To work or not to work

[Kate3016]

Hi everyone,
This is my first time posting on a forum so I hope I'm asking the right things!

Baby number two is on its way which is absolutely amazing! My daughter is 2 so it's a nice little age gap.
My problem I have is the cost of childcare, one child already costs 600 a month and that's me working full time so when baby number 2 gets here and I decide to go back to work part time would seem the more sensible solution.
But then, is he more sensible solution to stay at home??
I have a partner who works full time, he's on a salary of around 19,000 a year so I don't think we could manage on just his wage. Is anyone else in this predicament or has been and has any advice?
What kind of help if any could I be entitled to?!?

Thanks for reading

When deciding, factor in:

• What your earnings or earnings potential for next few years is (dh could be the one to stay home or go part time)
• the hit to your or his future earnings
• lost pension contributions
• what you both want, as choice and happiness is important to it working

It depends on what your work prospects are. Could you earn more working in the long term? Could you earn more with him staying at home and you working?

If you claim Universal credit which you may be entitled to then you could get up to 85% of childcare paid. It does depend on income though. Are your earnings better than your partners?

This is my first time posting on here. Does anyone know this, l went to collect my medication from pharmacy however my diagnosis was written on the box just below my name.is this legal, where is confidential, data protection.
Please someone help. I am so so angry.
Ketso

Thanks for the messages!

I work for a fostering agency as a Panel Coordinator and have done for 6 years which I absolutely love! I really want to do my social work degree now so I guess I'm thinking is now the chance to grab that opportunity while not working and the babies are young.

I never thought the decision would be so hard to go back to work or not.

Does anyone know who I phone to check out universal credits? Or get some advice on earnings etc?
Xoxo

If you’re not married definitely don’t stop work. Even if you are it’s much less financially risky to WoH. Medium and long term finances and pension are important considerations.

Go to entitledto.com
Put in your details and it will calculate what financial help you would be able to get. You can then play around - put in full time/part time/no work etc to see the dofference. Will help give you an idea.

I have a partner who works full time, he's on a salary of around 19,000 a year so I don't think we could manage on just his wage

I think your answer is there really so definitely check out tax credits etc. I believe it’s always better long term to stay in employment, and it sounds like you love your job.

Can you explore options to both go part time when your babies are small?

Giving up your job will put you in an incredibly vulnerable position. Think long and hard about it before you do.

If your dd is 2 then by the time your baby is born (not sure how pregnant you are) and you go back after maternity leave then you will be entitled to the 30 hours childcare for her. Which will cut your costs considerably. And probably not that long until she is ready for school - at which point childcare gets much cheaper but much more complicated!

So investigate how much it will really cost to have 2 in childcare.

Personally I found working part time to be a really good compromise as I had loads of time with the kids but managed to keep my career going too. Now they are both in school I managed to change my hours so that I can pick them up 4 days a week which is really nice.

Some good advice above. I work pt with two in nursery. Things are right but I wanted to keep my career going for the future and for me I need some stimulation apart from looking after the children. Agree with the poster who said to consider current finances, future finances, future career options and what will make you and your family happy.

I would work full time even if it's hard because that preserves the career. We both worked full time and paid half the childcare each and it did pay off longer term.

(Ketso, it depends. If the pharmacist only hands it to the patient then who can see it and why would confidentiality be broken? If instead they shout of the tannoy exactly what you have wrong and your name or leave it out on the counter for 10 customers to see then it could breach data protection law. Most chemists don't leave it out - it goes straight into your hand and you put it straighti n your bag so no problems)

Thanks so much everyone for your advice! You're all right, I do enjoy my work and want to progress it so surely I can progress while in work. Maybe I'll persuade them to let me go to Uni to do my social work degree!
With my first, work was my time to be just me so I do think maybe I'd struggle being at home full time. I've never not worked so would be a huge shock I think 😬

I would agree go p/t if your work allows. It can be very hard being a SAHM if you aren't suited to it and don't really enjoy it - its quite isolating if you are used to working with lots of people.

I would also say - either way, don't plan to rely on benefits or government subsidies. Benefits like UC or tax credits if you are not in a UC area will only go down unless there is a miraculous change of government. Childcare subsidies are likely to stay but the reality is the 30 hours have cost childcare providers a lot of money - its unclear what the situation will be like long term, but when doing your sums you need to allow for the fact that although the 30 hours might be 'free', its standard for nurseries to lump all sorts of charges on top. Top up fees are now allowed as well as charges for food and consumables. The nursery may also not let you claim the full 30 hours unless your child has a full time place. So basically I would be asking lots of questions of our nursery, check out all the info on all the options now and work through all the sums to see what works out best.

As another poster has said, by the time you have given birth to your second and had maternity leave, your oldest will be entitled to their 30 hours free childcare, so give or take a few hours - you will only be paying for one child again for full time nursery.

In my opinion, if you're not married and even more so, you enjoy your job, then becoming a SAHM isn't the right choice in this situation.

Thanks everyone! This has helped so much!

With that kind of salary if you went part time it's like tax credits would fund a huge chunk of the childcare bill, the threshold for childcare is more generous.

*likely

Kit10 part time salary would be around 13000 a year. So I don't know if that meets he criteria for help or not?

*the

Yes, the threshold for 2 children for childcare element is like £50k (though as you get closer to that vouchers are usually more beneficial) but at £32000 you'd get a good chunk, remembering the maternity leave discount for the first year. I think you said this was your second, if it's your first the threshold is around the £32k mark (though probably higher since I last had TC) so worth looking into either way.

Just bear in mind that social work qualification requires you work a number of months full time on placement usually unpaid.

Kit10 ahhhh right I see!!! I didn't even know that! That's really helpful, thanks so much 😊 it's so hard and confusing at times juggling things isn it! I just want to do the right thing by everyone so we're all happy especially the babes 😄

Yeah people often write it off because they think they're not eligible if they get little or no TC already but the childcare element is much more generous :)