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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think I would be better off on benefits

320 replies

parno · 15/07/2012 21:04

I know I am going to get flamed and I promise I am not a Daily Mail reader, just really cross and a trifle pissed off......however.......

I have just read letter from DD's school advising that this coming school year they will be setting a budget for school trips - £30 pr yr. Parents whose kids are on free school meals do not have to contribute a bean, plus get packed lunches provided when off on trips. It got me thinking. I work full time and earn just over £20k. Get a little bit of maintenance for 2 DC plus a bit of CTC to put towards childcare. However I went on line and filled in the Direct Gov benefits caluculator (not much on tv until Wallander comes on).

It told me very proudly that I would be entitled to over £415 approx per week or £1800 approx pcmonth. That doesn't take into account Council Tax Benefit, free schol meals, money towards uniforms either. I take home about £1300 pcm but have to pay rent and CT out of that. I would effectively be about

I just don't understand why I have spent the last 13 yrs working F/T in order to amke ends meet, missing out spending time with my DC and generally meeting my arse on the way back round every single day.

Have I got this wrong? Is my maths really roobash? Am I turning into Katie Hopkins? Please shout at me and stop me being so right wing.

OP posts:
Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:43

Yup OP you need to pack in your job and sign up quickly, My friend has three kids 15,8, and 6months and gets no where near that amount. I smell bullshit

KatherineKavanagh · 15/07/2012 22:44

You are expected to work, jobcentre won't let you sit around

DifferentFutureAhead · 15/07/2012 22:44

I'd rather not receive a penny from h then be dependant on him again, to give him that kind of power over my life again.

If that isn't 'scrupulous enough' then I can only apologise.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 15/07/2012 22:46

The cap is £500 a week for families with children.

KatherineKavanagh · 15/07/2012 22:47

Yes, £500 whilst dc are with her. They won't be forever

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:47

DifferentFutureAhead And things will get better, i hope you have some support around you in rl who can help you. Also please contact a local DV org near you who can help you with the practical side of things.

KatherineKavanagh · 15/07/2012 22:47

And the wage.... Does that include overtime? Bonus? No.

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:48

If you are reciving certain benefits you can only work 16 hrs per week

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 15/07/2012 22:49

Shes not talking about forever, she's talking about now!

Presumably she's not expecting to have to support her dc financially forever!

kinkyfuckery · 15/07/2012 22:50

*CTC 113.65
HB 121.18
JSA 71.00
CTB 50.00 APPROX
MTCE 98.00
CHB 29.00
Free school meals £20.00

Total = 477.83*

The CTB, MTCE and CTC are for THE CHILDREN. What YOU actually get is 71.00. If you are better off living on 71.00 a week than you are now, by all means quit your fucking job.

If a life on benefits is sooooo dandy, why not do it?

Original poster
parno · 15/07/2012 22:52

kk
My understanding from a previous poster was that the cap for single parents was £500. Obviously wrong but I am only quoting the figures from the direct gov benefit calculator. So the moral of the story is "Yes IABU for thinking I would be better off on benefits."

OP posts:
Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:53

kinkyfuckery Thankfuck you said that. Please a bunch of Thanks. Also if you are under twenty with kids or not it is £56.25

KatherineKavanagh · 15/07/2012 22:54

You need to remove the maintenance from your calculations

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 15/07/2012 22:54

The majority of working people's wages go on their children if they have them, especially if they are low earners. What difference does that make? We did choose to have our children, didn't we?

watermargin · 15/07/2012 22:56

exactly outraged

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:57

I am a single parent of 1, when my DD was a baby I was on benefits including rent I did not receive anywhere near £500 per week including rent. Also I was under 25 so received even less. It was not a walk in the park, but i am grateful that for that short period i had the support. As a working tax payer i do not begrudge my taxes supporting other people less fortunate because i have experienced it my self.

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:59

Yes we chose to have children, dont peoples circumstances change. Bloody hell look at all the poor fuckers who have been working for years just like you but have been made redundant and are having to rely on the state until they find work. Unless they told you their story you would think they were just another scrounger.

AKE2012 · 15/07/2012 22:59

Im a single parent of one dc(8) not working & i get £260 a week including JSA, CB, CTC, HB & CTB. I dont get regular maintenance either. It is not fun or easy being on benefits & i can not wait until i get a job. When i do get a job i will also hav to rely on WTC to get by.

So because i will b claiming benfits whether im working or not, does this make me a scrounger?

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 23:00

OP: My understanding from a previous poster was that the cap for single parents was £500 So you have limited understanding of the system you are criticising?

watermargin · 15/07/2012 23:01

i imagine most people don't get anywhere near £500 p/w shera, but the point is nor do most working people. I do, but out of that £500 i also have to pay full time childcare costs which will work out at nearly £200 p/w. conceded, meals for DD will be included in that but it's still a big chunk from a weekly income which obvously I wouldn't have to budget for were I at home full time.

i think where people, includng me, get annoyed, is because it isn't people who are 'less fortunate' - trust me, I'm a softie and money to help little old ladies or abandoned puppy dogs is all good :) but people "less fortunate" than me are people in the same position as me, single mothers to children, i work, they don't, but we take home roughly the same.

it simply isn't fair, and it does need addressing. the benefits cap goes some way towards this, but it's still a rather large cap :)

Original poster
parno · 15/07/2012 23:02

Kinkyfuckery - Now you have so eloquently pointed out that in effect my wages are just for me (as jsa would be) and the other payments are the for the children I am going to have a whale of a time spending my wages just on myself and then calculating what their share of the rent etc is and working out if I am going to have to invoice them on their 18th birthdays for any outstanding amounts. Cheers love - you have just revolutionised my life.

OP posts:
OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 15/07/2012 23:02

No, I wouldn't. I'd think those were the people who the benefit system was designed for. People who pay in and then take out temporarily when they need it.

The people who I believe are scroungers are the ones who didn't put in a good few years of work before they had children, or who conceived children while they were claiming benefits.

watermargin · 15/07/2012 23:02

ake after childcare costs come out of my salary, my salary is about £100 more than you get. so probably roughly the same after i take out my commuting costs.

no life on benefits doesn't make you a millionaire. but it doesn't make you poverty-stricken and starving either.

Socknickingpixie · 15/07/2012 23:03

bollocks bollocks bollocks

what a load of apsolute crap,if the figures say that then the figures are wrong.

there is not a chance in hell that you would be better off on unemployment benefits.

if you are on a low income you can claim wtc ctc the childcare element of tc hb and ctb your child benefit and maintainance is not taken into concideration tax credits pay up to 75% of your childcare and hb take 100% of your childcare and disallow the equivilent ammount from your assesable income they also disallow at least £25 as a premium for being in work. so say for example your childcare costs you 200pw (im using these figures due to ease) you recive £50 pw child maintainance and £30 child benefit they deduct £315 from your income befor they even apply your applicable ammounts those being 2x child premium 1x lone parent premium 1x family premium these currently total just over £200 pw for a lone parent with 2 kids.

so if you are working you would have to have a total household income of over 515 (if paying childcare at £200 pw) befor you had to pay rent and ct. they take your total income then take away your income disregard then your applicable ammount and whats left is whats assesed.

these disregards are only applicable to employed people or where a member of the household is employed if you are on unemployment benefits the only thing you are able to keep befor they start taking it into acc for one benefit or another is maintainance and dla.(i am unsure if current rules for income support or what ever its called these days take child benefit into account as income allready recieved i know they used to) even if you get carers allowence hb takes some of it into acc and only lets you keep £31 of it.

there is currently no such thing as school uniform benefit winter fuel payments dont get paid to everyone on benefits and if they are to get them it has to be below 0 consistantly for a week for a payment.you still have to pay all the same bills that you do now contary to popular belif water is not free to benefit claiments gas ect is not reduced the only thing you get free other than the portion of your rent covered by hb and ct is free school meals.

these benefit calculators often dont take into acc one benefits effect on another and they also say may be entitled to as opposed to WILL be entitled to.

you may not be much better off but you allways will be better off working and if you dont belive me give it a go and see what happens

watermargin · 15/07/2012 23:06

there is not a chance in hell that you would be better off on unemployment benefits.

someone has already posted on this thread who 'earns' the same as me Confused

and my salary is £35000 - i take home £2000 p/m

£800 - nursery

so £1200 for mortgage & bills and need to fill the car up once a week for the commute to work so £40.

someone above me is on benefits of £260 p/w - where i am standing they are actually marginally better off than me!