I worked before I had children and when they were little until I found out that my youngest child had special needs. My partner worked throughout this but was very abusive. I finally kicked him out a year and a half ago.
I ended up on benefits and felt terrible about it as I knew people were judging me for it. After one year of searching for work I was made to attend A4E to get help finding a job. They agreed that I should only work full time as I have no family to help with childcare.
Anyway they found me a job as a support worker which they assured me was part-time and told me I had to take it. I was very pleased to be going back to work.
Three months down the line I'm still working there but now do about 55 hours a week which includes two nights away from home. I have tried to get the hours changed with work but they wont do that.
So I went back to A4E and explained that I couldn't work these hours as I had no one to look after my 11 and 12 year old sons. I was told to leave the children alone overnight or find childcare.
I can't afford this as I get minimum wage for the first 126 hours a month and a flat rate of £50 for the overnights which makes up the rest of my hours. My ex demands £50 plus money for food for every night he has them and I'm slowly falling apart having to cope with this.
No one will help despite the fact that i have a heart condition and money is a struggle. I am not claiming housing benefit despite the fact i would get it as I just feel so ashamed to be unable to afford to look after my children on my own. I still claim tax credits as without them I would struggle even more.
So question is what do I do? Increase my hours even more so i can stop having to rely on tax credits and not be a 'workshy scrounger' and accept that i will no longer be able to see my children or do I give up and go back on benefits?
would really appreciate some advice and thanks for getting this far and sorry for lenght, any spelling/grammar mistakes and ramble. I guess I just needed to get it all out
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8 replies
littlemissangrypants · 09/10/2012 20:46
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