To wonder what’s the point when I’m left with this after bills?

You have to earn £892 per month to be put into "light touch" which means you wouldn't be expected to look for more work or better paid work. There may be some occasional meetings at the job centre but not frequently. It's the equivalent of 18 hours at minimum wage.

I already accounted for that in my calculations. They would receive 85% of it back in their UC award then have to pay the bill themselves.

Ah sorry, it's age 3 you have to work 30 hours, but have to attend jobcentre meetings from age 1.

The government just changed the law.

Pretty sure this isn't true, I'm sure it's 4 they have work 30 hours

They would get 85% of childcare paid

You have to work 30 hours a week from when your youngest child is 1, if you're a single parent, in order to be eligible for universal credit (you'd have to go to weekly jobcentre meetings and apply to any job they told you to apply for, though reasonably it would need fit in with what childcare was possible).

Your figures still seem wrong and even if they're right ... You're talking about four children here as opposed to one. You're begrudging this money for four hypothetical CHILDREN not a hypothetical mun you're all ruled up to hate. I don't get this. People love to be all gotcha to other hypothetical mums. I'm self employed and have had snide remarks from other mums about "not working and being on benefits" just because I do pick up and they don't know my story. I claim nothing and work my behind off long after they're asleep but yeah I just don't get this determination to judge others and also catch the more vulnerable put and hate them.

UC would be on your case if you only work one day too, expecting you to up your earnings. That happened to my sister in law although her children are in infants so maybe that's a school age thing She says it's nothing like old tax credits were though. I really don't thi k being on benefits would heat warning 70k

Emmmm, gosh it's late and my brain doesn't work haha. Right, let me see. Would probably have to drop the child element to £287.92 because I think the OP's child was born after April 2017. Add that to the single element of £393.45 and I have no idea what childcare would be for 2 days a week but basing it on my kids who attend private nursery 2 days a week and their monthly cost is around £600 each which would be a childcare element of £510 on UC. That all comes to around £1200. With a salary of £28k and keeping the pension contribution at £75 a month, that would be a monthly salary of £1913 and £14k would be £1073. That would result in deductions from the UC award of £682 or £220 respectively. So that would leave £518 or £980 UC.

Then there's the £100 ish child benefit every 4 weeks.

So that would be a total income of £2531 for a £28k salary or £2153 for £14k

Bearing in mind that if childcare was no longer required, she would get very little UC because it would drop by £510 a month. And obviously if she was only working one day then she would actually only need one day of childcare so it would be even less than the figures I've given here.

For the TA friend a pp mentioned (claiming that OP should be grateful because the TA friend had it much harder) I assumed children between 7-14 years, since I doubt working would cover the childcare for pre-school children. I know OP wouldn't get the same now.

The figures given were for a scenario where all the children were born before April 2017. That's when the 2 child limit came into place but any born before that are all still eligible. UC is a very confusing place sometimes.

You say you don't see the point but do you think you will be better on benefits?

Benefits won't cover your mortgage. I think you can get a loan for the interested on your mortgage but it's a loan not payments. You will have a house at the end of this and you would not if you were on benefits. You also have security which you don't get with rentals.

You won't have the money for loads of outings and nice food on benefits. You will have significantly less than you have now but you will have more time to fill with your child without spending money, increasing bills too as home more using utilities. And if you are not working your child only gets 15 hours of nursery so the bulk of their education fall to you- can you do right by them with very little disposable income and I'm assuming you are not trained in early years education like nursery is? Also is that the example you want to set your child?

As others have said it's temporary. Nursery fees don't last forever.

Go through your spending and see what can be reduced. Next time your phone is up for renewal don't get a new one get a cheep £10 a month contract. Same with the car if you have one on lease get the cheeper option next time. Do you buy lunches or take packed lunches? Coffee on the way to work? Multiple streaming services when you could manage with one? New clothes? Try second hand (I actually enjoy browsing eBay and charity shops). Expensive hair cuts can happen less often and expensive shampoos and makeup are luxuries. Meal planning. So much can be done to save money if you really need to. It's about priorities - think what else you spent £28 on this month that you could have lived without maybe next month don't buy that and choose the day out instead.

You must be considering a lot of what some of us would consider luxuries as essential. I'm a single mum on benefits and even with DLA for my disabled child and decent amount in maintenance from ex I would consider hair cuts and new clothes luxuries. And my child can't manage outings and days out so I don't spend a lot on those things. I promise you this life is no better. I'm judged by society for not working, I'm constantly poor. My kids don't get nice things. I'm not paying off my mortgage or into a pension and one day my child will be an adult and if he's able to be independent I will be expected to return to work with such a gap in CV and no up to date skills I will never gain employment that pays anything decent. I appreciate your life is hard right now during the nursery years paying for everything yourself but honestly not working is nothing to envy

Oh no, sorry, I misread it, I see now you calculated it as before April 2017!

If the OP with her 1 nursery age child drops to 2 days per week, so earning £28,000 pro rata, how much will she get in benefits?

How about 1 day at £14,000 Pro rata?

Sorry to ask rather than go through the calculator myself, but I don't know the rules and do keep making mistakes!

Given that she'd be paying less childcare, I wonder whether she'd actually be better off (and get to spend time with her child too!). Then ramp up days once her DC is at school.

You can only get benefits for two children, surely, not four, so your calculations aren't correct? I'm too tired to add up, but if you've calculated four times the child element that can't be right, unless the TA in question was able to prove two of her children were conceived by rape. :(

That's a lot of disposable income for many. I know it seems so unfair compared to what you earn though but many have a good life on that. Get creative. Have a food budget. Put £100 aside a month for holiday. Check out the national trust free days. Explore hikes walks reservoirs waterfalls and parks in your local are. Our disposable income is less than that and we manage two holidays a year. Look at air BnB etc months in advance and grab the steak with a view. It is possible

She's got £150 after bills and petrol for her and a toddler not £120 for bills, petrol and food that's a big difference especially if your utilities are £50 a week or more like in many poorly insulated rental homes.

In the interests of fairness for the calculations, if you assumed the kids in both scenarios were the same ages (all born before April 2017), the mothers were both over 25 and the monthly childcare costs and pension contributions were the same (although I imagine the mother on 70k is probably paying more than £75 a month but for the sake of the maths here let's say it's the same), then if she had 3 more kids, the mother on 70k would actually be entitled to £540 ish UC per month. Then an additional £203 every 4 weeks of child benefit on top of the £105 or so it is for one child. I can't tell you how much child benefit she would actually end up getting because I'm not familiar with the rules surrounding higher earners and child benefit but that's the figures. Definitely would be entitled to £540 UC though.

It's not that bad especially as it's short term....she can save when she doesn't have to pay nursery fees

(I put that lower £900 in for the TA to reflect after school care for older children)

How much extra would OP on her £70k salary get if she had 3 more children? She's a bit younger, so her kids would likely be born after the child benefit cap came in. So an extra £110 monthly? And her childcare is already £1500 a month, not £900.

Because in your scenario, the mum of four is receiving just over £1200 a month more in benefit income because of those extra 3 children. Who she also has to clothe and feed and all the other associated costs of raising children.

If she also only had one child, take away that £1200 and the mother on UC earning £18k, ends up with far less monthly than the one earning £70k. It's around £2550 per month in total which after you take off £900 for the mortgage and £900 for childcare, doesn't leave very much at all.

But OP earns a gross salary of £70k a year.

You shouldn't be comparing number of children. How can they have the same net income?

Well OK - but then the TA is only working 30 hours per week term-time only.

Unlike OP who is working full time, all year round.