working 6 hours more, will I be better off?

[chwedl]

Hi guys, I'm thanking you for your patience before you read! I work 18 hours a week over 3 days. I'm very lucky to be in a great job with a good wage and very good prospects. It's a small family run business and they're really understanding and have shown themselves to be quite flexible and take into account my needs as a single parent. I love the job and i feel so lucky. They've recently asked me if it would be possible for me to work another day (which would be 6 hours). Now to do this would mean an extra £30 childminding costs, and with tax deducted I'd be gaining around £15 pounds a week more. Now I know that money is money but I'm very aware that I'd be sacrificing a day without my DS for £15. If I was to work these hours from home, then I'd be £25 better off a week. I could work the hours to suit me and for me it would be a win win situation. Now the only problem is actually asking my boss if this is possible. Has anyone else out there been in the same situation? Also is anyone out there finding that working more hours isn't financially viable due to the cut in tax credits etc?

Well the answer to the question in your thread title is yes, you will be better off working the extra day than not as your childcare costs are not as much as your salary. It's 'financially viable' if you end up with more money doing that than not, and you would.

If you're in a fortunate position where financially you are ok only working 18 hours a week then it's purely your decision whether you'd like the extra and how you feel about the extra day's childcare for your DS. How old is he, because 24 hours a week still isn't that much - it's not as if you would be bunging him in childcare 10 hours a day 5 days a week.

If you could work the hours to suit you, and do it from home, do you mean do it when DS is in bed in the evenings? Or if he's school age, when he's at school?

i think the tax credit being affected depends on what your wage is now and whether this takes you over the threshold, there is a cusp but not sure what that is. It may be that this extra money does not affect your income at all, or it might mean you lost quite a bit. There is a website you can go onto which will be able to give you an indication of what your tax credits will be on a certain income, and includes childcare if you are entitled to childcare element of it. I think it is 'entitledto.com' or something like that. I found it pretty accurate myself over the years.

If it is not affected, you really need to consider how important £15/£25 per week would be for you vs loss of time with your son. Would this additional day mean better future career move for you? will it open doors? or is it purely a financial incentive? Will you lose opportunities to increase hours in the future if you want by turning this down now? Is this the kind of job where you increase by 6 hours now, and in a few years maybe another day, leading one day to full time if you want it to be?or is it a job you are not intending to stay in long term?

For me, increasing my hours would mean considering all those options together, rather than just the money on it's own. If you would benefit from many other things than just the increase in income, it may be worth sacrificing that day with your son. As flowery said, it is not a huge increase in childcare away from you.

I think you would be reasonable to ask if you can work from home - but it depends on your role - some jobs much easier done in the office - and how old is your DS -
are you getting tax credits for childcare - I would have thought you would be?