Can’t change to midwifery, what else?

[Rosekeeper]

I’m in desperate need of a career change. I’ve worked in a council housing back office role for 10 years which I kind of fell into. I’ve been struggling for a few years in the role as it pays (in my mind well £35k for a 9-5 now wfh) but I don’t get any enjoyment out of the role any longer.

Dream career would be midwifery or lactation consultant as I find everything about antenatal and postnatal care fascinating. However this feels like an impossible dream as there is no way I could afford not to work for 3 years whilst undertaking the necessary degree and losing the 30 free hours childcare entitlement as my children are not yet in school.

any ideas of alternative jobs I could look at? Any help would be appreciated

What about becoming a doula? Combines elements of both, and if you're in an area where they're in demand you'll always have work.

Unfortunately it is not easy to earn that kind of money in maternity care without training to be a midwife and even then it would take a while and def wouldn't be 9 -5. You can however work as a maternity support worker but lower pay.

Something else in the council? In education/schools?

Have you actually checked what you’d get on student finance? DH did a degree in his 30s and got a huge amount of loans, grants, childcare topups thrown at him. Worth investigating if you’re really keen but midwifery is super competitive and you’ll likely need to get some experience in a clinical setting to get on the course. DH worked bank shifts as a HCA all the way through uni round his placement hours which worked quite well to top his loan up.

You'd qualify for childcare funding and student finance, plus council tax discount. But yes, it is still a struggle. I was fortunate to get the bursary for my nursing degree (the last cohort that did) and then qualified for top up benefits and did bank shifts.

I now earn about what you're on now!

There's an increasing number of new roles in the NHS. Some of these are graduate apprenticeships which means that you'll need up with degree level qualification but while working (so apprentice has steady income and nhs has the workforce). May be another option.

Can you go into clerical position on a maternity department? Off the top of my head you’d need to look at band 6 to match your current wage.

Brilliant, thank you everyone. Exactly the type of responses I was hoping for to give me a kick start in thinking about new ideas and investigate what other options are out there for me.

In re to finance I’m the main earner by a significant amount so the drop to loans etc would be too much when only having my partners salary.

You would be expected to do shift work as a midwife. Working nights, weekends and public holidays. Does that still sound attractive?

Even if you could afford to take three years out for the training, it's an incredibly stressful job which is antisocial in terms of family life. You would miss out on assemblies at school etc.

You could train to be a lactation consultant/ breastfeeding counselor part time with a view to doing it in addition to your existing job if you think you can fit it in?

Have you thought of nursing associate apprenticeship. It also encompasses maternity and child and will be a role maternity units will start to employ people in ( although they don't much at the moment)

In same boat. Also don't qualify for extra income to be able to do the midwifery role and so it's just not possible. The highest role I have been able to find so far without having a nursing or midwifery role seems to be a nursery nurse in neonatal who also support with breastfeeding as they are a band 4 but this is still £10k under what you are getting at the moment and is shift work. I personally can't manage the shift hours with childcare so can't even go for this role but have been doing 9-5 in maternity public health. The money is really tough taking the pay cut so will be watching thread with interest for any other higher paying ideas!

What about public health? It’s based on local
Government but works closely with the nhs?

While they provide a valuable service, roles (with significant responsibilities) are generally not well paid in the NHS. It can be difficult to transfer over, to new role in difficult sector and without the training and experience, and maintain a level of pay parity.

There are options which are less traditional such as clinical apprenticeships (especially for new roles and new roles in emerging career pathways) or traditional - nursing and midwifery with bank work.

It depends on how much you could drop before you couldn't survive. If you can drop to about £20k, you might be able to get an apprenticeship. I'm not a midwife so I'm not 100% sure on what apprenticeships are out there for midwives, however my trust does ODP apprenticeships which cover maternity services.
However, you're looking at a drop for about 5-7 years before you get your current salary back. That's 3 years training, 1-2 years as a band 5 and another 1-2 years before you're on the second pay point of a band 6 which is £34k.
If it's your passion I'd go for it, but NHS staff are poorly paid. This personally would factor in to my decision massively.

As a midwife I would exchange jobs with you right now 🙃

Thank you everyone who replied, this has given me plenty to think about. Particularly the advice around alternative NHS roles. I sometimes find it hard to decipher NHS roles due to the language and it seeming like a closed off area to anyone outside it. This has given me starting points of roles to look at and see if anything sound sof interest