To leave work and go on benefits?

[AllOfTheCoffee]

[prepares for flaming]

I work in a coffee shop that turns into a wine bar on a weekend.

I've been there since it opened 7 years ago. I am only the member of staff who's been there since the start and as such whenever anyone leaves I am just expected to cover their shifts until a replacement is found.

I started there on a 15 hours a week, when I left my Ex-H a couple of years ago I asked for more hours, my boss gave me weekends and evenings to top up my hours because my leaving Ex-H co-incided with him getting his wine bar license.

I feel like I never see my kids, we can never go anywhere together and it's really starting to get to me. Loads of parents were bringing their kids in ion fancy dress last night (before we switched to wine bar mode) on their way to or from parties, I was working, just like I was last Halloween and just like I am on the 5th.

I haven't had a Christmas eve with my kids since we turned into a wine bar and not likely to get one this year, I am the only one with enough experience to manage the bar on a busy shift, apparently. I've worked every Friday and Saturday night for the last 3 years, every Christmas Eve, every New Years eve and every Hallloween/Guy Fawkes/Easter/Bank Holiday.

I've asked for my shifts to be changed loads of times and in fairness my boss does then start looking for new staff, however because he can get away with paying under 25's less we end up with daft kids who last a few months and then the whole thing starts again and of course they cannot work busy shifts from the start because they don't have have enough experience, in general I get one or two weekends by the time they're trained before they walk out.

I'm applying for better jobs but almost everything that fits in with the childcare I have available is evenings and weekends.

AIBU to just leave? Is it even possible? I'd keep looking for work of course, I couldn't just not work and I'd be entitled to free courses at the college so would look into getting more qualifications.

My contract states that I "must be available to work 25 hours between 6:30am and 12:30am Monday to Saturday, as needed"

There's a further paragraph about flexibility and shift changes with 24 hours notice etc.

I never meant to offend anyone by thinking about benefits, I've never claimed so did think I would be entitled to them if I wasn't working for whatever reason. I never thought it would be easy or that I'd be living the high life on the tax payer. I don't watch C5 and only ever intended it as a short term solution. I realised we wouldn't be able to afford holidays or many trips out on JSA.

My only knowledge of out of work benefits comes from MN.

I've said further up thread that as I now know this isn't a viable option I will continue as I am and up the job hunting for now and re-asses after Christmas. I am going to tell my boss that due to childcare I can no longer work every weekend and holiday and will have to start looking for new employment if it's not possible for him to arrange this within 4 weeks.

This technically could be true, my parents are not getting any younger and my children aren't easy to care for, DC2 in particular. They do find it difficult but help because they know I need to work.

My poor mother works 40 hours a week, Mon-Fri and then has my kids Friday to Sunday and my Dad is disabled. Ex-H can't be relied upon, he shows an interest in them whenever there is photo opportunity to show FailBook what a great father he is and that's about it and that's only if there's nothing better for him to do. he's supposed to have them overnight every other Saturday, in reality he has them once every 2 -3 weeks. He used to have them on a Tuesday overnight but decided it was too hard getting them up for school and getting himself to work the next day.

That's a really unfair contract AllOfTheCoffee and I don't blame you for wanting to leave. I'm not surprised that he has problems with staff turnover. Is there any chance that you could renegotiate? Anyway, I'm sure that with your experience you will be able to get a better one.

Don't just look at the places advertising they need help, I would send a CV to every chain that looks suitable. (and possibly shops too, there will be cross over skills, not just restaurants/bars). Sometimes a CV you already have is a lot easier than faffing with advertising if you've been given the OK to recruit.

I haven't got a CV atm, most places ask you to fill in online forms these days, but I'll do one tonight.

I've applied to 2 more apprenticeships and an assistant manager position in another local cafe.

The school have been very helpful. I cannot send DC2 home to my dad in a taxi, they've checked with child services and it would not be allowed. The after school club does not drop off however they took the liberty of contacting a local CM who has availability from 6am - 8-45 am and does do school drop offs, she advertises as finishing at 5:30pm but would consider collecting DC2 from after school club at 6:30pm and keeping her until 7:30pm or taking her where she needs to be, she couldn't collect DC2 from school as all of her after school places are taken but she is free after 6pm.

She would not be able to offer this service out of term because her spaces are already filled and they do day trips during holidays, but my dad would have her, it's school pick ups and drop offs I struggle with, so I'm off to canvass local bars before I have to go and pick up DC2.

Thanks all for your advise. I think yesterday I was just feeling despondent and pissed off. I have more options now and am feeling more positive about being able to find something else.

Incidentally I called into work earlier, my boss wasn't there, the woman covering my shift said he'd told her I'd asked for the day off, he didn't tell her that it was actually Thursday I'd asked for Twat. She said she'd never have agreed if she'd known, she thought she was doing me a favour, she'd never offer to help him out knowingly

Why not go part time and claim tax credits?

The OP is already part time and claims various top ups already.

If anything, it's more hours she needs not less as once the children reach a set age the benefits will disappear and, unless you own a horse outright, most adults cannot live on a part time bar job.

Kudos on the school for assisting with the CM, many wouldn't.

She IS pat time, if the boss lets her do her contracted hours.

OP - offer to be the go-between with the 'woman who covers your shift', that way you get to choose your days off, what's he going to do when you don't turn up but she does?

Not sure what owning a horse has to do with it mind you.....

Wait, I have to buy a horse once the kids leave home? Can I downsize to a cat or a hamster or something?

FWIW everything I am applying to is FT. I have nowt against working FT, overtime, weekends, nights etc. My only gripe is working all weekend every weekend plus holidays. I'd be happy with one weekend off a month and alternate x-mas/NYE Halloween/Guy Fawkes.

My plan was always to go back to FT work once DC2 started secondary and work my way back up to management and I've been doing admin and computing courses in my spare time (when I had some) to help with this.

I don't like relying on TC, I don't think anyone does.

The school were surprisingly helpful. I only went in to ask about after school/breakfast clubs. I wasn't expecting them go to the lengths they did to help.

Bar crawling wasn't great. There's not much about. A few places offered me Friday and Saturday night, one asked if I would work for £4 p/h cash in hand but there are no FT jobs or jobs above 16 hours. Some took my details and will get in touch if anything comes up.

It's not always true that people that work part time with young children have to work full time when they leave home - yes the top up benefits may decrease but so does the overall cost of running a home with far less people in it! Not everyone needs or wants to work full time even if you don't have children at home anymore - it's possible to manage on a small salary without government top ups if you are a single person living alone for example.

AllOfTheCoffee Mon 02-Nov-15 10:27:16
My contract states that I "must be available to work 25 hours between 6:30am and 12:30am Monday to Saturday, as needed

A great example of the "on call" abuse weve been talking about on the tax credit threads. Wanting you to be on call but not paying you for it and wanting you to keep yourself available so you cant get more hours elsewhere.

He may buy your DC Xmas presents but thats no substitute for them being affected financially by his selfishness all year round.

Quick enough to hand you a contract but not so quick with payslips.

Either he wants to do it by the book or he doesnt He cant have it both ways.

He wants you to drop everything at 24 hours notice. So what if you have a doctors appointment

This bloke is a selfish prick.

I'd talk to ACAS because I believe you have every right to negotiate a new contract because of family issues. I believe you have tonput in the request to your employer in writing.
www.acas.org.uk/flexibleworking

If he refuses, then I'd suggest you stop being helpful, stop covering other people's shifts etc his staff shortage isnhis issue and will never be fixed whilst you or others keep covering shifts etc.

I have not read all the responses so forgive me if I am repeating anything already said.

Going on benefits is not the easy way out and you will feel worse than you do now. I would say look for a new job but don't walk out on your old one until you have something else.

If you walk out of a job you will be counted as making yourself voluntarily unemployed. This will leave you with 12 weeks before you are able to submit a claim for JSA, housing benefit or CTC.

After the 12 weeks you can then make a claim but you don't get paid for the first week of your claim, then you will go for a meeting and sign on 2 weeks after that ( so all in all 15 weeks before you get any JSA money)

Housing benefit takes up to 4 weeks after the claim is made to be approved and then you might get something after that. If you are renting it is easier but if you have a mortgage then you might get the interest only or potentially nothing.

CTC can take 4 weeks or longer to arrange and longer still to be paid out.

Then on the other side of it all once you do find a job it's much harder to get back on your feet. If you have been claiming JSA for less than 6 months then you get nothing from the day your job starts, regardless of the fact a lot of jobs have 1 month or more lying time (or in the case of my last job almost 3 months before I got any pay). You will have to find money to cover childcare, rent, food, travel costs etc for an entire month or more before you get paid. We were at our poorest for that first few months of getting my new job and Dh and I lived on 15p noodles and cups of tea with no milk for nearly 8 weeks (made sure DD got proper food but couldn't afford for us to eat properly) until I got my first wage and we had to borrow money from family to pay the rent (which we then had to budget a lot to pay back over the next couple of months). Apparently there used to be a fund to get a loan from the benefits office to see you through till that first pay day but that has long since gone.

Oh and it's really rubbish being on benefits, the horrible depressing feeling of opening your email waiting for responses to the 60 jobs you have applied for that week to find not a single response or interview offer and then having to go to the job centre and explain what you have been doing every day, logging down every job applied for, every website checked and explaining that no I didn't apply for jobs last Tuesday morning because I was at a funeral - oh right I'm not supposed to do that? Next time I could get sanctioned - ok. I will make sure no one else I know dies until I get a job then.

The reality of being unemployed on benefits does not match the way it is portrayed on the TV 'documentaries' by any stretch of the imagination.

You don't have "every right to negotiate a new contract", you have a legal right to request flexible working and the employer can refuse.

Yes you have every right to request flexible working and your family status is now irrelevant, but your employer can refuse on business grounds.

To be honest I think he'd just continue ignoring it if I applied for flexible hours.

I think I'm just going be more proactive in looking for jobs. I found 2 more to apply to earlier.

I don't think this guy gives a shit about the law he's barely operating legally as it is!

Definitely look for something else.

Fuckoffjeffrey that was an interesting post and that's how its supposed to work.

Mine and several others I know IRL and several regular posters on here. Have experience that how its supposed to work and how it actually works are 2 entirely different things.

I'm 'lucky' as I'm on ESA last holiday was when working, last night out was Halloween last year for a friends milestone birthday which was a cheap night. Before that I can't remember.

Friends on JSA are missing meals regularly, bed early so heating only on when kids up etc. Days out?! To the park with a packed lunch in the summer with kids occasionally.

Thats good news Good luck Coffee. Would serve the shithead right if you left on the cusp of the Christmas rush.

"Would serve the shithead right if you left on the cusp of the Christmas rush."

Oh yes!

Baconyum it's not the living on benefits and low income I have the issue with, it's the getting back into work waiting period for pay that's the issue.

If we didn't have family to borrow money from to pay the rent and get basic food supplies when waiting for the first wage we would have been truly fucked. Not everyone has that support system. The way it's set up now means it is better to be unemployed for longer than 6 months (and classed as long term) because you get access to loans and additional funding such as 1 month travel costs or even vouchers to buy appropriate work clothing to get you back into work. I was 5 months and 1 week unemployed when I got my new job. We tried to put back a bit each week to help with the transition until first pay day but £30 didn't go far. If JSA is classed as the lowest amount of money necessary to survive on, why then do they think it's possible to live on £0 for a month or more (including having additional costs such as travelling to work and upfront childcare costs). I'm not saying give handouts but access to a loan fund to be paid back over say 3 months would be the best way forward and get would get people back to work a lot faster.

Jeffrey I don't disagree that the system for returners to work is shit. But so is the system for initial claims and changes in circs. It's something I've discussed frequently with my mother in the past. She thinks its a major reason why people are stuck in the benefits trap they can't bloody afford to go back to work. As you said you were lucky to have support from elsewhere and of course not everyone has that.

The loan you speak of is a great idea and I think used to exist but has now gone. All governments of whatever party bemoan people capable of work not working but ignore this (and the fact there's hardly any bloody jobs!).

Oh plus 'back to work' calculations done by jobcentre plus DON'T include costs of working or reduction in certain benefits.

YABU benefits are not there for people who don't like the shifts they've got. In all the years you've been there surely a more suitable job could've come up, or better still sit down with your boss and say look this is how it is and I need certain shifts-can you do this for me? Be straight and stick to your guns. You've put in your time there, he should value you. Hope it gets sorted for you OP.