Full-Time or Part-Time

[DontPokeMe]

Due to COL I've been considering going full-time. I currently do 21 hours a week spread over three days. I have one DC in primary school.

I've just been looking at take home pay for full time hours to compare and see how much better off I would be. With tax, NI and pension contributions my income would increase by around £500 a month (if I was to stay working in my current organisation). I understand I could apply for tax free childcare, but I'd be spending roughly an extra £200 a month on ASC. More petrol, and of course, less time at home with the family. Basically I'd benefit by around £250 a month.

I have a partner who works full-time. We have a joint account. We put a percentage of our salaries in to cover cost of living. Every month I feel like I am less and less better off because of rising costs. But for the sake of £250 a month, it doesn't seem worth it.

Has anybody benefited from going full-time? If so, how? Not necessarily financially, but overall.

Being full time could increase the amount your employer pays into your pension.
You may also get more promotion opportunities. As a part timer I often feel overlooked.
i think it also depends on the age of your DC. As they get older in Primary they do become a little more independent.

Well you will be £250 or more better off as you said so it’s up to you if you need that £250 enough to make it worth your while - which is your priority your time or more money? How much longer will your children need after school club is it just a few a years and by you working full time your earnings might go up more?

I guess it depends on what your job is? How demanding/stressful it is, whether you can work from home at all? For me that was the key difference when I went full time, I can work from home so I finish at 5 and I close the laptop and I’m done. I can start dinner straight away no commute.

Could you increase your hours to say 30 instead of full time? Do 9-3 five days a week then no after school club? Or full time hours compressed over 4 days so not every day of after school club?

How many hours extra is full-time? Assuming it’s an extra 14hours to make it a 35 hour week then possibly it’s worth it. But if it’s an extra 19 hours (almost double your current hours) then definitely not worth it.

That said, either way, once you factor in the extra 26 days of school holidays, plus any inset days you need to cover, I very much doubt you’ll see any financial benefit in the short term. So it’s only worth it for career development or if you purely enjoy working.

For £250 no way.

So if you’re going 3 days now, that’s an extra 2 days a month if it’s 7 per day. So roughly an extra 8 days a month (sometimes 9 but for a rough calculation)

So you’d be getting £31 a day for the extra days you went in and less time with the kids. No thanks!

Also if they do after school activities it’s much easier if you have those days off.

I work the same hours as you and every time I think about increasing, the numbers don’t really make it worth it. Obviously if you desperately need the money, but £250 in your hand for working five days a week instead of three doesn’t seem like a great deal. I would much rather have the time.

I think it depends on how much you need an extra £250 a month. It’s a lot of money - an extra £3,000 a year. You could do a lot with that!

And I’d reiterate the pp with NI contributions and pension it would be beneficial. I mostly worked full time when my DCs were at school. I liked the financial independence it gave me and I was able to retire early as a result of my pension. So think long term as well as short term.

I do value my time over money. I realise in today's world I'm privileged. I'm not on the breadline - Only a few years ago I was struggling to pay the bills.

DC has four years to go until secondary school but they are quite young for their age. Their needs are higher than average for their age. We're awaiting an ADHD/Autism assessment.

I take your points about promotion and flexible working. I love my job even though it is high emotional stress and admin heavy. My current hours allow me time to decompress in-between shifts. Unfortunately WFH is discouraged.

Pension contributions is a factor. I'd like to pay more (especially now I'm getting older).

Full-time is would be an extra 16 hours. It's definitely a job you do out of passion rather than financial gain. The burn out is very real. My current hours allows me time to recover in-between shifts. I had DC later so I'm not spring chicken. The thought of managing full-time hours with a youngish child fills me with dread if I'm honest.

Factoring in childcare during school holidays has an even bigger impact on the financial benefits.

I never upped my hours from part time as I liked to be with my DC when they came home from school and be there a lot of the time in school holidays. We often talk about what we used to do, nothing exciting but great fun being with them. Once they were older I did another day, financially I was better off as I didn’t need to pay for childcare.

It sounds like you won’t be left with much extra tbh then.
You’ll need more time booked off to cover a week in the holidays or pay for more clubs. All for gaining 30 quid a day when you are at work!

My friend is a teacher and went back 3 days. Her colleague went back 5. She worked out she was getting £20 a day for those two days. 😱

I would also look at the set up you have with your partner. Imagine that f/t you both earn £1000 a month, now that you work 3 days, they earn £1000 and you earn £600. Just pretend you both put 50% of your money in the joint account for bills, they now have £500 and you have £300. It all sounds fair but if you're using your 2 days off to cook, clean, childcare, and general life admin then you are working those 2 days, you just don't get paid. You being off those 2 days is massively benefitting your partner as everything home related is getting done so the they can work f/t and still get the weekend off.

If you have a household together, particularly if your DC is theirs, then you really need to consider pooling all the household income. Depending on your set up this might mean you no longer feel you have to increase your hours. If you do go back f/t though make sure your partner does 50% of the life admin

I've just done this, we'll be about £400 per month better off after taking into consideration the increase in childcare.

Are your figures calculated on going back 5 days a week? Any scope to do full time hours over 4 longer days? That's what I've done and DH has done the same, otherwise the cost of paying for childcare 5 days a week would make the increase in pay for full time hours not worth it to us.

I wouldn't do it for £250 extra a month, time is more important to me. Plus since I went full time having been part time I feel so exhausted I have ended up paying a cleaner to come in and we eat a lot more expensive convenience food because I don't have as much time to cook so it's a total false economy!

I would love to go part time again, my life felt so much more balanced.

Not worth it. The older children get, the more they need you after school until they are teens. You will have more school holidays to cover too.

He pays three quarters, to my quarter. He earns a lot more than I can currently - even if I was working full-time. I moved careers around two years ago and as someone pointed out, because I work part-time, I probably am overlooked for promotions so my earning potential is low at this time.

In terms of pooling, I can't see him going for this. He does have more play money than me, but he also needs to clear some debts (long story) so in theory, he's not much better off than I am for another year or so. He's not very thrifty and I worry if we pooled, he end up incurring more debt for himself.

DC is his. I have just offloaded some 'home' work to him because although he works more 'paid' hours than I do, it was starting to feel a bit one sided at home.

I didn't even consider holidays tbh! Right now we manage it between AL, some clubs and grandparents. Thinking about covering a whole six weeks in the summer is terrifying!

I do want to be around for DC as well. Their days are long enough with after school clubs when I'm working and it takes its toll on them.

I hope you somehow manage to get some balance back.

This is what I worry about. Eventually the whole family would suffer in a sense. And that extra money would be sucked up by the change in home life.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to actually benefit from working more! It's quite sad really. I'll be nearing retirement before I am freed up to be able to work more hours and see a difference!

It's the cost of living. Over the last 6 months every time I'm paid, my money isn't stretching as far as the paycheck before.

I'm just gonna suck it up and tighten my belt.

It's so wrong isn't it! Childcare is a backbreaker.

Unfortunately it isn't feasible to condense hours into 4 days. Plus the hit in tax!

I think I need to sort tax free childcare and continue as I am for now. We don't currently get help with CC - We've just been covering it but every little helps I guess.

But you're a family! He earns more so gets more play money? You should be tackling debt together and having equal fun too. Whether he likes it or not, if you're married, it's all one pot. I can't believe how many men think it's ok for them to lead the good life while their partner has to mange on scraps. Why is it ok for him to be a bit rubbish with money and you pay the cost by tightening your belt? You're a unit and he should be working with you to make life feel equal for both of you.

You being at home 2 days a week means no cost of childcare those days because you do it for free. If you work f/t will he pay for clubs etc? If you billed him for you doing the childcare you're doing so he can work he might understand how unfair he is being

I agree with you - being around for DC is nice (possibly even a privilege). I guess I feel a sense of guilt because I see other Mums working full-time. I honestly don't know how they do it all. I have it in my head I should be doing the same.

Factoring it all up, it just doesn't seem worth it. Not just for the extra money, but time. I really do value my time over money... But I wouldn't say no to a few extra treats either! 😂

I'd increase my hours. You're sacrificing your pension contributions and career opportunities for your DP to develop his.

You're not married, relationships end and kids only get more expensive. I would not feel secure in your circumstances.

I find my job much easier to deal with on 3.5 days for exactly the reasons you outline.

It really depends how much of a difference an extra 3k a year will make to your finances. If it's for extras like a fancier holiday, I wouldn't bother.
If it allows you to build a buffer when you currently don't have one, I would.

The other thing to consider is your annual leave allowance. While it's obviously the same, I have always felt it goes further on part time hours because I take the kids to the dentist, opticians etc on my days off. I book the plumber, carpet fitter, sofa delivery or whatever it is for those days. I don't need to take the random single days I needed to when full time.

And this leads onto your plans for covering the holidays. Would it be holiday clubs? If so you need to add up the cost of those too.

But it is harder to be promoted on part time hours and you do lose out on the pension.

Depending on your work place you may find it hard to reduce them again if you don't like it because of other staff changes (though the other side of the coin is that full time may not be available).

There's no right answer, it's just a case of working out the balance for you.

I wouldn't consider the extra pension as 'gone' in the same way as tax paid is. Pension contributions are more akin to deferred income, it's not gone forever and your future self will thank you for it.