To consider redundancy with an unemployed husband

[Anon46]

Background: I've been offered voluntary redundancy from my job working for the Government. I earn £40k with a rise every year. My payout would be in the region of £50-55k after tax. I'm currently on maternity leave. I rent privately in London (£1300pcm) and have approx £260k in my savings account.

Pros of leaving:
£50-55k is a lot of money.
I would need to get childcare if I returned to work (and my husband found a job) instead so a large chunk of my take home pay would be spent on that. Not to mention being knackered from running around doing the nursery drop offs.
I don't really enjoy the job. It's a low skilled job that I fell into about 20 years ago and it made sense to stay as it paid the bills. I was looking forward to going on maternity leave for a long time.
I only have to wait 6 months before returning to a Government job if I want to avoid repaying the redundancy compensation. It's worth noting that it's much harder to get a job nowadays and the majority of jobs tend to get filled by internal candidates.
A HUGE pro IMO: I run the risk of returning from maternity leave and realising that I either don't like what my job has become whilst I was away or childcare costs make going to work a bit pointless therefore leaving at a later date with no payout i.e. I would be better off leaving now and getting a large amount of money instead of returning to work for six months and leaving empty handed.

Cons of leaving:
I have a relatively easy job which is well paid for what I actually do and I WFH for part of the week. I could get a job elsewhere doing the same work as it's non specialised however I doubt I would earn the same. The Government tends to pay quite well for my kind of work.
I have a defined benefit pension, 33 days annual leave plus bank holidays. You get the jist. It's a pretty family friendly & flexible place to work.
I have a laid back manager who doesn't micro manage me. Although she could leave at any moment of course.
My husband is unemployed. He used to have a very well paid job but lost it several years ago. He has spent the past year applying for jobs in his field without success. He's now applying for supermarket jobs to get some money coming in. He's reliant on me financially as he's spent his savings. Ideally he would get another well paid job meaning that he wouldn't be available for childcare anymore. But I have a week to decide on redundancy and who knows how long it will take him to find a job.
Making myself unemployed means even less chance of getting a mortgage.
My aforementioned savings rule me out of claiming any benefits (my husband is also ineligible because of this too).

You'd be best off moving up further north where money goes further. You can buy a 3/4 bedroom house in many areas for £250k. You can find another job anywhere but if you spent your money on buying a home for security., then you could claim.benefots whilst you seek work.

Even if OP buys a house I’m not sure that really helps with the dilemma 😂 bills are still significant and there is no income (and now very little savings!)

dupe

Your household is cash rich employment poor. No way would I be giving up the only employment the household had for cash when you already have £200k+

I want to know that too!

Well that's up to them isn't it, I was merely pointing out that they have an amazing buffer.

Little savings? £260k is little?!

I agree. Look for a new job whilst you’re in your current job, and research relocating to buy a house outright. You’re more attractive to potential employers if you’re already in work and this economy is terrible. Don’t rock the boat now.

Ate you covering all of your bills on just your maternity leave pay?

Guessing the 260k is savings for a house deposit rather than “just saving”. Regardless o don’t think I would be giving up a well paid secure job if my Dh wasn’t working. That said now secure will
your job be going forward (as redundancy has been offered)

Take the redundancy and relocate north.

where I live (Cumbria) £260k would get you a really nice detached or semi-detached house and you’d have over a years worth of redundancy pay in the bank to use towards living expenses.

you’d both easily find work up here.

my post is talking about after they’ve bought a house with it, as multiple posters advise

How come DH has been unemployed for years but has only applied for jobs in the adt year?

IMO, you’d be bonkers to walk away from a government role (especially the pension), which offers fantastic annual leave allowances plus flexible working (usually flexi time in government too) and the ability to WFH when you have a child to consider. By that, I mean that amount of leave, and the ability to work flexibly and from home when your child hits school age is a huge perk.

To give that up for just over a year’s worth of pay would be a very silly move.

The pension is one of the best around. I would never willingly walk away from my government pension.

With £260k in the bank, you need to look at buying somewhere too, instead of wasting money on rent.

He needsto shift husband ass anc get a job.

I’d take the redundancy, move north, buy a house outright, and both find part time jobs for now, anything that will pay your living expenses. Then, once settled, decide what you want to do. Maybe your Dh could retrain, or you could

This absolutely ^^

then if it all goes wrong and you can’t get work you don’t have rent or mortgage to worry about so any minimum wage job will do

Your job sounds ideal for your situation, I see why you might be tempted but honestly you could end up in a in flexible workplace, with a nightmare job earning less !

Also your husband hasn't worked in several years, why ? If he hadn't found a job in a year he needed to widen his search.

Yes you have reserves but thet will run out. You and H would potentially have to re enter the job market after quite a long break.

How old are you @Anon46?

Agree with others.
Move up North.
Buy outright in your name.
Live off the 50k for 6 months.
Look for new job.

But have to say I'd leave the cocklodger first, sorry.

You and H would potentially have to re enter the job market after quite a long break.

A job market that is tough and will get tougher all over the country. Unemployment is the highest it’s been for years. People have mentioned NMW jobs, but the days of walking into a job at a supermarket are long gone.

I'd leave a husband who has been unemployed several years before I'd leave a job.

Unless, there's a very good reason for his unemployment, that's beyond crazy.

where is this? I can work remotely!

He used to have a very well paid job but lost it several years ago. He has spent the past year applying for jobs in his field without success.

What was he doing between the past year and the 'several years' since he lost his job?

Maybe he should look for a job somewhere with a lower cost of living, then you can take the money and relocate to somewhere more affordable to live

Surely there is a middle ground between a high flying job and a supermarket job, surely he can get something related to his field, even at a much lower level but higher wage than a supermarket.
If you are taking the redundancy move to somewhere else that his skills are more valuable.