Long story short but I currently have a 10 month old and am expecting my second baby next month.
I work for a huge Logistics company and have made the decision to leave for 2 reasons. 1) my office is based in Kent and I now live in London. I don't earn nowhere near enough to commute full time let alone commute full time and put two babies into nursery full time (I also don't want to do that.)
2) for some reason you can only work full time in my role. You're not able to work part time no matter what your circumstances are.
I'd like to work part time and have something much more local to me too.
I also didn't qualify for SMP this time round. I am able to apply for maternity allowance but because of the way DWP look at maternity allowance, so much of my standard UC amount will get deducted that I wouldn't even be able to pay my rent. So it's in my best interests not to apply for it.
I had planned to take the whole year maternity leave and then give my notice in but that doesn't make much sense does it? Does it make sense to hand my notice in now? Especially so they can offer the person that's covering me a permanent position with the company. I was also concerned how leaving my job would effect my UC however I've done some research and it seems that in line with work related requirements, you're not expected to look work if you have a child under 1 years old so there wouldn't be any sanctions in my case.
I just wondered if anyone had been in a similar situation? Or what would you do, would you just hand in your notice now and then update your circumstances to say that you're no longer working?