u/NeitherDance6795

Hi everyone!

My partner and I are considering a move down to Hastings in the near future. We currently live in east London and are soon to be having a baby, both early 30s.

I have family near Brighton and originally we wanted to move there, but it’s not much cheaper rent wise than London and the commute for my partners hybrid job would be £500+ a month. So we decided we couldn’t really afford to move there since we’d have to compromise on rent price.

I’ve never been to Hastings but my partner recently went to visit our friend there and loved it.

The commute would be only a little less than Brighton but the rent prices are much more affordable.
Plus I could hop on a train to visit family fairly easily it seems.

We plan to visit the area to get a proper feel for the place. But we both have hobbies and a lifestyle here in London that we love and I want to be sure we’re not compromising on happiness for cheaper rent.

I guess we’re just the classic millennial couple who like to have lots of hobbies on the weekend after work. Between us we love skating, dancing, dog walks, good coffee spots, swimming, roaming book shops.

Since we’re having our first baby I’m hoping there’s a lot of young couples in the same boat as us and we can make friends.

Would love to hear people’s thoughts!

I’m newly pregnant which was planned, yay!

I have looked into my works maternity policy which is just the statutory. I guess I didn’t think too deeply on it but now that I’m faced with reality I’m very concerned.

Only 6 weeks of 90% of pay and then it’s just £184 which is is less than a third of what I make per week.

The company I work at I’m not sure has had any pregnant people before, it’s not super new, just not a lot of employees of the age to have kids.

I’m thinking of looking to move jobs to a place with a better policy but obviously not ideal.

Has anyone ever negotiated with work about their maternity policy? Is that even a thing?

Thanks!