shift work and childcare options

[pinkdonkey]

DH and I both work shifts including weekends, there is no regular pattern to our shifts. We are currently ttc and I've been wondering about how easy or not it will be to find childcare to meet our needs.

Curently I work full time and am the main earner, DH works part time on minimum wage, he is keen to increase to full time hours and is starting a training scheme to look at progressing into management. I am keen to go part time once we have DC and feel that both of us working part time and working the childcare between us as much as possible would be the best option. The main problem I can see is if we are not working regular shift patterns (he often only has 1 weeks notice of shifts, I get at least 4 weeks notice) how we get childcare for the times that we may both be working. I would imagine that most child minders/nurserys need a regular pattern to allow them to plan numbers. All local family members work full time mon-fri. I'm considering that one of us asks to work perminant weekends (preferably me as I get enhanced pay at weekends DH doesn't ) as there is more likely to be family support at weekends (though FIL doesn't like having the GC he's already got at weekends, so not counting on this as an option)

We are definately not the only people to work shifts and have kids, wondering how others have got arround this issue.

very hard..The hardest part is finding evening care. Most childminders/ nurseries tend to start 7.30 and finish 6..

You'd probably have to find a childminder who is flexible for this because a nursery can't really be flexible and is usually only 7.30 (if you're v lucky otherwise 8) till 6.

Really hard. I worked shifts til mine were 5 and 2 and could only do it because dh was a 9-5er.

If dh is on MW pt now can he look for a min wage mon-fri job? Admin in an office etc.

Or even temping.

You can request set shifts from your employer they don't have to agree but they do need to consider it. Some people I know work nights or weekends because it fits in better.

Thanks for the replies DH hasn't had an easy time finding his current pt mw job after time off sick with mental health problems and most of his recent experience is in retail with no admin/office experience on his cv. I think the best plan is for us both to request regular shift patterns and see if that can be accommodated. We tend to get given opposite shifts anyway which could come in handy for childcare.

Very tough - one of the reasons I changed career. Might an au pair or au pair share be an option?

You might not get your enhanced pay at weekends if you're part time. When I was PT I only qualified for overtime after 37.5 hours. I was contracted to 21, so the first 16.5 hours I did were paid at the standard rate. I think that's fairly standard.

Regular shifts are the way forward though. Not always easy but you've a right to ask.

Hmm will look into the enhanced pay, it currently comes under unsocial hours not overtime, its NHS. Currently at weekends I get time+1/3 sat and time+2/3 sun so an extra days pay per weekend worked, which would be very useful going pt. I will ask some of the pt staff if they know.

I used to work part time nhs and definitely got enhanced pay for unsocial hours. You don't get overtime pay unless you go over full time hours but overtime doesn't really happen in the NHS anymore (not for nurses anyway, we have to join the bank to do extra and that is paid at normal wage)

You could speak with some local nurseries - we have one near us that offers 'ad hoc' hours so you can have different hours/days each week. We just have to make sure we book what we need a few months in advance which i guess you can do if you know your shift patterns. But then we are near an airport so plenty of people of shift work to 'fill in the gaps' this arrangement makes.

Finding the right childcare is daunting, but when the time comes some options naturally wont work and you will work your way to something (or a combination of options) that do. Good luck!

It's a bloody nightmare, I'm afraid. We got around it by me working mostly 9-5ish. Even that is difficult and my career has not done well. Next option is bank work which I am seriously looking into.

We had this problem (me working shifts, husband away on business a lot). I got a new job that was in office hours. One of us had to find different work as it wasn't going to work.

On the plus side I find shifts can work really well with school age children and childcare, but only if you have quite a lot of day over which shifts you work (which I do, but I guess it might not be common!). My dh works mon-fri flexible office hours and I work long late shifts at weekends and earlys in the week, which mean I'm home by 3pm because I start at 6am.

I guess if you're only at the TTC stage it is a good idea to look for ways to establish more regular shifts. Good idea to think about it now.

A long time ago I was a childminder and minded one child around police officer parents shifts. I lived in a rather well off area and had a pool of sahms who all got emailed a spreadsheet of my "free slots" around her schedule and paid a higher hourly rate for me to have their kids when I had space just for some free time, so it worked out! Wouldn't in an area without that demand though.

Thanks for the responses, no our NHS trust doesn't do overtime either, samesituation with bank shifts. I do have a collegue who has gone onto bank so she can avoid certain shifts, it seems to have worked for her so far, but as main earner, I wouldn't want to risk my job security, sick pay etc. Thinking practically I am realising that it will need to be DH who is the more flexible one. Will definately need to investigate options more.