School job pay gap

[TheSunnySide]

Posting here for traffic.

I have just left a job in one school to go to another. My previous school will be paying me through the summer and my last pay packet is mid August. However my new pay date (different local authority) will be on the last working day of September. I start work there on 30th August.

What do ai do about not having any salary coming in for all for the two weeks from Mid Sept to the end of the month?

I am a single parent on some benefits that top up my salary but they will soon be reduced due to a slight pay rise which I will have informed HMRC about in August.

Is there anything I can do apart from take a mortgage break?

Could you use your local food bank’ for example, is not something I will be using

Why on earth not? Why is that funny?

So you were previously paid 2 weeks in advance and 2 in arrears, and now will go to full month in arrears? You’re not losing any money, but because you’ve organised your finances this way for 5 years, it will actually be 2 weeks without money in practical terms.

I wouldn’t want to request a mortgage holiday, though it’s an option. What date is your mortgage is your payment due?

If you have access to one, I would use a credit card. Either to use all your money for bills and then credit card for all else, or even withdraw cash on credit card to deposit into mortgage paying account. That’s punishing interest rates, but I’d do it if I was sure I could pay it back within a couple of months. If you can’t, then avoid a spiral of credit card debt and go for the mortgage holiday.

Cut all spending possible until then - right down to eating random combinations of whatever you have in the house now. For very short term, it is possible to spend very little.

Are you in credit on utilities? If you overpay summer for winter increase, you might be. If so, cancel your next direct debit payment and let it come from the credit you’ve built up.

Hi there

yes I am on Tax Credits.

I probably sound really stupid for not being aware of any extra support I can get like hardship funds etc but since I became a single parent I have been able to manage on my salary and tax credits with very little debt until the last few weeks where I dipped into my overdraft.

in response to others, as I said - I am SO lucky to have just one child and a small house but the increase in food prices, petrol cost, utility bills has had a really big effect on my small wage so a situation like the one I find myself in is a bit frightening.

With my son home from school he is eating
more, using more electricity, needing
clothes washed more etc. it may seem little but when your salary is less than £1000 a month it really impacts your finances. Of course we will be out of the house a fair bit but that has its own cost attached.

So you get paid 15th Aug from previous school, but you don't officially leave until the 29th? So you should get paid for those two weeks (15th-29th) on the 15th September? Will those two weeks' salary pay your most pressing bills?

Heads up: schools that pay at the end of the month often pay early in December, and then it's a loooooong wait until the end of January.

Can you change the DD date of your bills so that your September bills come out on last day of month or first October?

How much more electricity will he use though, really? The big one for me on electricity is heating - and you should be able to manage without that (I know it’s not all 32° across the country, but you won’t need a lot of heating).

Limit the clothes washing. Needs must. Most people wash more often than they need to, and often you’ve got clothes you’ve stopped wearing - so dig them out so you can leave the washing pile longer.

Unless you have FSM - unlikely on that salary I think? - remember the saving on school dinners. Be careful with your meal choices and it doesn’t have to be much more on food for him.

Long shot, but do you get CMS for him and how is your relationship with his ex? Is it a possibility to ask if you could get double CMS in August and none in Oct?

I think what people may have difficulty understanding is that I get a pay packet on the day my mortgage goes out. I then don’t get another pay packet until 2 weeks after another mortgage payment goes out.

as my mortgage is nearly half of my £1000 salary it means that aside from the benefits I will receive, I will have no other money coming in over that six week period so it IS a bit worrying.

Not insurmountable and I will hopefully
speak to my mortgage provider in time
to not have to pay the mortgage in mid September.

i just wondered really if anyone else had had this experience and what they were able to do to help themselves.

Thanks again.

I am a teacher . I get laid in the 25th but that is my wages until the last day of the month. Are you sure that yours is not the same ?

Your petrol costs should be right down for the next 6 weeks too, with holidays. It’s going to be tight but it seems more likely to be the best time of year to cut back, not the worst!
Even the clothes washing - you’ll have less loads when it’s shorts and t shirts not jeans and jumpers!

Your mum has already offered to help you out. Yes, you’ll have to pay her back in time… but the obvious answer is to accept.

Yes. I will be getting paid on the last day of the month which has been confirmed as Sept 30th. Prior to that my last pay date from the job I have just left has been confirmed in writing as 15th August so I will need to make that salary (which will be less than £900) last for 47 days.

This may be awful advice but I just took out an interest free credit card loan to see me through a sticky patch. There's usually a small % charge but it's given me some breathing space and I have until December 23 to pay it off.

You are reading that correctly. I guess you are saying that I need to accept that help. Something I am not good at doing. I am so grateful to you for helping me to understand that.

I already have two credit cards (thankfully with only small amounts in them) but Inwill see if I can transfer the balance to an interest free card.

I’ve not been laid for at least five years.

you go girl!

Hi op, it might be worth ringing your bank as well and explaining all of this. They might be able to arrange some temporary overdraft for you.

Another “obvious” point that you might help seeing is OK… do you have any savings that in your mind are for your child? If so, it’s OK to use them. If you usually put CB aside for them, then it’s OK not to do that for a few months whilst you need it. If you have an account in their name that you have access to, even if it’s birthday money that you have not personally saved for them - needs must. You can pay it back.

It does sound like accepting your mum’s offer is the way forward though. You’re a mum… you’d be gutted if your child was worrying and posting on the internet instead of accepting your love. That loan from her is just an expression of love. Do what you’d want your own child to do 😉

No, unfortunately I don’t have any savings for my child. I do have £200 in my own savings though so will probably use that if things get really tough.

Speak to the LA. I am starting in a school as support staff. I was offered the job in June but it doesn't start until Aug (Scotland). My LA has a pay advance scheme that you can apply for once you have a confirmed start date. It's then repaid over 8 weeks.

Your LA may offer something similar.

I am a teacher . I get laid in the 25th

I'm not sure we need to know that

It is difficult when you start a new job with a different pay date and you have all your dd's set up to work with the previous one. I have been there. Take the money from your mum and pay her back when you can.
Given you are on holiday now if you have the time and want to make some extra money you could try survey sites:
My favourite is Swagbucks - as well as survey income, you get loads of tops up at the end of the month for all the days you hit your daily goal and then they give you extra points when you hit points levels called Swag Ups. Join their membership programme as that has free benefits when you progress up the levels. The link below means when you earn 300 points in the first 30 days, they give you a 300 bonus.

www.swagbucks.com/p/register?rb=59151827

Second favourite: You Gov as you never screen out and it is nice to see yourself quoted in the media - lots on there at the moment with the country in a state of flux :

yougov.co.uk/refer/5n4orle6y-iGn-xFyNEk-w/

Please be aware it's not money for zero effort - but then what is? - you can make a decent secondary income if you give it an hour a day as you can do it on your phone when you get a spare 10/15 mins but I prefer doing it on a laptop while watching TV or sitting in the garden in the evening.
Any questions just ask

If you’re on tax credits you will probably get the extra cost of living payment before September. That will pay the majority of your mortgage.

Stupid link for YouGov:
account.yougov.com/gb-en/join?referral=5n4orle6y-iGn-xFyNEk-w

I’d look to see if I could get any kind of paid work during the summer. Casual bar work, whatever, you just need 2 weeks salary worth of work over the whole summer.

Just a small point for anyone thinking of going into school librarianship. Don’t get too excited by the hopeful prospect of a £20,000 salary. My last job paid me less than £12,000 a year. My new job is slightly better paid (more hours a week) but still a lot less than £20,000 take home.

Whoever posted above is right though, even on less than £12,000 I am not eligible for Free school meals or a uniform grant.

it is a LOVELY job though n