Childcare and going back to work

[Miss_Bump]

I hope to return to work by the time Evie is 2 in April and have been looking at pre-schools which she wont be able to start until September.

I know you get 15 hours a week free child care when your child is 3 but ive heard people saying you can apply for it sooner if you NEED it????

For me to go back to work and put Evie in childcare will mean that we will only be slightly better off financially.

DH works fulltime and pays our mortgage each month and some of the shopping and pay as much as i can towards food and clothes for Evie etc.

For 1 im finding it pretty hard to get part time work and 2, is it worth it!?

I do want to go back to work but whats the point if it doesnt really make much difference financially

Im really annoyed as I signed on for JSA last week as im now looking for work and they were pretty rude saying that the work i want NEVER offers part time (it does) and the hours im after are not realistic nor is the pay im after either which is untrue

What does everyone else do? Just continue to be unemployed until your child is 3?!?!

 

[starlight2801]

Hi there, I've just started working part time 17.5 hours per week and as I have no local family members to help with childcare we pay for nursery for all of that time. I've gone back to my old job and my salary when I was full time was fairly decent but I still wasn't sure whether it would be worth working or not. It turned out better than I thought as work do a childcare vouchers scheme where they pay part of your childcare bill straight from your wage before tax and NIC comes out which saves me about £80 per month.
I come out ever so slightly better off than we were when I was on SMP but that's quite alot better than having no income at all.
If you want to work go for it and you can get most jobs part time although I can see some types of work come up more often than others. If nothing else they would come up when people like me cut their hours after having a baby.
Benefits of working? Some people enjoy it for the adult company and getting a sense of self back but for me I'm doing it as some money is better than no money and working does mean I'll be entitled to maternity pay when we (hopefully) have baby number two.
Good luck x

 

[jenmc226]

Things are different here in the U.S. concerning child care and what's normal.

I went back to work full-time (40+hrs/wk) when my daughter was 6wks old. I definitely could have been happy staying home with her for another month or two but it wasn't an option for me. I know I couldn't have transitioned to being a full-time stay at home parent. I do miss both my kids, but I cherish my time with them that much more. I really do need my time away and I enjoy the work I do, the challenges it brings and the friendships with my coworkers.

We're considering having a 3rd child and with 3 kids in daycare my husband's pay will just be covering our daycare costs. The benefit of his employment would be the healthcare coverage he gets and his pension/retirement plans. But he also needs the professional adult interaction that his career brings. So I doubt he'll opt to do the stay-at-home father gig.