To think life shouldn’t be easier for those on benefits than those who work?

[Alwaysoverdrawn]

obviously not including the disabled, elderly etc in this

I am so fed up of being poor so I looked into doing an access course to increase my earning potential. My sister is doing one and is currently on benefits, she gets it for free with her childcare paid.

Having spoken to them, we earn too much to be considered for help. Having looked into mine and my sisters finances I think this is frankly bloody ridiculous. We are worse off than her ffs.

We make around £2,500 NET p/m, £1000 rent, £900 childcare -2 adults, 2 kids. So £600 ‘disposable’ pm with a lot of debts to pay.

She gets £670pm plus her full rent paid and a council tax reduction for her and one child.

AIBU to think life shouldn’t be ‘easier’ for those on benefits than those who work?

DP hasn’t been to the dentist despite needing to for years as he can’t afford treatment, I’m really down today. Seriously considering moving out so that I can claim benefits and get out of this horrible rut.

Snog
Spot on

OP I definitely think your access course should be free or heavily subsidised because this is a social mobility issue.

I think you need to just come out your bubble and actually read what you’ve written about your sister! Would you prefer she wasn’t entitled to that course, so she couldn’t try to further herself and therefore come off of benefits?! Being on benefits is actually one of the hardest things to do, the single parent is often left with nothing for themselves as there’s really not enough to go around. The fact your sister is trying to come off of benefits and more than likely a single mother trying to do it all on her own, I’m glad she gets the course for free. If you would prefer to be a single parent doing it all alone and on minimal then why not try - all to get a course for free. Maybe you should of thought about the type of job and pay u had before having children and then you wouldn’t be envious of your sister. I’ve been on benefits and now I work full time and entitled to no financial help as well as being a single mum, my sister is on benefits and I often help her financially with clothing and feeding her children because she gets £100 a week to cover bills food transport clothing. Please try to be happy for your sister.

“ your costs are unusual.”

They’re not in the slightest bit unusual for large parts of the country.

£1000 for a 2-bed flat would be very average for our small, South-East town.

Sorry but in what realty is £2.5k a month enough money for a family of 6?

People are being horrible cruel and completely ignoring the OP’s comments. She’s NEVER said her sister should be getting less help but that people in work should be getting MORE!!

FWIW when I was a single parent of two children working part time was the best off I’ve ever been.

Maybe when DH is on £45k a year, we will have that amount of disposable income between us again. It was a very comfortable existence

We don't have any properties for rent for £1000pcm in my town but for £850 you can rent a five bed detached with front and back garden and sea views. For £1200 you can rent a 6 bed detached, grade 1 listed house with landscaped gardens, five reception rooms and a billiards room.

Quite why people chose to live somewhere where they can only get a bedsit for the same price is beyond me, especially when they're like OP. Unless, of course OP's job only exists in London?

Yeah, she might not earn £2.5k pcm if she moved but rent on a 2 bed flat here starts at £250 pm and childcare is approx. £160 per month, per child for fulltime.

Thing is you might be even just £200 better off a month before, petrol/bus fare, dentist, School dinners, pescriptions etc by working but then your also out of the house for hours every day. People don’t seem to actually weigh up your time in the element of better off. An extra £50 a month after all the free bits have gone and is it actually worth it time wise? I wouldn’t say so to be honest working a 40hour week for an extra £50 or £100 is ridiculous.

Would you leave a secure job to go back into probation away from family/friends likely also on lower pay for a cheaper house?

Yes because when you’re living hand to mouth pulling £2k out of your arse to move to a different area is SO easy.

Honestly the delusion on this website is incredible

All those saying there's very little benefit fraud going on, look around you carefully. I personally know two 'single' parents who say they can't afford for their partners to move in. What they mean is, they can't afford for their partners to change the address on their driving licences and tax returns, because the partners are definitely living with them physically, just not postally.

I also know one single parent who has a council flat, rent paid by housing benefit, gets free prescriptions, full bursary for child at private school, and only works the 'required' 16 hours a week (so two days) in order to get all that. For the other three days, while the children are at school, this parent can meet friends for coffee, watch daytime TV, visit a gallery, have a haircut, shop for clothes, go to the doctor without having to take said children etc etc.

Dh works 48 hours a week, night shift, just above minimum wage, and I work 25 hours a week, term-time only in order to cover the school holidays. Work for both of us is often stressful and not very pleasant. We made the mistake of buying a tiny house 15 years ago so have a mortgage to pay but definitely can't afford to 'upgrade' to a bigger house, or even extend the current one, let alone make much needed repairs. God knows what we'd do if our 30 year old boiler broke down.

Two of the single parents above have just had new double-glazed windows installed in the houses they live in for which the rent is paid by their housing benefit and one has just had a new boiler to replace the still working one which was only installed 10 years ago!!!

I get absolutely no respite from work or childcare because for every hour the children are at school, I'm at work. When they're not in school, they're with me. They come with me to the doctor, the dentist, supermarket shopping, the hairdressers, the post office and even had to sit outside the 'curtain' while I had a smear test. All this has to be done after school/my working hours, so they get less time at home for homework and/or play too.

Grrrrrr.

Would you leave a secure job to go back into probation away from family/friends likely also on lower pay for a cheaper house?

Yes, in a heartbeat if it meant improving the quality of life for my kids. It's lower pay because the cost of living is realistic. It's not just cheaper houses we have, it's cheaper public transport, cheaper taxis, cheaper childcare, cheaper dentists, cheaper hairdressers, cheaper take outs, cheaper independent bakeries etc. The only things that don't get cheaper are costs in large supermarkets and fast food chains.

“Quite why people chose to live somewhere where they can only get a bedsit for the same price is beyond me,”

It’s not really a choice. It’s like the boiling frog thing innit. Plenty of people who can now not afford to live haven’t chosen to move somewhere expensive- they’re just living in the perfectly ordinary towns and suburbs that they grew up in. Rents are going up and up every year, and the areas that are becoming unaffordable are spreading out further and further. People don’t reach crisis point until it’s too late to do anything about it. How is the OP supposed to be able to save up the 1000s it would need to move house and support themselves until they get new jobs (no JSA if you’ve voluntarily given up your last job remember), when they’re living on £150 a week, and they can’t even afford basic dentistry?

And stop going on about London. It hasn’t just been a London thing for ten years- and if you smug Northerners don’t start giving a fuck, it’ll spread up to you too.

Well if you lot begrudge single parents for getting benefits you could always divorce your dhs , get rid of your mortgage, cut your hours to 16 etc. Problem solved.

What do you expect Northerners to do about the cost of living in the south except not move there thereby not increasing demand?

And you can apply for jobs in the north without living here. We do have email and internet down here.

Absolutely malificent7. Am considering doing just that. Dh can go and live elsewhere, but just postally eh, not physically of course.

OP said she was leaving the thread at 12.21. I don't blame her, in fact I would have left a lot sooner than her due to all the thickos who are unable to read her posts properly despite OP repeating herself numerous times. She asked a simple question or two which were then twisted, misinterpreted, and deliberately used against her by thick, shit stirring posters. I am disabled and on benefits. I have no worries at all about someone classing me as "the disabled". Petty and shit stirring to even bring it up. DH and I are struggling even with free rent and yes, it is completely free and reduced council tax, etc. We often genuinely wonder how people on low wages such as the OP manage? I've only just seen this thread because I for one, would have liked a sensible discussion. Instead I found it's a snide, back biting, false accusatory, "woe is me" thread (with a few exceptions) and has nothing whatsoever to do with what OP was referring to. Low paid workers compared to benefits. Idiots!!!! Better luck next time OP, although I wouldn't blame you at all if you never try/hope for a sensible discussion on this matter again!

But the thing is, OP is not on a low income. 2.5k pm is not a low income. £600 pm is but OP has temporary high childcare costs. She doesn't say how old her children are but in no longer than three years she will be entitled to her free thirty hours and will then have £1500 per month after paying her extortionate rent.

Yeah, it's shit for her now but no-one forced her to have two kids so close together and unlike people who can't work her situation is not permanent.

Yes the last thing anyone going through what the OP is going through, needs is a bunch of hideous virtue signallers who have decided that attacking someone at their lowest in order to ‘defend’ some non existent victim.

Hideous.

Frequency £2.5k for a family of 4 IS a low income

Well i wouldnt say £2.5 k is a paticularly high income even in my northern town once you have paid mortgage/rent and bills and essentials like food and travel i bet there's not a lot left, so in a town in the south east its going to be a lot worse

And there's your MN support, empathy and constructive advice OP. no-one forced her to have two kids so close together Brilliant! I'm off to watch a zombie movie now, makes more sense! Good luck OP.

My kids are 6 years apart you buffoon. I just came back to tell you that as your smug niave attitude is grating on me.

Thanks for the support to the few of you that have been. Bye

Well I wouldn't say £2.5 k is a particularly high income even in my northern town once you have paid mortgage/rent and bills and essentials like food and travel i bet there's not a lot left

Really? I get slightly over £1k per month pre-bills for three of us and I manage without struggling too much. Don't get me wrong, we're not jetting off to Europe every other month but I'm not counting every penny.

The shock on professionals faces that I had a well paid job and career

OP, frequency is one of the posters that gave me 3 pages of shit for saying how proud I felt now that we are in a position to buy decent food.

She’s just not a pleasant human, don’t tske it to heart