Childcare cost issue returning to NHS job

[Squashpocket]

I'm due to return to my NHS role mid next year. I have two children under school age, so the original plan was for me to return to work 30 hours a week and my mother would provide the bulk of childcare with some nursery hours for the eldest. My mother is no longer in a position to provide childcare and my salary will not cover the cost of childcare - cost will be approx £500 more per month than I make, which is not affordable

I have to return to work for 3 months in order to not have to pay back my occupational maternity pay, but could potentially cover around 6 weeks of this period with annual leave.

What do people do in this situation? I've thought about getting a different job in the nhs that I can do evenings and weekends so no paying back mat leave and no childcare cost and in the meantime looking for a better paid job in the private sector (no guarantees that I'd get one and potentially sabotaged my future earning potential by leaving a good job for a less good one).

Are there any other options I could think about?

It's a real pain. I assume you have taken into account funded hours, possible tax credits etc and considered cheaper childcare e.g. Childminder. If you aren't returning to work, would your employer put you down as returning part time e.g. 2/3 days a week so your annual leave stretches further? Or can you return earlier and your partner take last 6 weeks as parental leave? Is there any flex in your job or your partner's job to do condensed hours e.g. same hours over less days? Would they consider a career break say for a year when your childcare might be less?

Sorry that is a load of questions, just trying to give some ideas you might be able to work with.

Also like you said if you got an evening NHS job your mat leave should be fine.

Thanks for replying!

We have taken in to account the 30 free hours for my eldest and we wouldn't be eligible for tax credits due to my husband's income.

I have considered a childminder (childminder/preschool combo for the eldest) which would be cheaper I think, but probably not cheap enough to break even on current salary. If I could find a better paid job though this is our preferred option longer term.

I am the only one doing my job in my Trust and it's a bit niche, so job sharing or very part time (less than 30 hours) is probably not going to work for my employer, but I could ask.

Neither of us can work condensed hours - my boss doesn't allow it and all work has to occur mon-fri 8am - 6pm.

My DH earns much more than me so we can't afford for him to take parental leave unfortunately, otherwise I'm sure he'd love to.

Tbh I'm dissatisfied with my job (too much stress, crap salary, crap commute!), so wouldn't want to return after a year long career break. I see myself moving on before then. I'm hoping I can get a better paid position in the private sector, potentially working from home, but definitely no guarantees. I'm scared of leaving a good job only to find I can't get another one with the additional constraints of 2 young children.

Sorry if this is coming across negative - I'm not intending to be, just feeling a bit stuck.

How should I approach all this with my employer? I don't want to mess them about or leave them in the lurch.

Have you looked at the tax free childcare options?

Does your workplace have a nursery? They're often lots cheaper (although you do then have to take your kids in to work with you!)

Can you take parental leave to put it off a bit?

I worked for the NHS and also found childcare costs prohibitive. We have no grandparent help so was purely childcare for us. I went back on 22.5 hours and was deficit by £150 pcm which not ideal was more manageable than yours. Unfortunately my manager at the time made things difficult so I left. I just made the 3 months using annual leave as it was the better option to paying back maternity pay.

Sorry for taking ages to reply.

We max out our childcare vouchers already and I'm saving them up while I'm on mat leave as well.

No work place nursery unfortunately.

Realistically we need for me to contribute an income, so my husband isn't going to go for me staying at home.

If I don't go back, does anyone know if I can reduce the amount of occu maternity pay I would have to pay back using annual leave?

Toy and your husband could both make a statutory request for flexible working hours. Hard to tell if you’d be granted it without knowing your roles but there has to be a business reason to decline it.

Sorry my previous message wasn't that clear. I meant if you don't go back, could they put you on reduced hours so you could make your leave stretch e.g. if you have 30 days leave (ie 5 weeks full time) if they marked you as 0.6 then you would have 10 weeks of leave, leaving you only needing to work 2 weeks or requesting unpaid parental leave for those 2 weeks. They obviously don't have to do this to help you out. Depends if they are kind. If you found another NHS job to go to you wouldn't have to pay it back anyway. It's tough isn't it.

Surely you are only responsible for half the childcare costs so would have some of your salary left
Your partner is paying the other half?

Tax free childcare takes off 1/4 of my childcare cost, it helped me get back to work.