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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask why you go to work

481 replies

IamthepermedowlofVeronica · 10/04/2016 22:10

Try to be brief but thorough....
Due back from 1 years maternity at the beginning of June. Hate job, don't want to go back. Have had offer of temporary ad hoc work between June and start of summer hols.
Wondered how much job seekers is whilst I apply and interview over summer hols. Did the online calculator tangy: If I work current hours and pay childcare I would earn £6 less than if I signed on job seekers.
So why should I go to work (no career, just a money earning job) and how does signing on work? Has anyone found it detrimental to confidence etc?
Hopefully I'll get another cash earning job in September or,something when ds will be 15 months

OP posts:
AndNowItsSeven · 10/04/2016 23:02

Op like pp says you can claim IS , single mothers should be able to able to chose to not work when their children are pre school age.
With jsa it's the last job that counts so if someone left a job then went to a tempura job and left due to job ending rather than quitting then yes they could claim jsa.

Duckdeamon · 10/04/2016 23:02

My job isn't ideal but pays well, has a pension, and I have some flexibility, so I'm lucky. If I took a few years off it's likely I'd find it hard to find well paid, part time or flexible work.

I don't want to be financially dependent on anyone.

I don't want to do more domestic work, which would be part of "the deal" of SAH.

I don't like that men rarely work PT or SAH.

areyoubeingserviced · 10/04/2016 23:02

My mother told me that I should work so that I would never have to rely on a man

I enjoy working

I like money
I have studied too hard and don't want to waste my education.

AndNowItsSeven · 10/04/2016 23:03

Op have you factored in tax credits paying up to 70% of your childcare costs?

Doobydoo · 10/04/2016 23:05

Also ....one of us worked whilst other at home. We chose not to outsource our children. So have brought them up between us.

bloodyteenagers · 10/04/2016 23:09

Go for it.
Maybe you will luck out and be in the Universal credit area, so no Income support. Where you will be expected to sign on. Where you will be expected to search for jobs, and this to be for 35 hours a week. Where you will be expected to log on to the job match site and actively search. Don't have the means at home? Not to worry, you will be directed to the right locations.

That's why I work. Universal Credit is coming to an area near you. Soon. Now, given the choice of looking for work for 35 hours a week, attending interviews, compulsory training. Or working 35 hours a week and being paid for it, lets guess which option I chose. At least after 35 hours a week slogging my guts out, I get paid. Imagine 35 hours a week of the UC criteria and only to be sanctioned.

IGIG · 10/04/2016 23:09

I used to do as I enjoyed the challenges and the work I did but now it's just for money.

guineapig1 · 10/04/2016 23:10

I worked hard to get where I am and usually enjoy my job though it can be stressful
It makes me use my brain and keeps me sane
It is a good example to my DCs
I like having my own income. Though we pool resources, I like the fact that I don't have to justify my spending.
I am uncomfortable about DH having to carry all financial responsibility for the family - we share responsibility in all other areas too. If one of us was unable to work or made redundant, the other could hold the fort for a while.
I am maintaining my skills and can support myself and my DC's. You can insure against ill-health and death not against separation/divorce. That doesn't mean that I think my marriage is about to go down the pan but I have seen friends give up their careers, subsequently get divorced and have to go back to work and really struggle both professionally and financially. This is absolutely not their fault but I have tried to safeguard myself from this situation

PurpleDaisies · 10/04/2016 23:13

I really like my job.

If you're fit and well and you can't live on your partner's income alone surely there isn't really a choice here? Being on JSA is really grim and it's much easier to get w better job if you're moving from having another job.

NameChange30 · 10/04/2016 23:17

I can understand why you don't want to go back to your old job if you hated it and if it doesn't seem to make sense financially.

However, if you could find a job you like (or don't hate, at least) you would probably feel differently about it.

And it's unlikely that you would be better off on benefits than in work. I don't know what calculator you used and whether it took all your circumstances into account. If you're a single parent or if you have a partner with a low income you would be entitled to tax credits. If you're working, you can get working tax credit and the childcare element of child tax credit. (That's in addition to CTC which you can get if your income is low whether you're working on not.)

I recommend that you go to your local CAB and ask them to do a "Better Off" calculation for you.

If you're a single parent and you find yourself out of work, it would be better to apply for income support rather than JSA. If you have a partner, it depends on their income. If they are unemployed or on a low income you could still get income support. If they are employed and earning over the income threshold, you wouldn't be able to get any means tested benefits. You could only get contributory JSA for a maximum of 6 months.

Do you have a partner and do they work?
Would you consider trying part time work to see how you get on?
Do you have an idea of other work you might prefer to the job you did before mat leave?

oneowlgirl · 10/04/2016 23:19

I enjoy my job & consider that I worked far too long & hard to get myself educated & where I am today to give it all up after having children.

We could afford for me to give up work but we could also afford for DH to give up work (if I continued working) & yet it's never even been a question friends / family / colleagues / society have posed of him so that reason also makes me determined not to give up work. That said, if I hated what I was doing, I might have a different perspective!

Xmasbaby11 · 10/04/2016 23:19

If you don't want to go back to work, you could be a sahm and not claim anything. Could you afford that? If not you're better off in a job you know and work towards one you want.

My dc are 2 and 4. By the time we've paid nursery fees we're barely better off than if I didn't work. But I would never consider giving up work because

I do enjoy it
I would not like or be good at being a sahm
It's an amazing employer
I'd struggle to get this job again
I pay into a pension
It's good for my self esteem
It's good for my daughters to see mummy enjoying a career

shazzarooney99 · 10/04/2016 23:23

Claiming Job seekers is horrendous,degrading and humiliating, I would go back to work if I were you xxx I always think you are better off in work,no matter what anyone else says, at least when your kids are in school you will have a good wage.

OllyBJolly · 10/04/2016 23:24

I love my job. I never want to stop working.

I think it's dangerous to opt out of the job market now. Very difficult to get back in.

AndNowItsSeven · 10/04/2016 23:24

Universal credit claimants with under threes are treated exactly the same as IS claimants ie no conditionality or requirement to job search.

manicinsomniac · 10/04/2016 23:27

Primarily because I have always been a single parent with no contact/money from the children's fathers so not working has never been an option (unless we want to starve and live in a cardboard box I suppose!)

But I also enjoy working. I love my job, I love my colleagues and I love the children I work with. During term time it's the biggest part of my life and I don't know who I'd be without my job.

If I was rich, lived in an entertaining city, had full childcare and had lots of rich non working friends with similar interests then a life without work would be amazing. But otherwise ... not for me!

flirtygirl · 10/04/2016 23:28

Op claim income support, it would not be job seekers with a young child, or universal credit if your area has it yet. Im sorry but to all the people who love their jobs well done but the Op really is talking about why leave her child in childcare and be away from him and poorer into the bargain. That does not make sense emotionally and financially, theres value in looking after your child with a job and without a job. A lot of people mentioned careers totally different to the op who has a bog standard job and made that clear from the outset.

Like you said continue looking for a job anyway but why go back to a job you hate, i most definitely wouldn't.

bloodyteenagers · 10/04/2016 23:28

Again, depending on the op's area, she won't have a choice about claiming IS or whatever. It will be Universal credit which actually makes JSA appear enjoyable.
It is hell.

NameChange30 · 10/04/2016 23:31

I don't think Universal Credit has been rolled out in many places yet. In my area you would still claim Income Support.

triceraplops · 10/04/2016 23:32

So wait. You've just had a year off at your employer's and the taxpayer's expense, and now you want to claim benefits because you don't like your job?

Jesus wept. People like you are why genuine claimants are demonised. What a revolting attitude you have.

NameChange30 · 10/04/2016 23:35

triceraplops
"a year off"?!!
Maybe you've forgotten that this is primarily a parenting website.
If you think that birthing and raising a child is taking "a year off" you're in the wrong place mate.

AndNowItsSeven · 10/04/2016 23:38

Blood teenagers the op would have no conditionality under universal credit as she has a child under three.

oneowlgirl · 10/04/2016 23:38

It is a year off work, regardless of what you're doing to fill your time.

triceraplops · 10/04/2016 23:39

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AnotherPrickInTheWall · 10/04/2016 23:43

If you've recently ever tried to claim JSA you'll know it is a hell of a lot easier to shovel shit for minimum wage than to prove you are not a scrounging scumbag . I was on JSA a few years back, I felt like I was on trial for having the audacity to ask for financial assistance after being made redundant.

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