I have a young family and am hoping to have another baby in the next few years, if this was to happen mid training has anyone seen allowances made for this?
We are in the south west, with brs and ext being my nearest airports. Is there much job opportunities here or am I likely to always commute?
The study training period, is this distance based or at a centre and if so where?
I'm in a similar position. Just passed Stage 3 and am looking at starting training in March, most likely in Gloucester, I'm told (residential training much like the earlier Jerez course). I've three young kids and a £1,400/month mortgage, so the 21 weeks of training on around £1k/month net are going to be very tough financially.
To manage the above, I'm going to have to do some existing consulting work on the side in parallel with the training, perhaps 8-10hrs a week. The very idea of this will be completely unfeasible to most. But I have to ensure (a) that I can feed my family during the transition, and (b) that I have a job to go back to if the training doesn't work out.
Once you're posted to a unit, you're on the regular shift pattern. This should mean regardless of where you're posted, you should be able to get home to Bristol for 3-4 days. I used to work in former CIS countries on rotation and wouldn't see my wife/kids for 6-8 weeks at a time, so six days is easy. In fact, I'd argue a more healthy balance than working from home as I do now.
Last time we moved it was £47k in costs (mostly stamp duty). I can't see myself uprooting the family. The UK is not big and it's not a daily commute (the worst type of commute).
Recipe for disaster? Who knows. I'm sure anything's possible if you are able to commit and think long term.
Hopefully I've reassured you that it's not all 25 year old footloose graduates with no costs!