Tothink it's utterly ridiculous that a 6k raise would only work out to be £100 per month

[theduchessstill]

I'm just feeling really hopeless at the moment. I earn a decent enough wage and know that I am very fortunate compared to many. However, as a single parent who receives no maintenance I am solely responsible for myself and two children and a mortgage, as well as having to save for a further pay out for ex when youngest comes of age. We do ok, but I have little to no savings and think about money constantly.

I have seen a job that pays 6k more than my current one and is a natural next step for me. 6k seems like quite a step up, but have just put the figures into a calculator and it seems that, taking into account the fact it would take me above the CB threshold, I would be a measly £100 per month better off.

Pisses me off tbh. As I'm in a public sector role I very rarely get other pay rises and when I do they're minuscule. I also think the fact that I would lose CB when a couple with a combined income well above my single one would keep it is an absolute disgrace. It just seems things are never going to get any better for me so just having a little rant, a pointless one as there's obviously no guarantee I'd get the job even if I went for it.

There is a lot of jealously on this thread

Frustrating but still worth going for

Well I’ll send you a hug Duchess. It’s very demotivating. It’s many moons ago but I remember my husband getting a raise which turned out to be no raise at all as put him into another tax bracket. It’s sort of ” yaaaay.....oh!!! I was also a single parent at one time and remember that crushing feeling of responsibility and worry about unexpected big bills.
Never mind , as others have said, if you get the job, there are other benefits, the next pay rise will be all yours and with that next level on your CV who knows what other things will come if it.

It rained?! shock sad I always pay out for fine weather when I go on holiday. It must be so awful to be unable to bribe the heavens.I'm so sorry I didn't understand your plight. Please, accept my sympathies, and a bunch of extra sympathy for your poor kids.

What an utterly bitchy comment! And you call yourself a "feminist dragon"?? Where's the sisterly love then? fucking hypocrite

OP, I'm sorry you are getting so much stick from probably women who are NOT single parents with a dead beat dad as well so they have absolutely no idea.
I am so am in complete sympathy with you.

People have absolutely NO FUCKING IDEA how it is to carry the complete load by yourself.

And a week abroad is the least you can expect out of 52 grinding ones. So good for you for doing it. You are giving your kids a great vision of a wider, better world out there, and you can shut the door behind you too and put your feet up. It's called recharging the batteries.

Duchess if you are in a public sector job and you get the job on higher pay scale you will also get a better pension. That is really worth taking into account. Also there is nothing to say that the government may reduce tax credit in the future so take it if you can.

Erm well try "carrying the load" on a quarter of the OPs salary like most single mums are Then you'll know how hard it is. We can't all take our kids away abroad for a week to lighten the stress of being a single parent.

There are some really nasty posts on this thread.

I understand exactly what you mean OP. I would expect a £6000 pay rise to equate to more than £100 increase in take home each month. It's unfair that it works out this way.

It's also about the extra responsibilty, pressure, work load and hours. I can understand why you might question whether the increase is worth it.

I'm a 43 year old NQT. I will not even work out what my hourly wage would be on NQT salary working 60 hours a week! I'm sure that I earnt more per hour as a TA. I know that the extra pressure etc that I have as ateacher compared to a TA is not reflected in my salary.

Finally, do what you can to get your ex sorted and try to make him contribute to his children!

Think about making pension contributions- tax free up to certain limits

When I read comments on here full of hate and jealousy it saddens me that people feel like this. To the OP, you are doing a great job and you have every right to feel fed up and I know what’s it like to feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility. I would go for the job as interview practise, you don’t have to take it but it may be something you will enjoy and open other doors. Wishing you all the best. For the haters - keep taking your bitter pills just be careful you don’t choke.

Investigate buying AVC's for your pension by salary sacrifice as this can keep you below the higher tax threshold. You would also benefit from being on a higher salary if you wanted to move house for what a lender would offer you based on your earnings. Higher redundancy Payment and pension if in a final salary scheme. I would say apply for the better paid job for sure! Good luck

It presume the payrise comes with associated responsibility and stress and you were excited, then you find out that you'll have more stress and not much more reward.

It is amazing how much things like tax, NI and benefits skew earnings. I get you earn a lot but sometimes the difference between 2 salaries sounds much bigger than the reality.

Well done for doing so well in your career and raising your children single handled btw

I agree with grasspigeons, congrats for doing well in your career!

Don't feel bad about venting, I'd do the same (I'm sure MN would be a ghost town of people didn't post for fear there might be other people worse off financially/mentally/physically etc)

No wonder there’s inequality in salaries between men and women if there’s a competition between women on who’s lowest paid!
I thought the point of the OP was a 6K payrise sounds amazing but the end result wasn’t as good as expected, (not wasn’t good at all, just not as good as it sounds).

FYI I used to supervise a male contractor that told me he always asked for 5k more than the salary that was suggested and he would get it!!!! So always ask for more money no matter what!

Child maintenance isn’t ordered by the courts (unless by consent or if non resident parent earns over £153k then they can make top up orders) so contact the CMS, pay £20 for a calculation and get them to get maintenance off your ex

There are some utterly vile comments here. Go for the promotion and lots of others. Earn squillions and really piss them off.

It may sound a lot to us midlanders and northerners but I don’t think £60k is a huge amount when you take into account that you would get no top up benefits etc with that. So if OP is paying childcare and a mortgage then it’s not a lot.

She could probably earn about £16k part time and only be marginally worse off.

Outface. “Public servants don’t create any wealth? Really. So people in health care don’t save many a lost days work for all those bankers busy making money? The taxes public servants collect don’t pay for the roads and rail those important bankers get to work on?
The whole country can’t work in finance ffs

I would be just as frustrated as you. The system is quite unfair. If you work hard, train, gain years of experience, climb the ladder, take on more responsibility, stress and better yourself you'd want to see an appropriate return from a decent pay rise. It does seem unfair that extra tax, NI, higher student loan payments, less child benefit etc mean that the difference in your pocket isn't proportionate to the raise on paper. It is very unfair that two parent households get to keep full child benefit despite earning £100k when you are penalised for being single.

There are some very contradictory people posting on MN! On the one hand, we should all be caring socialists and happily pay our taxes to support our wonderful NHS, teachers etc etc, but on the other hand all those advising the OP to salary sacrifice in to a pension to retain CB are literally advising her not to pay for those services (btw, anyone else see the utter irony in a teacher trying to avoid taxes which pay teachers' salaries??).

You think that is bad, wait until you lose your personal allowance in the disastrous £100-120k income bracket, or the tapered personal pension allowance at £150-210k. Barely worth getting out of bed. You only feel properly rich at £250k plus I reckon.

theduchessstill I do feel for you! It is galling to take on extra responsibility and then find that all the red tape takes away the extra pay which you will be working for. Have you looked into the extra demands of the higher paid job? I was going up the rungs of promotion and realised it wasn't worth all the extra unpaid hours I had to do just to get all my work done. I needed to be with my DC and being in management seemed to mean staying at work all hours God gave. Have no fear, in the Public Sector there will be enough on your plate for them to justify the extra pay.

regarding the poorly paid - I can sympathise and commiserate with the people with lower pay. But a big salary isn't all it's cracked up to be. It usually goes with a job so demanding that people are being crushed under the pressure and their work, family and life balance doesn't work.

I'm in the ranks of being very hard up now. I have to decide whether to eat or have the heating on sometimes. Money never really stops being a problem unless you are earning an extraordinary salary as far as I can see.

Also It is very unfair that a double salary house hold with children gets more breaks than a single salary household.
Lastly - I agree not Gordon's fault.

JulianaBixby That's awful! I could cry for you! I'm old and I do think you much younger mums have a terribly rough deal. It's not right! I'm so sorry! I really do believe bringing up the next generation IS the most vital job in the country and you should get a lot of incentive and support.

6k? that's nearly half my partners yearly pay (16k) and he's a head lifeguard, highly qualified and if I went back to work (I'm lvl3 qualified in children and education withe 10 years experience ) my entire pay would go on childcare. entire pay.