quick question about returning to work

fawd1

Hi, I am due to have my second child in a couple of months and am just wondering what the best course of action would be for me. I am currently working part time and have a one year old son. Anyway, after finding out the costs of childcare (approx 250 per week per child in this area), I am wondering whether it would make sense financially for me to go back to work. As far as I can see, I would be entitled to a maximum help with childcare costs of around 300 per week (which would leave a 200 shortfall, to be covered by my wages) I would then get wtc and ctc. The thing is, having looked at entitledto, it seems to me that I would only be about 100 better off per month working than if I didn't work at all. Can this be right? I would like to go back to work but to be honest it doesn't really seem like it would be worth my while if it only meant an extra 100 or so a month, as I would probably use that up just on the extra petrol to get to work. So, any ideas as to how other people make it work financially? Not suggesting we should get more but it just seems a bit silly that we would only make so little extra. It seems to go against the idea of encouraging mothers to go back to work. My annual wage before my son was born wasn't great, approx 19000 per year, and we live in outer London so everything is very pricey.

kurjam

i am in a simalar situation, childcare is ~£200 a week and i only work 16 hours a week minimum wage and i am wandering wether to continue or be a stay at home mum... i like getting out but with petrol, childcare etc it does not seem worth it.

magicgirl

I am in central london and found issues over TC/Pay/childcare etc. I found my most viable solution was to work part time. by the time you go back to work, your eldest will be closer to two so the childcare will come down slightly. (not a lot i'm afraid.)

After ending up in great financial difficulties after having my second, I decided after my third that I would look into it further and I found that working part time, I had lower childcare costs and was able to claim more of these costs - even more so as my income was lower than my usual annual inome. You might be able to find a small home based job if you need to keep your hours over 30pw.

Feel free to pm me if you want any more detail.