with the childminder that he was then going to be going to full time. It got him used to her, gave me the opportunity to work out my routine when I went back and it was useful to get back up to speed with work before going back. Plus my Manager wanted me help with a project so it worked well.

I used KIT days as settling in days with our childminder (she didn't charge us). On one occasion there was an important meeting at work that it was thought it would be beneficial for me to join. We couldn't get childcare and my managers told me to bring my then 6 month old daughter with me! It was a one hour meeting and I got paid a full day. Dd ate her lunch and blew raspberries throughout and all my colleagues were absolutely lovely. I was very blessed with that job.