Here is my total income as a lone parent on benefits.

[HereBeHubbubs]

Inspired by a thread which is glorifying us lone parents as 'rolling in it', I'm prepared to declare my benefits income. It's not gauche to do so, because it's your money after all (looks at taxpayers), and you should probably know that I am also grateful for this support, prepad to pay back into the pool when working again, and am not extravagant nor consider this a 'lifestyle choice'.

I don't have Sky, a plasma tele, holidays, credit or catalogue accounts, smoke, drink and rarely socialise due to childcare issues. I buy all our clothes from charity shops. I do however have a concession rate council leisure centre swim membership of £18 a month and a £10 rolling contract mobile phone, with a phone somebody gave me.

I am terrible at budgeting and have been living on a £500 overdraft for at least the last couple of years - I never have enough income to return the account into the black, so I'm generally always at least £400 overdrawn.

My utilities are on prepayment meters currently eating up old debt weekly and a not competitive tariff.

I'm currently looking for work and can't understand how people sit at home without good reason, because since my youngest started school, I have been going stir crazy and begun to feel quite down and despondent about not working.

Fortunes will change in the near future as doubtless I will find work, but meanwhile, when you break down the cost of my outgoings, hopefully you can see that lone parents really are not 'rolling in it'.
Especially the ones who receive little or no maintencance from their absent children's father.
Unimagined outgoings include things like termly Brownies subs, school snacks at £8 a month, school shoes every new term, birthday and Christmas presents, rent shortfall £75 a month, winter utilities alone are £40 a week each gas and electric.

Lone parent age 45, two children 5 and 7, private rented three bed (officially two as one leads off the bathroom) terrace Anglia region.'Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit don't enter my bank account, they're paid direct to recipients.

Weekly Income
5.00 CSA
72.40 JobSeekers Allowance
34.05 Child Benefit
114.08 Child Tax Credit

£225.53 week
£902.12 every month

Another full time worker here who has less than half of that left per month after paying bills, rent, council tax etc

OPs bills have to come out of that £902 per month, so the sums for bills that the OP has listed [including incredibly high prepayed fuel bills] deducted from the £902, she is left with £471 per month to pay the rest of her bills, feed herself and her children and anything else that crops up.

Roughly £117 per week for other bills [water/tv licence?] and food/groceries.

Hardly fortunes and certainly not the £225 'cash in your hand disposable income' that some people here seem to think it is they clearly are frothing so much, they have lost the ability to read and comprehend

Those people alluding that they truely believe they are 'doing something wrong' by working and would be better off on benefits, go for it! then come back and talk shit.

Also the suggestion that the OP, in fleeing domestic violence, thus protecting her children from a life of dysfunction and abuse, has 'chosen' the benefits 'lifestyle', while her violent bastard EXH skips away whistling paying £5 a week towards his childrens upkeep [if that] is offensive, misogynistic and quite frankly shameful

Damn all of you that perpetuate this sort of bullshit woman hating crap.

Not bad for doing nothing.
Good luck on getting a job

Sorry but YABVVVU!

I have slaved away all week for far less then that!

You don't sound very grateful. How is your leisure pass essential?

how are birthday and Christmas presents?

Charity shops aren't cheapest for clothes anymore. Supermarkets and boot sales are best.

If you are depressed about not working, couldn't you volunteer?

set up as a childminder?

are you prepared to scrub toilets if necessary?

do you feel guilty about using the NHS/other services when you contribute nothing in taxes?

lots more than when i was working full time
and more than I get now since leaving DV which is just JSA and that's it

SugarMouse

I'm very grateful that our government supports my children in time if need, yes.

Council Leisure Pass for subsidised swimming and yoga helps my Diastasis Recti issue.

I don't drive so can't get to boot sales.

I already volunteer.

Letting agents will not allow childminding business. I've already researched that.

Yes, I have scrubbed toilets in the past. Cleaning work I have noticed so far is childcare unfriendly hours - early AM starts or evenings.

No, I don't feel guilty about accessing healthcare for myself and chikdren. I'm 45. I have paid into the system and the system is currently temporarily supporting my family.

alltoomuch if you too are a lone parent with two children, you are also able to claim child tax credit and child benefit. But you say you only have Job Seekers Allowance?

yes, no kids! but £72.40 is very hard to live on. Fingers crossed find something soon....

and good luck to you to btw.

I'd just like to wish all those who are unemployed the best of luck in getting another job. The economy is finally turning around and there will be opportunities for you.

For most of the people moaning about what other people get, you are wasting energy that would be better used to improve your own circumstances.

The benefits the OP lists I would rate as pretty good. They do the job that benefits are supposed to do in a civilised country. I've been to places where there are minimal or no benefits. I don't want the resulting social outcomes here thank you very much.

sugarmouse even poor people pay tax. It might not be income tax, but they still pay tax. VAT every time they buy tampons, insurance premium tax when they insure their belongings. It's all tax.

And by your logic, a lot of people should feel guilty for accessing health care. I have relatives who had a daughter with severe learning disabilities and severe epilepsy. She lived for almost 40 years, needing specialised health care. Her mother was unable to work from the day she was born as she needed constant care. Should they have felt guilty because neither of them were, by your definition, contributors?

Letting agents will not allow childminding business
yes they will.

Oh piss off sugarmouse. How much tax do you pay? I can guarantee it's nowhere near enough for any services you have used in the past.

Clearly the OPs need to protect her children from domestic violence doesn't count in your eyes. I bet you'd be right up there waving the pitchfork if anything happened to the children and the OP hadn't taken steps to safeguard them.

The OP has left an abusive relationship to protect her children.
The OP has to currently claim benefits.
The OP will likely go back into work when she can around the needs of her children, they right,y have to come first.

The OP has answered your questions in the last post you made....let's hope you read the answers and understand but I doubt it. You are one of the sizeable minority who feel anyone on benefits is there by their own fault.

Newsflash for you....ANYONE can end up on benefits, we are all one crisis away from it.

I had to do it for two years.....believe me I didn't have a spare £900 a month. How nice that would have been. I paid electric, gas, water....the same as everyone else. And let's not forget how many people on benefits are now having to top up their rent as housing costs are so stupid in the country.

Add in the rising costs of food etc and it doesn't go far.

I am far better off working, even in a low paid job than I was on benefits. I have no desire to go back there. Even with rent, council tax etc I still come out better off.

And yes,,,,I STILL get some help, child tax credit, child benefit and working tax credit. I still get some help with health costs. I am currently taking out FAR more from the system than I am putting in. It's not great but I am in the same position as many many others in the UK. It won't be forever either.

Most letting contracts specify that businesses cannot be run from the rental property. As such the OP will struggle to find a property from where she can run a childminding business.

There's some right twats on this thread.

Those banging on about how she sits on her arse and gets paid for it haven't read the thread I presume, or are hard of thinking. OP has stated that this isn't a lifestyle choice. This is what she has been forced into because of circumstances (circumstances that could affect any one of you at some point in your life) . She is actively looking for work. She wants to work.

I despair of humanity sometimes.

And OP doesn't have £900 'spare' a month either. £320 of that goes on gas and electricity alone.

adsy I should rephrase: my landlord will not allow me to run a childminding business from here. Besides which, the property has damp and is also otherwise not suitable, it will not meet Ofsted's required registration with regards to safety and size.

What medical bills are average UK citizens paying?
Eh? we have the lovely NHS. Average UK citizens dont pay medical bills.

OP if you are interested in childcare then it might be easier to start with if you work in a nursery. Perhaps one near the kids' school so you can work round school hours- even (ideal world) at the kids' school?

Are you able to do any training or would you lose your benefits? level 3 NVQ is where it's at.

The only thing is, if you want a better life then childcare is problematic for you because I don't think it will replace your current disposable income. Perhaps CTCs make a difference. I am so old that when I was young and poor we didn't have any in-work benefits so I don't know how it all works.

and in the issue of whether OP is having an unfair life of luxury paid for by the tax payer... in her case, clearly not, she has excellent reasons for why she is where she is; she has kids to protect; she has plans for her futgure: she is an example of why we, as a society, agree to fund this system.

I have a lot less sympathy for Renart though, if she has told us the whole story here.

The prbolem is that to a lot of people in full time work that net amount after housing and council tax is paid is more than they get and they work full time so the thread was never going to elicit sympathy and sums up why those in full time work can feel those on benefits get a pretty good deal.

Luckily jobs are increasing. The nation is doing quite well. Is Anglia East Anglia? if so farmers have had a lot of crop picking vacancies this year as Bulgarians and Romanians have been taking better paid work so that might be an area worth looking into. I know it is just seasonable but it still might help. (Single mother who works full time here often at difficult hours so don't assume it is impossible to find a neighbour or OAP who could take children to school or back to your house and that you can only take school time jobs.

Also do put cards through doors - people do on this road offering to clean the windows, clean the house etc. It does work. Do it every day. As soon as those children are at school start your walk around likely streets with your leaflets. I bet mumsnet can get yo into work and off benefits if we really try. We are all behind you.

Both DH and I are on NMW and once we have paid our rent and council tax, we have £800 left for all other bills, food etc. So not too dissimilar to OPs income. So it's not too bad, imo.

Good luck on getting a job OP, it is tough out there, so fingers crossed for you. Just a thought though, if you were working, would you actually be any better off?!

Greengrow I'm curious, how do you know what the 'Bulgarians and Romanians' have been doing in East Anglia, workwise?

I'm picturing you as an uber-analyst of sorts, crunching eclectic data-sets in between legal cases.

What is your skillset OP? Do you fancy tapping into the hivemind of MN?

It would be nice to turn this thread around into some cheerleading.

Beastofburden, I was referring to another poster who had mentioned that people who work were also paying 'medical costs'. I had presumed she had added it for effect, but she meant glasses/dental etc.