Is this a no brainer?

[willywonkas]

I've name changed as I know how sensative benefits threads end up on here.

Anyway my dh works and I am a sahm. We have 2 kids and live in London. My DH works very long days (normally 10-12 hours) including a long commute into work. My dh salary is about £32,800 after tax and national insuranse have been taken off. He has to pay for travel into London which costs over £1000 per year.He absolutely hates his job and is exhausted. The kids only really see him at weekends as he gets back from work really late and leaves really early. I feel like a single mum sometimes.

Anyway, I just took a look on the turn2us thingy and put in some different scenarios. According to the calculator, he could get a job for 24 hours per week at nmw of just above it and we would be no worse of him working much less and for less money because we would get more benefits.

The calculator says we would get this much;

Working + child tax credits of £7809
council tax benefit of £744
housing benefit of £9941
child benefit of £1752
total benefits of £20277

Add after tax salary on 24 hours at £9 per hour = £10231

Total of benefits and salary of £30508.

Considering he would be home much more I think this is a no brayiner although I am quite shocked how much benefits we would get.

Am I crazy to be really thinking about him doing this? It woudl be 100% better for our family and we wouldn't be worse off. I can't think of any negatives except if he can't find work but he could apply for jobs before quitting I suppose?

Why the fuck should my DH work 12 hours a day then? Oh yes, to enable your DH to be at home with his kids. Just because he's tired.

It really is an us and them scenario.

You would be absolutely crazy to do this. There are no guarantees that those figures you quote for benefits would be available to you long term (in fact, I suspect it's certain that they wouldn't - have you looked into the restrictions on housing benefit for example? Would you be able to afford to rent your house?)

What is guaranteed is your dh doing this would kill any career prospects he has stone dead. Once he packed in his well paying job (and it is well paid whatever you might think) he will likely never get another one at that level.

Plus, NMW jobs are often pretty damn dull a lot of the time. He might not actually find himself any better off, unless there's a low paid job that he's always wanted to do but felt your family couldn't afford.

Im quite flabbergasted actually, you redid your figures to make sure they were right just to prove that you are ENTITLED to these benefits. He earns 45K a year Have you even told him you are thinking of getting him a part time job in asda so tht he isn't so "tired"? Chances are, earning a decent salary like that, hes an intelligent bloke and will tell you to stop being ridiculous.

Maybe everyone should go part time and get the benefit top ups. Maybe then the government would see the system is crazy. Please don't blame me. This is what the system says we would be entitled to so we would not doing anything illegal. I am just resigned to the fact that my dh is doing the "right thing" but we are not really benefitting from it, my kids are suffering and miserable from not seeing their dad and to be honest i would rather run the risk of being called a scrounger but having a happy dh and kids than him being a marter, being miserable and tired, trying to prove a point about morals.

I will suggest he looks for another full time job closer to home and the scenario of getting benefits will be a last resort. He has always worked since leaving school he is just burnt out and I dont want him to look back on his life and realised he spent most of it working and missing out on his kids growing up. Blame the system which makes these scenarios possible!

If they brin in universal credit then you wil be required to look for work to make sure you are working maximum hours for your circumstances so if you DH is workin part time and your aren't working, one of you will have I find more hits otherwise benefits will be stopped/reduced,
If your husband is paying into a pension that would stop with a min war job,
Council tax benefit is going to stop and housing allowance won't pay you for a 3 bed house, if you have two children under 10 they will be required to share so make sure you are basing your housing calculations on your LhAs rate for a 2 bed property.
Bear in mind when (and I think it will be more when than if) the welfare system self combusts you will be stuffed but if your DH has his £45000 a year job you would still be able to survive

If you are that concerned about your marter (martyr!!!!) husband buring out, why don't you get a job so that he can work part time, closer to home, that way you both share the workload and childcare, there sorted, no need to play the system.

'Maybe everyone should go part time and get the benefit top ups. Maybe then the government would see the system is crazy. Please don't blame me. This is what the system says we would be entitled to so we would not doing anything illegal'

Except the system is there as a PRIVELIGE for peope who have fallen on hard times to use as a means to tide them over and stop them falling through the cracks. Not for entitled, immoral people who decide to give uo work for an easier life. Jesus, when did we breed a generation that expected life to be easy, to be able to live in some bullshit happy families bubble and let the hardworking rest pick up the flack? What you are proposing is disgusting, and I heartily suggest you grow up, and find another way. Life IS bloody hard, and tiring, and a one step forward two steps back reality for most of the people in this world, what makes you believe you deserve it to be different for you?

Oh, and illegal? No...but morally reprehensible and lazy? Yes!

A indeterminate period of non-working might just look a bit on his cv. Plus you won't get as much benefit as you have calculated if he doesn't qualify for JSA. You'd probably have to make the claim for IS/JSA and then come under pressure to work yourself.

I might be wrong but I thought that if you voluntarily leave your job you don't qualify for the same amount of benefit?

Disclaimer - I have never claimed benefits apart from smp so I might be talking out of my arse!

Yes because benefits are that much easier I tell you what swap places with my DH who would give his right arm for your DH's job and take our benefits instead oh wait they've been fucking suspended for 4 weeks because he dared to miss an A4E appointment and come to the hospital with me because we thought I'd gone into labour ar 23 weeks pregnant and his advisor was uncontactable. FFS you don'r know how fucking lucky you are to have that security and know that at least you can put food on the table for your kids.

It's not all fun and games its demoralising and its incredibly stressful.

oh yeah ? well i heartily suggest them that are so seriously? pissed off with your suggestion come back on and post how many LETTERS not e-mails, they bothered to write to any govt. leader /mp re the last expenses scandal which ,if you could bother to get your fucking nose out of mn you would find is still going on and then some ! yup, diamond dave convinces you to pick on the "skivers" ,you, push out your chest,square your shoulders and say ,"yeah, dave, your on our side, the strivers! ffs,what the fuck work did he and his poxy mates do ,apart from smashing up a few eateries,?born into money,right connections and he snaps his fingers by dividing a people ,(that old old trick)and you sucked it up.so go on truthfully ,how many letters did anyone write?

Umm, why the hell are you still a SAHM while your OH is out killing himself? Why don't you take some of the pressure off, rather than me, my DH and all us other saps who continue to work a billion hours a week to pay our taxes so you can get your hubby to cut down and relax.

and what does this have to do with Govt piss takers andubelievedthat 1 person asked a question about their situation, those of us with a day off today (who can do what the fuck we want with our spare time, be it post on MN, dance the fandango, achieve world peace) are replying to that question, not commenting on any other slacker/con artist.

What kind of job pays £45,000 with no pension? I've never heard of one.

£1000 to get to work is only £20 pw - surely everyone pays more than that to get to work in London?

Are you just telling lies and wanting a bunfight?

Dave? George? Iain? Is this one of you just trying to get support for your next round of cuts to benefits??? To highlight how many 'skivers' there are living of us hard working strivers?

OP-I'm going to assume you are not indeed a politician or a wind up merchant. In part it's not an unreasonable question to ask. For what it means to you the reasons not to have been well spelt out-relying on the state that can change its mind at any time; pride; setting role model for children; future renting or mortgage.

And for what it means to society it's pretty clear too-everyone else that works gets to pay more and for everybody that takes benefits because they want to society sadly is less tolerant of those who take them because they really need them.

That said - I work my arse off as does my OP and we pay higher rate tax and both of us would rather let a few people take the piss out of the system (and it is a few) then leave any more kids needing foodbanks or living in sub standard housing.