Working from home.
I am a single mum on universal credit, I don’t have any help from my child’s father. I’m thinking of going part time & working 2 days from home. I don’t have any family or friends that can look after my baby & no I don’t trust nurseries in the UK after the horror stories I heard but in general I just don’t feel comfortable leaving my baby with a stranger. I don’t want to hear any rude comments or any not supportive ones as it’s already hard doing it alone as a single mother. Only a single mother would understand that we have to deal with everything all at once, the money side of it too.
Do any other single mums work from home & how do you manage your day with baby around. If I had the choice I wouldn’t go back to work as managing a baby alone & a home & everything else is already stressful but we single mums have no choice but to make money 😭 UC pay doesn’t cover everything.
The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.
Learn more about our guidelines.
I completly get this. When I was a single mum it was the hardest decision and trying to financially balance things was hard AF.
It totally depends on the type of job you are going for and their policy about having children and if you would be able to do the work with a child around. I think it would also depend on the age of your child?
Personally what I did was send my son to a childminder when he was 1. It was still hard because at the time he wasn’t eligible for funding that came in a year later! I was paying out of pocket. However, eventually with the funding I could just about make ends meet…and I mean just about 😩I opted for a childminder as I got to know them and communication was 1-1 rather than a bigger nursery setting. It was emotionally hard, but the childminder really understood my fears esp being a single parent and updated me accordingly about my son.
I really hope you’re able to find a solution for you that feels good. It will get better x x
Unfortunately most UK employers won’t let you wfh whilst also looking after your children as it’s near impossible to do both at the same time 100%. My work will make me take unpaid leave if my little one is sick from nursery and I consider them to be quite a reasonable employer.
You could do it if you were freelance / self employed and could dictate your own hours, but not sure if that’s what you’re after.
As Mimi said, maybe you could look at a childminder as an alternative to a nursery and tap into your funded hours to cover that as if you’re working 16+ hours a week, you’ll be able to get the 30 hours. I know it’s not what you want but it might be the only option.
I’m a single mum so I get it, like Zoe said I work from home but couldn’t do my job and look after my 1 year old at the same time. Only thing I can imagine you could do would be freelance as mentioned. You could look at learning to do nails/ lashes for extra money but you need money and time to learn to do them ofc. It’s so hard out there and I get the not wanting to put them on nursery thing - do you know anyone who could watch them in your home while you work? I know there are travel “businesses” you sometimes see on here but their mainly mlm’s so probably not worth it x
Most contracts will stipulate when working from home you cannot have any caring responsibilities during working hours
Download the Peanut App
