Full time or part time and benefits?

[DancingintheDark17]

I'm currently a working full time single mum, thinking about positively of changing to part time.

I love my work, decent salary, good hours = no paid child care needed, lots of paper work done at home when DS in bed. Being committed 5 days is really taking its toll on priorities, my son and work are always sorted, which leaves me running around with every spare minute trying to clean. Having the extra days at home would creat a perfect balance, but knowing the drop in wages it was only ever a dream.

However my friend recently explained how she's retuning part time after maternity leave, as she will be entitled to x, y, z and when added together is nearly a full time wage.

If I made the change it would permanent, and to move back I would need to reapply.

Any advice? Experience?

It’s also why we, as women of child-bearing age, get put to the back of the queue when applying for full time roles or promotions. Because it’s assumed we’ll drop hours when we ‘inevitably’ have children.

You would be expected to take on more hours once your child is in full time school.

To consider it an advantage, you must be renting as UC won't pay for your mortgage.

You do still get UC if you have a mortgage though.

Im now in my mid 50s, kids at Uni and working and I will be finally be able to go down to 3 days for the first time in my life and retire at 60 with a very good pension.

Tbf anyone in their 30s/40s now is unlikely to retire at 60 with a very good pension. Nothing to do with full time or not, more that the generous schemes have been closed.

I work PT 28 hours with a school age child. I do 2 full days and the other 3 days I do school hours only. I wouldn't work full time yet, and there's no other childcare available anyway. This works for me.

Do what you feel is best but be mindful of your pension contributions. Ignore people saying "it's not a choice", it absolutely is a choice, that's what working tax credits are there for.

And you absolutely can get benefits with a mortgage, you just can't get any housing related benefits. You can still get child tax credits and working tax credits.

As for the comments about taxpayers funding you. The taxpayer pays for all sorts of shit I dont approve of. Supporting some single mothers temporarily while they still actually work, is probably one of the nicer things.

Exactly, all the people criticising the OP do you get child benefit, 30 free hours, etc?

Don't quote me on the but Iof I was able to drop my hours and it was sustainable, I would also be looking to take care for my mum so she no longer has to outsource this

It sounds like the OP has paid her fair share of tax, and is now considering options given her circumstances have changed and will go back to FT work in time. Some solo parents simply cannot work FT, I found myself in that position when my dd was diagnosed with epilepsy and my ex died so I had to emotionally support her. After my ex had died I got no financial support, nor any practical help, I didnt have any family nearby who could help with childcare (I had one brother who I could count on in an emergency). I got to the point where I felt like I couldnt carry on anymore.

Its a lot easier to work FT when you have a partner to share the chores and childcare with, and you do not have a DC with additional needs.

I cannot see how old your child is.

But remember, if they're 3 or more, it will be viewed as you having chosen to reduce your income, so you won't be eligible for any claims for 6 months.

Not if she worked 0.8 at more than minimum wage. She'd never be hassled to take on more.

@Waxonwaxoff0
" You can still get child tax credits and working tax credits"

In most areas for new claims it is UC that replaces both.

OP, put your details into
www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.entitledto.co.uk/&ved=2ahUKEwjRrND1sKz3AhV0l3IEHa-pDgkQFnoECA4QAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw14CIGnabUGI6mzUjMu2unA

It does sometimes over calculate. Working 16 hours a week doesn't mean full benefits. You can earn £573 (no housing costs) a month and get full benefits. Then after that they are reduced. My DD, two children needs to work 24 hours a week or she is in hardship. She pays rent though. She couldn't manage on 16 hours a week. She only gets £30 a week child maintenance. Does your Mum pay for her care? If she's willing to pay you then that may work out. You can be classed as her carer without getting carers allowance, which would be a legitimate reason for UC purposes to not work full time. It will affect borrowing and may affect your pension. But it's worth thinking about if you are better placed to care for your Mum than what's she getting. Although being a carer is a big commitment.

How many of you bashing op are single parents? It’s hard work doing everything on your own and working full time, then caring for a disabled parent and I think op should be able to drop some hours whilst her son is young to be able to be a good parent and work too. It’s great for those of you who work in a field where you can progress upwards and earn more and not need to worry about money but some of us on lower paid jobs do not have that luxury.

my circumstances are that I am a nurse. So work shifts. There is no childcare at the times I work so I work the days their dad (ex) can have them so 2 per week - he also works shifts so it’s a juggle and my work were very good they didn’t need to accommodate me but I needed to work. I also have an autistic child, so one of my main focus is him, loads of meetings (ot, camhs, salt, paeds, school) dealing with school etc so I do sacrifice pay, prospects and pension - there is no childcare he would be suitable for either. My house regularly looks like a bombs hit it and I’m exhausted, diagnosed with chronic health condition last year. I hope you can make it work op. It won’t be forever.

I know it's UC now, I meant the CTC and WTC elements.

If your mother claims PIP and you spend 35 hours or more looking after her, you will be able to claim the Carers element of UC. (Note this is separate from Carer's allowance which you wouldn't be entitled to if earning more than £232/week.) However, if your mother gets ESA with the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) you should seek advice before claiming the Carer's element of UC.

Wrong.

Does this apply for 6 months if both parents give up to be carers ? If 2 dc get dla ?

Sorry this was a typo and should have said £132/week

It's completely wrong whether child gets DLA or not.

Thanks

is it right that you need to get carers in place and then stop work for a couple of weeks before claiming or do you go straight in showing that you’ve applied for carers and fit the criteria for both parents to be carers with no requirement to work ?i suppose they can see from the child dla awards that both parents qualify for carers

Wow what a lot of horrible judgemental comments on here. How dare the OP work and claim top up benefits. Maybe have a look at those that choose not to work completely meanwhile claiming every single benefit they can and slate them instead.

I'm a working single mum too to a dd with autism. I get top up benefits shock horror !!!!!

*Why should I have to pay for you to be a part time SAHM when I am working full time myself to support my own children?

How do you think it would work if we all took the attitude of dropping some hours/days and expecting the state (by which I mean working people) to pick up people's financial
slack?*

But you don't mind paying for people that don't work full stop and choose to live a life on benefits ???

I don't want to derail this thread too much but feel free to PM me or start a new thread and tag me.
Basically the timing of various claims depends very much on your personal circumstances.

If you are reducing your hours to provide care it’s highly unlikely you will face any sanction. I didn’t when I reduced my hours and even when I had to give up work for a while. I did check with DWP prior to stopping but the advisor said “they would have to be very harsh to sanction you”.

I think the DWP understand that sometimes life changes and it means reduced hours etc. Generally I’ve found them okay to deal with in terms of understanding my personal situation. I’m only just back at work now and nobody has come after me asking why I am not full time even though DS is now 19. He does however get PIP at the highest rate and still requires a lot of input. It’s now DH who does this as I can earn more than he can.

The privilege lot need to give it a rest. If OP earns a half decent salary she won't get UC anyway. If OP recieves a lower wage but her well being improves then let the woman Be!