£35k tax free for working 20 hours a week....

[BitchyWitchy]

In response to the 'Benefits' thread, I thought I would post this...

We took the decision to reduce DHs hours a few months back as we realised we are better off with him working part time than full time and this is what we get WEEKLY (4 DCs):

Wages (20 hours per week) £209
Housing Benefit £188 (leaving £7 for us to pay)
Council tax benefit £19 (leaving £3 for us to pay
Tax Credits £196
Working tax credits £13
Child benefit £60.50

Thats over £35K tax free! DH's fulltime wage was £34k before tax.

Also get free prescriptions and dental care, discounted kids activities and leisure centre membership. DH is home 5 days a week and I am loving having him around to help out with the DCs and doing stuff with them which he could not do when he worked 50 hours a week! 3 DC are at school so we get quality time with the youngest.

We are also doing free OU degree courses so we can get better paid jobs in a few years.

Wish to bloody god we did this earlier when we were BOTH stressed out working fulltime and brought in LESS that what we get now after childcare.

We shall enjoy this until 2013 I can tell you! I don't give a monkey's what anyone thinks of us. DH is still working after all and who would really continue working fulltime knowing they get all this? It may not be right but while it's on offer, should we refuse it?

No, as I live in Belgium for the moment I feel I must support the economy here by drinking beer and eating chocolate. There are 6 places selling chocolates in my town that I must support to help the local economy. I wonder if when we are posted back to UK, I could retrain as a chocolate taster.

I think housing costs are dropping here anyway earwicga, by about 500 euros per month recently, and I live in quite an expensive place just outside Brussels. I know one could rent for much cheaper in UK than here.

I wasn't around when WWC was posting, but from what I have heard about her, I get the impression that this OP isn't quite up to those standards of gratuitous unpleasantness. She probably aspires to that level, but currently manages just dim and pointless.

BW - you could get a 20 hour week job and with DH's 20 hour week you would still have a full time wage and full time carer.

Sounds worth it for the chocolate shops though scaryteacher :)

Rents can only drop as low as the costs the mortgage holder has afaik.

We rent the house out for far less than the mortgage costs us, as the mortgage is paid from salary, and the rent is reinvested in the house, new windows etc.

TBH and its probably a little contraversial i really dont see whats so wrong with what the OP has done for her family.

a year ago me and DH were in a similar situation. Dh worked 50 hours a week and i was a SAHM, DH was on £24k and we got £89 CTC and CB i also get carers and DLA for my autistic son. DH was suffering with stress and anxiety and was signed off for 8 weeks. We realised that the best thing for our family was for DH to take a lower paid job in same company and so he dropped to £18k. I got a job doing 16 hours a week and earning 4K working just term time and this meant i could still claim carers. my sister helped with childcare.
In June my sister said she couldnt do childcare anymore and i struggled to find anyone to take my autistic son so was prepared to give up work again. Luckily my employer had recognised my skills and were keen for me to carry on with my OU DEGREE in early years (ITS DOES MEAN SOMETHING....I am now level 4 qualified and have 16 years experience to back this up and have been promoted to deputy manager within 1 year) my employer offered me school hours....i now work 9:30-2:30 4 days a week and bring home £5200 per year which again means i keep my carers.
I was offered deputy manager full time but lack of childcare for my DS meant i couldnt take it despite the 18K wage and the opportunity being amazing.
ANYWAY so basically now me and DH are better off, he works 35 hours a week and finishes early to pick up DD from school 3 days a week, i work 4 days and am able to do after school clubs etc with DD and DS, we get about £120 CTC per week which means that with my carers and wage i bring in almost a full time wage.
AM i wrong to do this? Given the opportunity id love to go full time but lack of specialist childcare has put a stop to this.
In May 2011 im due our 3rd child......i will work right up to april and plan to get back to work in the sept when my boss has offered me same hours and free childcare for baby.....without this support we would be stuffed.

irrc she told me I was a crap mum and didn't care about my kids (or words to that effect)

Bonkerz - your situation doesn't really compare with the stuff the troll OP made up. Please don't think it does.

Bonkerz, the key thing with your situation is that you are getting DLA and carers as well; so you are doing a difficult job in caring, and managing to work as well. The system is there to help people in your situation.

If the OP is for real, they are healthy and fit scroungers.

I'm quite surprised that so many feel that the OP's figures are pie in the sky pure made up - when a cursory glance around mn (e.g., tuition fees thread from last week) reveals others doing almost exactly the same - in fact, one poster boasted that whilst they were both in higher education they had their childcare paid too...

You're "tickity-boo" now.
You're very well off; better off.

Unfortunately you are too thick to understand that ..

when you stopped earning,paying TAX/NI you stopped contributing to the big pot.

If you don't earn and pay Tax/NI, you are reducing the big pot.

Not just for you, but also your children.

Being on benefits in these circumstances will always be attractive; and hell, why shouldn't you ?

Two Words:

Social Conscience.

Carry on like you do and there wont be any libraries, there wont be an NHS, there wont be schools for your children.

So (God Forbid) you look the child in the eye and a particular luekaemia (sp)drug is withdrawn, that would save their lives; or you look your child in the eye and tell them you are dying (faster) because a breast cancer drug is not available......

We all chose a life.

I find your choice reprehensible.

I'm sorry, are people saying the OP's DH should work more hours for less money? Why?

I believe this thread is creating a false impression of people's lives on benefits. The woman who works in my local taxi office lives in a one bedroom house with two children and her father (it is his house). She shares the bedroom with her sons and her father sleeps in the sitting room. They have been waiting years to be rehoused and are nowhere near the top of the list. Many people are in similar, difficult situations.

There may be people who are better off in terms of weekly income that people who work, but they are asset poor, and miss out on important things like pensions, owning a home to retire in and pass on to their children, and having choice over areas to live in.

We pay £800 a year for DS to get to school, and if I was entitled to benefits the council would pay for DS to get to school. But he couldn't go to his school, he would have to go to the nearest school. Similarly, if I got benefits DD could have free school meals, but nobody should have to eat those poor quality meals. I could get free dental treatment on benefits, but not from my excellent dentist. And that is what you get for working - not more money, but more choice. I can decide what kind of area I live in, what kind of house, what kind of school, which dentist I see and so on.

So I don't think being on benefits is a great option, and I am fearful of ending up in such a predicament.

All you can do is work lawfully within what the rules are (and lobby to change them if they're wrong). it's the system that should be fixed not people who claim what they are entitled to claim.

Penelope

I still think much of the problem lies with the mandarins and civil servants who implemented this.

To paraphrase you:

Unfortunately they are too thick to design a benefits system.

coalition - I think the ops dh should stay in full time employment, not because of what happens now. But he needs to think of how difficult it will be to increase his hours once this government cuts off their benefits ( which no doubt they will)...and then what will they live on?

And what about pension contribution?

And what about the message being passed on the the children? Do as little as you can get aw3ay with....how does that square with doing your level best at school? Kids smell hypocracy at ten paces.

Cumpy

Unfortunately you're wrong.

It's not the law makers that are wrong; it's the law breakers.
Any law cannot deal with those that spend a lifetime circumventing the system.

People that are so derelict and so selfish, never think of the common good. They only ever think of themselves.

The OP should be aware that by her and her DP's choice, she has reduced her childrens' choices.

I hate my work. I only do it because " I have to". Both my Husband and I could "go" on benefits. We don't.

Because it's a different mind set.

Those who work their arses off.

Those that sit on their lazy arses.

OP.

You have stopped work. Both You and your Partner are now staying at home with the kids.

Isn't playing with kids wonderful ?

Kids must love Dad there all day.

WOULDN'T WE ALL LIKE TO DO IT.

Unfortunately some of us have a modicum of responsibity.

I have a migraine, so am not going to painstakingly demonstrate the calculations behind entitledto.com, etc., but because of the way the disregards, thresholds and withdrawl rates work, it is always financially better to work than not work. It is a myth that you can be better off not working, or working less hours.

Sometimes the difference is only a few £, so in real terms you are financially better off with reduced hours, but in pure income terms (rather than income vs. expenditure) you will not be on more money by reducing your hours.

OU do not fund a second degree, no matter what your circumstances, unless you can demonstrate that there is an essential reason for retraining.

Is there some reason why working in a supermarket is considered amusing?

Can't believe the amount of effort slagging her off but yet her DH is getting the mick taken for the work he does do. Small wonder he can't be arsed.

How many off you would work in a supermarket if you could get the same money for not doing it, given the massive derision on here.

It doesn't actually matter where the money comes from as long as it's spent on British goods.Keeps everyone in business. Don't worry about where it coming from but where it ends up.

'Is there some reason why working in a supermarket is considered amusing?'

No. But thinking of the phantom husband of the troll OP working in a supermarket is amusing. Especially on halloween.

It's not do as little as you can get away with. It's maximise the rewards for a given effort.

TheCoalitionNeedsYou

With views like yours the Coalition Does Not Need You.