To believe £780 month lone parent benefits income is adequate to live on.

[goldfacegreen]

There's some myth busting required at last I think.

As a lone parent of two under 6, I receive a total of £780 a month in benefits:

Income Support, Child Tax Credit, Child Benefit, CSA (£5 a week).

I receive full housing benefit for a two bedroom house (£75 shortfall which has to come out of my income support, currently being paid via Housing Discretion Award) which doesnt go into mybank account, it gets paid direct to landlord, and £16 a month council tax shortfall also has to be paid out of income.

I'm on meters and gas and electric are around £20 a week each, some of which pays off accrued debt. Water is deducted directly from my income support via an 'attachment of earnings' type court order.

I don't have loans or credit cards, no landline, no satellite tele, no car, no travel expenses, no socialising costs, don't smoke, my Internet is paid for by someone else although I should have organised a bill swap ages ago and I run an old phone on £10 month contract. My other costs are regular swimming, yoga, wax salon, and I buy school uniform and children's clothing as and when required.

Childcare such as nursery (pre-school), morning and after school clubs are free to those on income support, school holiday clubs are heavily subsidised, as are school meals, dentistry, doctor's prescriptions, council run leisure centre swimming and gym classes, and many other recreation facilities.

My budgeting skills are atrocious but having recently done some sums, I actually have around £250 a month 'spare' from all benefits income. Although for the past year or two I've been constantly overdrawn by around £500 so whenever income is credited, I'm always 'one step forwards, two steps back' amd because of this will never get back in the black again.

So, with better budgeting (I don't buy a regular weekly food shop for instance, instead spend a fortune every few days buying dinners and sundries at the overpriced local Tesco Metro) I just don't understand how so many lone parents claim they can't afford to live on these same benefits.
Even if you have debts, there are features in place to reduce your debt payments to just £1 a week or even write them off altogether as a last resort.

Also, the father of my children earns thousands but fraudulently claims benefits, so he is only required to pay the minimum £2.50 a week per child direct from his benefits. Many lone mothers receive full child support which isn't deducted from their other benefits income, so can be receiving up to £800 a month on top of their benefits depending on what the chikdren's father earns. I have noticed that rarely will lone parents on benefits state this fact or include it in their income along with their complaint.

Yes, it is a struggle trying to support myself and two young children on £780 a month (but mostly because I can't get over this overdraft debt shackle) but on paper, budgeting well, it is entirely doable, and if you are frugal, you could even save a little too.

Why does the Daily Mail stereotype exist that single mothers are rolling in handouts, given the above figures? Just under £195 a week is an adequate income for one adult and two young children, surely..

PumpkinPositive There's a huge spectrum between city living and rural. In between, for example, you find council estates and suburban areas designed around the assumption all residents will have a car. These can be food deserts. Many big towns may have an Aldi, but within walking distance of you? No, not necessarily.

Where I used to live before was, not, by any stretch of the imagination, rural. But I would have needed the bus to get to the doctor's surgery with an ill child. The affordable shops that sold fruit and vegetables? Also a bus ride away. Swimming? Bus. Yoga? Bus.

OP stated repeatedly that the free appliances fairy is available to everyone, regardless of formalised need; it's just a matter of 'researching' it. That's bollocks. Even those with formalised need & agency referral can't access such things everywhere. It's charity-dependent. Charities aren't national distribution networks, and they are free to pick & choose their beneficiaries.

You say you wanted to be more empathetic, gold. Some way to go yet, I feel.

Hang on a sec - when I became a lone parent back in 2000, any CSA payments were taken into account in benefits calculations. Has this changed now? I'm no longer a lone parent, nor am I on benefits, so I'm not up to date with current arrangements. Just gobsmacked that the Tories have been so generous if this is indeed the case?

goldfacegreen the benefits could and should then be reduced to offset his contribution, saving taxpayers untold amounts. I've never understood why the gov doesn't chase this action up, but them I know nothing about economics, politics either.

They used to do this. The reason this is no longer the case has nowt to do with economics or politics. It's to do with humanity.

Maintenance, in general, is not reliable income. It's not like wages, or benefits. It relies on an individual acknowledging his/her responsibilities to his/her children. You have mentioned that your ex doesn't, yourself.. When maintenance was deducted from benefits, it gave abusive NRPs financial control over their exes.

If the NRP decided not to pay one month, the resident parent could be left with nothing except child benefit until they'd grovelled sufficiently to the NRP.

Or nothing at all except child benefit for years, because deductions were made on what the NRP should pay, not what actually happened.

What do you do with your kids while you're having your legs waxed and doing your yoga? When I was on the dole with my son to look after, I couldn't do these things not only because I couldn't afford them but also because I couldn't have taken him with me and didn't have anywhere to leave him.

Yep, that's what happened with us. Not for years, admittedly, but for a good long while. They cut my IS and HB because of what they had calculated my ex should be paying. The fact that he wasn't paying it was neither here nor there to them.

Wallison I was in your position before they reached school age.
Otherwise, the crèche inside the council leisure centre where the subsidised yoga classes are held, and the salon was happy to have the children sit in for treatments.

Salon treatment is £21 every month. Well, around 6-8 weeks really.
Yoga is £3.75 a week.

Yes, I agree they could go towards paying off the overdraft.

From my own POV, I have older DCs so not entitled to income support. I get tax credits but also have to work a minimum of 16 hours a week at the moment, probably going to change so that I have to work full time if the Tories have anything to do with it.

I am in a mortgaged property, not rented so no housing benefit for me, I have to pay the full cost of my mortgage on the family home which my ex still owns half of, so if I sell it, he will get half the equity anyway and I will incur the costs of moving, have to fund a deposit for a new home and by the time all the other costs have been taken into account I'll have lost most of my equity to live in a less nice house, the rent on which will be double my mortgage payments.

It must be nice being you, but not all lone parents have it so easy. I'm lucky that my x does pay the CSA recommended amount of maintenance because without it I'd be fucked.

My maintenance via the csa turns up very randomly. I sometimes go months without then he catches up thankfully it's not an issue for me but it would mess up someone who was budgeting to the penny.

Jock me too, its been a while now, dont think it was tories policy though

Hang on, how come you get IS if your kids are at school? Shouldn't you be on JSA if they're over five?

Isnt it from 7?

Just doubled checked and my mean council doesn't subsidise classes at the sports centre nor does it have a creche. Just goes to show just how varied services are.

It was tha labour government who stopped taking maintenance into account with benefits when the big overhaul was done

It's 5 years, but she has two under six. The younger is presumably under 5.

Income support till the age of 5. JSA after.

jock I was pleasantly surprised when DS's dad decided to pay maintainance regularly I think DS was around 14 and I was just starting to sink with self employment and declared it for housing benefit and tax credits. It used to be counted as income before. I remember a friend and her young child struggling after a break up with her partner. He paid through the CSA and so the mother got grief from her ex because her benefits were reduced to around £10 and he kept demanding evidence she was spending it on her son. If she did she'd have gone hungry and the bills wouldn't have been paid

www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland/relationships_s/relationships_children_and_young_people_s/relationships_child_maintenance/child_maintenance_where_to_start.htm

Will child maintenance affect your benefits?
If you get child maintenance

Child maintenance is not counted as income for means-tested benefits such as Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) and Housing Benefit.

This means if you're getting maintenance you won’t get less money in these benefits. Other benefits which aren’t means-tested won’t be affected either.

I thought they only discounted the first £20 of any maintenance? Unless the rules have changed. I remember at one time that the first £10 was discounted and the rest reduced your benefits £ for £.

No free crèches here either. The sports classes are subsidised through a membership scheme which you qualify for by being in receipt of certain benefits. They used to charge £5 for the card too but you'd also get reduced library fines. I should apply really as my change in circumstances means I now qualify.

When I first read this I thought I was a mug for working as a single parent, but having read the whole thread I can see this is not the norm for most people.

I think the things that got me into debt or made me struggle were transitions because when I went into higher education even with a loan there were delays that led to childcare costs and summer benefits didn't happen nor did attempts to work.

I sorted it out and moved into employment later (after several scams and other things) but they insisted on paying benefits until they recieved the first payslip then clawed it back with a letter that more or less said we know you told us so but now you owe us. I'd paid rent and bills and so I had to repay HB even though they gave it to my HA who happily accepted two sets of payments. I guess they need to know the rent is covered but it is just awkward when you don't get full pay and you are making new childcare arrangements to find you have another bill.

The when I went self employed it was earlier than I had planned but had to go for it as DS wanted to continue HE and there were other problems with childcare in general so I took the plunge. It went ok at first but ended up with more costs than startup should have cost. I knew there were no extra benefits but HB would make up the shortfall at first. But again HB made repeated errors and then had a harassment issue so they didn't make up the shortfall and added income I didn't have.

I think if nothing changes and you have kids under 6 with no health problems (or live in an area where health needs are covered) and you have no debts and low rent or covered by HB you could probably survive.

I don't know about free schemes but where I live I made good use of the charity shops and local businesses. During my traditions it was near impossible and those are just normal things not crises. Because as a lone parent I was juggling everything and was unwell for some time. If I had a good partner I'd have planned more.

It used to be £10 but its changed, I was surprised that you can recieve hundreds of pounds in maintanance and it not be taken into account but there have been threads before about it, also my exh gf recieved all her maintanance while on income support so must have changed the rules a while ago

Flumposie it would depend on your circumstances as often people only count whether or not you are financially better off. I think when I was on benefits (only cos technically I was eligible for housing benefits when pay was lower) I could manage as I don't run a car and expenses were not high DS liked books and couldn't care less about clothes he tolerated lots but shoes and glasses are extras. When he was young I was unwell for a period so benefits were higher but then I had high costs as I covered costs not provided within NHS. I would have been okay if we both fit the system. But was very isolated so I realised it was more expensive as the social networks built through work helped me to find discounts, bargains and manage when things were bad financially. For example meals at work means that we cut down on food costs.

Back in the days when they did deduct CM from benefits shit loads of resident parents had benefits reduced to silly amounts (I remember one reduced to £2) yet the NRP could not bother paying or delay payment. cB at the time was also deducted from IS as income already received.

It was horrendous

Yes socks it was a crazy way of doing things