Dropping from full to part time hrs for SEN

[Lovemedo345]

After a few awful weeks with much disregulation and complete disruption to our family life, we have realised both of us working full time is too hard. I think i will be going back down to 3 days a week but I cant work out the best working pattern in terms of which days off...can anyone recommend?Our child with SEN will be going into yr 4 whereas our older child just starting secondary. Due to service requirements, I will have to work Wed. Someone suggested Mon, Wed, Fri to gain all BH allowance but this seems quite disjointed; has anyone tried this and can comment? My work is such that I am in control of my own diary. Many thanks

Your BH allowance should be adjusted to reflect your work pattern whatever it is, so you shouldn’t lose or win regardless of days worked. Check how your employer works this out as not all do it the same.

I have worked various, currently FT with Sen child and it’s not working and I will be changing soon. The best pattern I found was 60% spread over 5 days but it depends on your own family situation. The needs may change so if you can flex around that - more the better. Fridays are either quiet as non working for lots of people so you can get lots done, or good day off for same reason - other people rarely notice your absence!

I am in a similar situation. I work Mon-Wed. Obviously I don't know what your job is but I've found that employers would rather people work consecutive days. It makes it easier to work collaboratively with a team or deal with clients if you need to reply to emails/deadlines from the day before - rather than people having to wait two days for a response.

I've also found that having Friday 'off' means I can get home admin/shopping/housework etc done before the weekend.

I would also recommend having a conversation with your DP (if you have one) if you haven't already about finances. If you're dropping days then obviously this will have a big impact on your pension - if you have one. If possible, could your DP make up a contribution to that? Make sure you're happy with the way that finances are going to be split going forward.

If you're claiming DLA, you may also be entitled to carer's allowance if you earn less than £139 a week after tax and expenses (which can also include 50% of child care and pension contributions).

I would also say that if you can, try and factor in some time for you on one of the days you're not working. Even if it's just going for a walk or sitting in a coffee shop with a book. It's vitally important that we don't fall apart!

I would advise the other way with BHs - avoid working Mondays if you can. The usual way is you will get 3/5 of the annual bank hol entitlement, calculated in hours, irrespective of which 3 days you work. Those who work Mondays will generally have to take all their BH allowance on BHs themselves, and may even have to find extra time from annual leave or making up hours to cover their bank hols, if Christmas and New Year BHs fall badly for them. Whereas those who don't work Mondays generally will have more BH allowance hours than BH days that fall on their working days, and they get the difference off as flexible leave. It will depend on your contract but this way is common.

As to the best days, Tue Wed Thu would probably be a popular choice. I quite like working Fridays though. I find them a bit more relaxed, it's easier to arrange meetings, traffic is lighter. You need to weigh up the benefit of having 3 days together and not having to flip flop in and out of work against the benefit of having a day off in the middle to catch your breath and recover. I would vote Tue Wed Fri, but I think more people would choose Tue Wed Thu. Being able to span more of the week worked for me in terms of answering emails and managing juniors - I was never more than one working day from being able to respond. Also think about regular stuff like monthly team meetings and how they fit in. You can always try one way for a few months and then switch.

Good luck with it - I hope it makes the difference you need.

Thank you everyone, lots of food for thought. This is my first time working for private company from public sector so good to be forewarned about possibly having to make up hours if I work Mondays. Much appreciated everyone, I think term time it wld be best to do shorter days across 5 days but school holidays better to do 3 full days! Decisions decisions... Also i do need to consider pension too, thank you all.

A couple of people in my office actually did both - officially 5 short days but condensed into 3 longer ones in the holidays. It might be worth asking. Consider what holiday childcare is going to last into future years though - it can be difficult to find 8-6 childcare towards the end of primary and a child with SEN may struggle to cope with it. We relied more and more on 9am-3pm special interest courses in late primary, so being able to spread my hours over more days actually worked better.