Midwifery training, 2 young kids, funding available??

[userwithgreycats]

Thanks for reading!

I'm having a dilemma, I've always dreamt of training as a midwife but I don't know if I can afford to. I have two children, 3 and almost 2 years old. Also have mortgage etc to pay. I've been looking at other jobs but this is what I really want to do. My 3 yo will start school in September so I guess that would help.

If anyone has started this year with the new funding I'd really appreciate learning more about what might be available

Thanks!!

Anyone?

What country in the uk do you live in? I’ll then be able to tell you the funding situation.

England :)

The NHS bursary has now ended so you would need to take out a student loan for fees and living costs, the maintenance element is around £10000 a year if you are entitled to the full amount. Parents can also claim parental learning allowance, up to £1617 a year. You can also claim childcare allowance up to a maximum of £273 per week or 85% of actual costs if less than this figure. Child tax credits ignore most of this income, you can still claim child benefit and will be exempt from council tax. So your total income could end up being around £11617 from student finance minus 15% of your childcare costs, around £5000 a year tax credits, and around £1700 child benefit.

The only downside is that you have a mortgage so you cannot claim help with that. Have you also considered how you will sort childcare out for shift work? A live out nanny may be your best option depending on the age of your children and what other support you have.

Ahh ok perfect thanks so much for all of that info!

That might make it an option then. My OH works 9-5 so with nursery I think we could cover childcare.

Very interesting :)

The amount of loan will vary depending on how much your partner earns, you can get a rough estimate by googling student finance calculator, but with having a partner you may be entitled to a max of £2300 ish on top of the sums quoted already depending on earnings.

I did nursing and finished in 2016, I was only able to earn approx £2000 a year and that was with a partner who only worked 2 days a week and did the bulk of the childcare, so don’t presume that working for extra money will be an option. Some manage it but many don’t x

Ah ok. So the total you were given was 2000 a year? Or did you also get some of the extra bits? My partner currently also only works 2 days a week so I guess we'd be in a similar situation. Did you find it hard to manage?

I earned £2000 on top of my bursary, my partner earned £6656, my bursary was £710 a month with childcare on top, loan £2324 a year, child tax credits/child benefit £80 a week, total income was £23268 x

Thanks so much for this info!

One more question...how did you find the training with young children?

Watching this thread with interest as I’m in exactly the same circumstances as OP

MrsUnderwood it's great to meet someone else in the same position! do you work at the moment? I'm currently working 3 days a week

Can you claim for childcare? You couldn’t when I trained as I was told you needed to be working and that students didn’t count as being employed? Maybe it’s changed now?