Just wondering out loud at the moment...at some point in the near future I may need to claim some kind of benefits. Please be gentle as I have no clue what I’m talking about as never had to do this before.
Currently married (I say currently for a reason) with 2 DS’s. One is 14 and the other is 8. I’m a TA and at the moment work 28 hours a week however in September it’s very likely that my hours will be cut to 18. I have looked for TA jobs locally with more hours but at the moment there isn’t any. Obviously the 14 year old is ok on his own but the 8 year old will need me around for at least a year or 2 after school so I’d ideally like to stay in the job I’m in now but obviously with reduced hours.
If we separate which is looking likely at the moment...how would that work in terms of benefits? I’ve put my salary into benefit calculator and because it’s pro-rated across the year it comes out less than the minimum wage (although hourly it’s actually more) so it says I’m not entitled to anything? To make matters more complicated DH works abroad and isn’t currently a UK tax payer so if he wants to be difficult about CM I suspect legally he wouldn’t have to give me anything?