Pay drop to retrain?

[SunnyNights]

Has anyone left a well (ish) paying secure job to retrain in their 40s?

I work in the civil service, worked my way up over 20 years (only have five GCSEs) and now in a position of good pension, and can work flexibly.

But, I feel so unfulfilled. The people I work with are great, but at times I’m struggling to care about anything I’m delivering. I used to be so passionate and now it’s a struggle to put on my game face.

For years I’ve wanted a role that involves working with people, through healthcare or community based work. Following some recent medical issues I have been drawn to radiography or mammography perhaps.

The issue is that the pay even when qualifying would be around £15k less than I earn now. We still have ten years on our mortgage so would need to consider a pay drop carefully.

I’m early forties have children so need to consider how the income drop would impact on them also.

Do I bite the bullet and try to find an apprenticeship and start a whole new career, or just carry on a few more years as I am, and be grateful that I am in a fortunate position already??

My husband is supportive, but I’ve gone on about retraining so many times but not done anything that he’s a bit sceptical I’ll actually do anything.

To do radiography would be a 3 year uni course and you would need to do an access course first as you don’t have entry requirements qualifications.....can you afford to take 4 years of no income ?
nHS apprenticeships do come up...but they are like hens teeth...and usually end up going to people already in the NHS ..... as a newly qualified radiographer with NHS you would start on 25k.... but there is a good pension and chance to progress. I think you need to weigh up your circumstances and decide your priorities....you’ve still got another 20 odd years until retirement so it’s doable if it’s what you want....good luck 🍀

Thank you, that's really helpful. Thinking about it in terms of four years without pay certainty sharpens the mind somewhat!

I definitely couldn't do that to my family, it would be a big change of living for us and would mean having to worry about money a lot.

Useful to know that NHS apprenticeships are hard to come by. I have been looking the last few months but not many come up, or if they do they aren't anywhere near where we live...