To think I can go on benefits instead of returning to work?

[UniversalCreditOrNo]

NC for this.

Let me start off by saying this....up until
February last year, I have never not been in work. I got my first job at 13, was working full time and living alone at age 21 (before which I worked 25 hours a week alongside my studies) and it was only last year when I decided to go travelling that I ever found myself without employment. I got pregnant at the end of my travels, and here is where I find myself.

My daughter is now 6 months old. In 3 months time, I’m supposed to go back to work. How do people afford to do it? Childcare is £56 a day where I am. On my current minimum wage job that’s a take home of around £30 a week....before tax and NI.

My partner is on around £20k and I can rely on family for 1 day a week childcare. So here’s my AIBU. Can I go on benefits, instead of going back to work? Is that a thing people can do?!

I don’t know how it works. My area is universal credit....is there even such a category for this? It’s not jobseekers as I wouldn’t be looking for work, and it’s not like I’m signed off with illness or disability.

My partner is convinced we can because he doesn’t earn a lot and ‘this is precisely what the benefits system is for’. However....his mum is a serial benefits user....everything from being a stay at home single mum until her youngest was 15, until now where she’s signed off for an injury from 3 years ago she still claims is affecting her work ability All I can think of is the stigma behind choosing to go on benefits, but right now I can’t see another option.

but you will get help with childcare under UC and pay far less than £56

There are many more work from home jobs about now. Not MLM rubbish either. Mostly admin stuff

I work in the third sector and we are all home based. But employees still have to have their DC in childcare, I couldn't work with my three year old around.

£56 a day sounds crazy though

Depends where you are really, I'm in London and that's incredibly cheap here.

I did this as my childcare was more than my wages. I now claim working tax credits as my husband works. He earns less than yours does, so dont know about the eligibility? Look at the official gov website there is a calculator you can use, you put in your husbands salary and it tells you how much (if any) you're entitled to.

Good God! I hope you lot get as excited about white collar tax evasion and the inequitable society we live in with food banks for the working poor!
I understand not wanting to go back and leave the baby but as you are not married you are in a vulnerable position if you and your partner split. I would definitely look into evening and weekend working instead. It's what many of my friends did and one got a brand new career later on out of it. If your partner leaves you will be screwed trying to get back in the workplace and juggling childcare.

My area is universal credit

What does this mean? You work in universal credit? Or you’ve decided you want to claim universal credit?

Don't forget both parents are responsible for their child and childcare is only needed when you both work. It devalues you and your work to think it's not worth working because you have a baby, both parents have a baby.

The only way out of a life on a low income is working to improve your prospects. It may be harsh but that's the reality. People manage by using childminders, working part-time, working evening shifts and weekends when their partner parents instead of them. It's bloody hard but the alternative of you ending up with 10 years of no job after baby 2 appears is harder if you then ended up a single parent. I speak from experience.

Google benefits calculator and find out OP. The benefits system is supposed to be rewarding work these days, so you should find it supports you to be in work, you'd definitely get help with childcare

^Jesus what is wrong with wanting to be with your child the first few years

Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Mother's have been stay at home mums for centuries. They don't expect the government to fund them to stay at home though. That's the difference.^

But the government have been funding low income working families, generally with just one parent working, since the introduction of Family Income Supplement by the Conservative government in 1971. I’ll wager this was before most mumsnetters were born. Obviously, it was an age when more mums were SAHM’s.

Childcare is expensive as it costs what it costs to provide. Makes sense if you have a well paid job or a great career but if you just have a low paid job not so much.

OP, you made a mistake posting on Mumsnet. You’d be better finding out what your entitled to and weighing up other various factors and making the decision yourself.

Wrt your childcare costs, would you get help from universal credit with these?

Yanbu for not wanting to return to work merely to pay cc costs.

I never returned to work after I had my last child (now 11.) However, we didn't get any benefits due to DH's income.

Try one of the online benefits calculators to see if you'd get help with cc costs / help if you stay at home.

Partner earns 26k. Two children of primary school age. When I stayed at home I (we) got £42 per week tax credits.

Your dh earns £20k a year so chances are you won’t be entitled to much (if anything).

I do think people are being harsh but that’s MN for you. I feel sad that people are forced back to work when their child’s a baby, I think we should have the option to stay at home until the child starts school. 30 years ago a lot of women would have been at home with their kids, now I hardly know anyone that can afford to be a stay at home mum. Unless your dh earns a fortune it’s pretty impossible to stay at home.

Op check out entitledto calculator. I can't imagine you'll be entitled to much with a full time salary coming in. Most employers have a voucher system. Maybe worth enquiring so you don't pay full whack at nursery. Would part time be an option? Or maybe finding a job evening weekends to avoid child care costs? It is daunting and in all honesty if I had the option I'd choose being home with my baby every time x

Don’t go back to work, enjoy the precious time with your child.

Manage on one salary, why would you consider putting your DD in nursery full time and exhausting yourself for £30 per week before tax and NI!

I went back full time after having ds and will
Go back on resucednjoirs in January after my maternity leave with dd is over. Nursery fees will be £1600 a month for 3 days a week. This is with sibling discount.

We looked at childminders but here they’re just as expensive and logistically not feasible.

But it’s short term. Hopefully ds will get his free hours in a year or so. And then he’ll be at school.

But I need to work.

You'll get tax credits to help you pay for childcare. That's it.

To answer your question, no you can’t just live on benefits anymore.

If your under universal credit, once your child is 1 years old, you will have to spent 30 hours a week online looking for jobs (and you have to write all the jobs you apply for so they can see you’re online).
Plus you would have to go into the universal credit building once a week to update them on your plans (you don’t choose the day or time, they do).
Your also not allowed any holidays or they stop your claim-the reason being your too busy looking for a job.

We found this out when I was a stay at home mom (claiming no benefits, just living on DH wage and our savings) and then my husband was made redundant so we were put in the UC world for 2 months before thankfully my husband got another job that paid the same. It’s honestly not something I would want to do again.

Could you become a childminder? Then you get to stay at home and earn money?

I think the cut of for tax credits for one child is 24k i stayed home and my husband worked and we got tax credits ( so do others I know ) but the online benefit calculator they will give you figures. Other options are work when your partner is at home , what do you do ? Could you look into getting qualifications for child minding ? Going part time or retraining whilst your little one is a baby ? When you go on the benefits calculator it should show you if you will get help with childcare costs , they also do the 30 hours at 3 so if you retrained you could maybe get those when your little one is 3

The real issue here is minimum wage. It's not a living wage.

OP I think you should keep your job, as it will be far more difficult to find work in the future if you give up.

Try to find cheaper childcare, or maybe rejig your hours so that your DH can do some?

£30 a week is a lot better than nothing - £1500 a year will help a lot. Also, working is about a lot more than earning money, and gives you the potential to find a better-paid job in the future.

I would explore if you can claim the child tax credit element of UC. You can fill in the form online and see, there’s nothing to lose by doing this. I think this unlocks some free childcare.

I don’t know why people are laying into you so much. It’s a massive problem for people on low wages and if your salary barely covers childcare it seems a no brainier to just look after your baby yourself. The reality is unless you have a career path mapped out, and a job with good pay and benefits it’s just not worth working with pre schoolers. The op is t asking if she can illegally scam some benefits FFS. WTW, CTC ARE designed for people on low wages that struggle to work around children, whether people like it or not. When dc were little I worked weekends in events. The work is easy to pick up and fairly well paid. You might have to sacrifice some family time for a little while.

The OP shouldn't have said 'go on benefits instead of working' because that's not what's happening.
Low income families have had financial help from the government for decades. They'd probably get help if they were paying for childcare.
Personally I think it's a mistake to stay at home unless you have a good career that you can return to after a break but I can see why It would make sense for lower income families. Paying £50 a day and bringing home £50 seems painfully pointless

Unfortunately, being on UC would probably be more stressful in many ways than working: there are frequent unreasonable demands and sanctions associated with it because the whole point of it is to starve people into compliance ie taking any shitty low-paid job they can get.

As PP have suggested, look up what you might get on one of these online calculators (20K a year for two adults and a small child is not a huge income and there might at least be some potential contribution to childcare costs.)

Of course, another thing you can do is use your vote wisely come December 12th, to make things better for you and everyone else in similar situations.

It seems to be possible in my area as my niece has a toddler and has so far managed to avoid going back to work, her partner earns somewhere sub £25k. Frustrating as it is.

Instead she will gladly tell you how it was better money to go on benefits than get a job 🤷‍♀️

Which is exactly what you want to do.
Get a job working nights and weekends or pay for childcare, like the rest of us have to.

I don't particularly want to send DD to nursery when I go back in 3 months either. I don't want to pay £250 a week for someone else to watch her take her first steps or hear her read for the first time, but I will because I want to set the best example for her, and give her the best life I can.

I don't want my taxes to go to people who take the piss out of the system and who will bring to their children to have the same mindset as them.

I thought working tax/universal credits were specifically for low income families so i'm not sure why the op is considered a benefit scrounger.