to wish that people would acknowledge people like me

[sweethoneytruffle]

I work full time, but a combination of rubbish working conditions and poor hourly pay means I take home approximately £270 a week. This varies a bit and it sounds okay until you factor other costs in.

Out of this I obviously have to pay living costs, including council tax. I also have to pay for car insurance and petrol (job is based in the car so I can't sell it) I work anti social hours, starting work at 6:30 and finishing at 11 but not being paid for that as it's split shifts.

I don't know if I am really bad at money management, but I always seem to be skint, even when I have just been paid, I'm broke!

But we are not mentioned much, it's always about benefit cuts and delays and sanctions. I seriously have £5 in my purse, one tin of soup and a packet of biscuits until Friday!

Don't believe what some say about being better off if you have children (or having 'kids for benefits').
If you have children you do need to pay for things for them. You know, like food, clothing. And having two doesn't mean you get twice as much as having one.

There definitely needs to be an increase in the MW. An extra £3 an hour in the pockets of those on MW will be spent immediately, an extra £300 in the pockets of the rich won't be spent (well maybe overseas). But what I've said for SO LONG over the years is that there needs to be affordable, genuinely affordable, housing. That means social housing and lower cost housing to buy, but mostly to rent.

I know how you feel OP, the hours are awful. You're only getting contact hours paid, but the reality is you are working far more. This is why I left care work. Even with NVQ, the pay doesn't increase much.

Make sure you claim your travel back on self assessment tax - 45p a mile.

bonkers, your suggestions are not worth the energy of a flaming, but I will say that 'Get a better job, get a 2nd job' is not very helpful. The OP has said she's tried/is trying. Also, do you think there are plenty of jobs around at the moment?

OP, I know what you mean about not being acknowledged. There is some talk about 'the working poor', but IMO the fact that a lot of people are working but still struggling is deliberately lost/buried beneath the relentless 'benefits scroungers' rhetoric we're fed.

On the subject of what you'd do in an ideal world, I hear you when you say you missed a lot of basic schooling but please, don't put yourself down by saying you're not clever and you couldn't possibly do things.

Can you remember anything you dreamed of doing when you were a child? This might sound like pie in the sky (at one point I wanted to be an astronaut and, well, I'm not one ) but there is a school of thought that you can find your own ideal job by thinking of what you dreamed about being as a child and breaking it down to see what aspects of it apply to 'real-world' jobs.

OP, your written English is of a really high standard, I think you are massively underselling yourself academically. You sound like you'd make a fantastic nurse; you're obviously not afraid to work hard and get your hands dirty. As for lacking qualifications; there are access to nursing courses for people like you. I know you said you don't want to study, but unfortunately in our society, if you want to make a decent salary, it pretty much has to be done.

One thing that would be a start would be to raise the tax threshold to at least £20k. Anyone earning such a low wage shouldn't be paying tax.

I've lived my naice middle class existance and have recently had my eyes opened by someone in a similar position to you.

I had no real idea of the crap that people put up with in their low paying jobs. Not a living wage, having to accept the hours and holidays you are told to do, regardless of how inconvenient and unsociable they are. No give and take. It's awful.

Yes I had heard about it, but I hadn't given any real thought or understanding to it. I appreciate the benefits to good jobs now, other than just the obvious financial one.

Tinkly I agree my written English is excellent. I got an A* when I sat that exam, purely because I am an avid reader.

My ability in other subjects, notably maths, is less marked and I got a U. I have missed years, literally, of the most basic stuff: I can't even work out a percentage. This would obviously be a barrier to most higher/further education especially Nursing - I don't have Science either. I have GCSEs in English, English Lit, French and History - that's it.

accesstohe.ac.uk

OK I know I'm doing the frowned on thing now. I know it's far from easy to study when you're skint and knackered.

But please just have a look Sweet you could really change your life.

Where are you in the country OP?

People like us are mentioned all the time.

Look - I can't do maths, okay, I really honestly can't. I barely attended school after year 9 and I don't understand any of the basics. I just used to copy from my friends in Maths lessons at school.

How on earth getting an E, or an F, or a G in Maths will change my life I don't know! It isn't about it being easy - it's just I really don't understand anything about numbers. I know loads of people will insist if they can do it I can but they don't know me. If I can't do Maths I can't do Science. And to be honest I don't WANT to - I loathed school, why would I want to go back?

I don't really want to say where I am, I didn't start the thread because I want to be a nurse or whatever as obviously I can't, I'm not clever enough. It would just be nice to have a job that pays enough. Not loads just enough.

it's not just about maths. (though to be honest that's necessary for lots of nursing jobs) reasons are to do with giving medications etc.

It would just be nice to have a job that pays enough. Not loads just enough.

You don't have to go back and get any qualifications, or do any training, but you surely must see that getting those things would make it easier for you to get a job that paid more.

It doesn't have to be maths. but having more qualifications opens more doors.

Just wishing for more money won't make it happen.

yes but I wasn't "just wishing for more money" - I'm saying that low pay isn't really enough.

you surely must see that getting those things would make it easier for you to get a job that paid more.

Yes, I do see that - but I also see there's no way I can make that happen.

So because of a combination of being decidedly average when it comes to academics and missing a lot of the basics, I will always be excluded from luxuries of life.

You surely must see that sucks?

I just wanted to mention OP

You DO NOT have to have kids to claim WTC. Not saying you'd get anything but people seem to think it's linked to having kids and it just isn't. Never has been. Family credit was linked to being a parent but that went out many years ago.

Id be interested to know, if you did a calculation on entitledto.gov.uk website based on the hours that you do now and also a calculation based on 30 hours, would that drop your earnings meaning you were entitled to WTC? Have a look. No maths skills required, promise

You're not going to be able to do maths if you keep thinking you can't. I was shite as well, but I knew i needed maths for my course so practiced and practiced. You're never too old to learn, even if you need to build it up from a low level. I KNOW how patronising this sounds but the same was said to me. I was gifted in everything, except maths. Loathed it. Someone told me instead of saying 'I can't' just bloody suck it up and keep trying.

And not being academic doesn't exclude you from the luxuries at all. My partner isn't academic but he earns well.

I've been where you are, I worked the same role. And it's shit. You do such a bloody valuable job yet aren't valued, especially monetary wise.

Grays it isn't about practising, I really can't do it. Suddenly thinking I can won't make a blind bit of difference.

I have "sucked it up" - it's people here saying I could retrain to do this and that - well no, I can't.

If you were gifted in everything but maths, chances are you were about average in Maths - in other words could get a C? I can't. Got a U in my GCSEs; didn't even scrape a grade.

Anyway ... I really don't want lecturing on my crap academic past if no one minds, as it's just making me feel crap, although I realise that isn't the intention but phrases like "suck it up" aren't helpful.

Sweet. My daughter can't do maths, genuinely; she sees no patterns in times tables, doesn't recognise obvious number bonds, can't for the life of her tell the time on a normal clock face.

But we got her a C at GCSE by going right back to basics and putting the time in with her. You aren't crap at Maths; you just haven't been taught by the right teacher yet.

And sorry if I was getting on your back, it just seems a waste of your obvious intelligence. Sorry. You are right that people should earn a decent living wage whatever their job.

You don't understand tinkly and all people are doing when they say "I couldn't do maths and ..." then insert their own story is kick any self-esteem I have down a notch, because believe me I have had targeted intervention and private tuition with maths dating back to primary school. It didn't help so I gave up.

I'm not intelligent at all; I just like reading, so I sort of learned how to write through reading. It's misleading, as like you a lot of my teachers mistook being articulate for being intelligent.

I'm sorry as I sound rude, and I don't want to be.

It's just I know I'll never get GCSE Maths if I try for the next hundred years. Or Science. I only got English because as I say I like reading and French well that was easy to pass, as my mum used to speak it to me. Then in history I found it interesting.

I didn't get any others. Failed all three Science subjects, Maths, and Geography.

I am not a clever person - I am not stupid - but I'm not kidding myself I am university material and I'm not bothered either, but just the same I'm increasingly aware (because I Do read!) that my options in life are limited and that's because I won't ever earn much above just surviving, getting by.

Maybe it'll be different for my kids.

It's clear from your posts that you're intelligent. You might have done shite at school but that was then. If you want to better yourself stop making excuses and let your past fails go.

I know that sounds harsh and it's supposed to be (im nice really honest) it's just I see an awful lot of myself in you and I know you can do something if you want to.

Don't end up on your death bed regretting at least giving it a chance. How do you know you can't until you try?

Also OP you don't have to to go to university. That isn't the be all and end all.

If you're interested in healthcare keep trying to apply for hospital jobs, like HCA or some sort of assistant job. You have your foot in the door for all sorts of non academic learning opportunities then.

Of course I know I can't I have already "tried", and failed, failed miserably at that.

Do you realise Grays that this is exactly what led to my doing so badly at school? Teachers would insist I could do it and I would say I didn't understand and would be really told off. I got told SO many times "you're a bright girl."

It was beyond frustrating as nine times out of ten I didn't have a fucking clue what was going on. So I zoned out completely and stopped even asking questions. I didn't try to understand. I copied other kids' work when I could and when I couldn't I let them think I was lazy. No one would listen to me when I said "I don't understand, please can you help me?"

This really strikes a chord because what everyone is doing on this thread is what led to me failing.

I don't retain information well. I would sit in a maths class and understand something. In the time it took me to go to the next lesson the information would have gone. Lesson after lesson after lesson. Same with a lot of subjects. Often I just didn't understand - I would pretend to understand but I didn't.

My mum died when I was in year 9 and I went in sometimes in my GCSE years but I just found it a waste of time, because I liked books and could write well so naturally I could do anything. Well no, actually, I couldn't.

but I didn't post about me, I really don't want to talk about me. I just want to say how horrible it is when you struggle and people just won't believe or accept you struggle and I really do. There's so much I don't understand but can't let on because no one would believe me if I did. And dont' anyone patronise me anymore, I'm sick of it.

Okay. Be happy with your lot then

The thing is it's hard to empathise. because you keep saying that you can't and won't do anything. from the outside it just sounds like you're setting yourself up to fail.

my wife also got a U in GCSE maths.
then went to night school about 7 years after leaving school and re-took GCSEs, specifically maths and ended up with a B.

She went back because she was sick of doing jobs that she didn't like without any security and not enough pay.

I'm not trying to kick you whilst you're down, not trying to take your self esteem down a notch.
just pointing out that if you're unhappy with your situation you need to be the one to change that, nobody else is going to change your life, or your job for you. (that's not patronising?)

As others have said on their thread, there are help and benefits available to people in very low paid jobs, that increase minimum wages closer to living wages. Colleges that are cheap (or even free) to go back to get more qualified. On-line courses available for (completely) free from many places.

It's already said that the very low paid working are talked about. In the news, on the radio, in documentaries.

The problem is, people have taken this as me wailing and weeping about how terrible my life is. And that isn't why I posted, at all. My life isn't terrible. I like my job :)

it is patronising actually to tell me off like I'm a naughty teenager that no one is going to change my life for me. I know that. I also know that if I went to college I'd just keep failing so I don't bother - waste of my time and everyone else's.

but on here like someone said - there's the assumption that benefits is poor and working is comfortable and it isn't. There's times when I have very little.

Anyway I'm going to leave this thread now as to be honest it is crap having to explain repeatedly I'm thick as pigshit, and it's even more crap when people think you're just saying you're thick as pigshit for a laugh because you're too lazy to go to college or whatever.