To wonder how people afford to live with these jobs

[Dreamer14]

I have worked in the private sector for nearly 20 years. In a high paying industry too. However… I’m bored. So very bored.

My Monday dread starts on Friday nights. I’ve changed company and the feeling is the same. I feel isolated because I work at home all the time. I don’t feel like I’m being the best version of myself. I’m grumpy as I’m unhappy etc.

I’ve thought for years, I’d love to go do something completely different. Each time I try… I give up because I simply can’t afford to work 37 hours (with all the childcare I’d need) for £20k.

I would love a job helping others. I look at NHS and school jobs, council jobs, charity jobs etc. but the pay simply isn’t enough. Am I doing something wrong? Have I missed something?

We would like to move in next few years but if I went to bank and said I earn 20k they wouldn’t lend me nearly enough. I don’t have a rich husband! I’m the main earner.

I'm working 37 hours a week and hate every moment. My dream situation would be slightly less hours so I can pick my kids up one day a week and something I love that involves a bit more human interaction.

Lots of threads on here saying that UC is ok if you are a single working parent. People will get more than that if renting and high childcare payments.

my ex is a higher earner He pays more in tax than I get in UC if it makes you feel better.

You need to reframe your job in your mind and start looking for some positivity.
if you want to help people, Brilliant do that in your spare time, volunteer. I’ve cried in a Porsche and I’ve cried a bus stop, the Porsche was better.

@SchittOnIt I’m a service designer in central government and I earn just over 52k currently, without any line management responsibility. Service designers are really hard to hire at the moment and there are some good-looking vacancies around in local and central government so I’m sure you could find something.

@Giraffapuses by ‘policy analyst’ do you mean data analyst? Another government profession worth looking into is delivery manager - lots of skills from project management will transfer to that.

I disagree with PP recommending the charity sector. Sure, the work is meaningful but the pay, pensions and conditions are often lousy.

They are pretty generous for some and not others ! If you have a few kids born before the 2 child cut off year then you get the child element of tax credits or Universal credit for all of them ! Some claimants can be getting quite a bit in child maintenance, and it is not deducted or does not reduce benefits at all. People on benefits who don't work or don't work much are subjected to the benefits cap and can really be in dire straits, others who are in work and get the generous work allowance really can do quite well. It all depends on your situation. I am trying to help a single person at the moment on UC who cannot work due to mental health breakdown, stuck renting an expensive property and Uc don't pay much towards it. She has about £100 a month for food and other bills and it's just making her mental health spiral even more. It's shocking. I am amazed by how little some people ( often very vulnerable people ) have to live on and at the same time gobsmacked at times as to what others get !

It is entry level when it comes to CS and council jobs which is what OP mentioned.

Yep nhs jobs are underpaid and haven't kept up with inflation or private sector wages. No bonuses either. I've managed to buy a house with DH (both nhs). My colleague whose wife only works a few hours can't afford one. One nhs salary isn't enough unless you are very high up (in my area we are generally bands 5-7 except managers but there aren't exactly lots of those jobs around!)

This made me smile! It’s so true though, you get used to what you’re used to. We also make do on a pittance each but we both love our jobs and the free time it allows us.

I used to be stuck in a highly stressful job I hated. It was only when dh inherited some money and we paid off our mortgage that I was able to change career to something I enjoyed. We have had to cut our cloth accordingly and I sometimes think I would have had a lot better prospects if I had stayed in my old career but overall it was killing my mental health and changing careers was the best thing to do despite the wage drop.

Well the alternative is the OP doesn’t work and gets a lot less in benefits.

it would be great if single parents families could afford to live on £18k , but yeah they can’t 🤷‍♀️

Pharma companies generally treat their staff extremely well. I would try to move to a pharma company rather than working in a CRO. You will get paid more and be valued more highly. Plus you might be able to work in the office. Or use your project management skills elsewhere - every industry needs good project managers.

I'm a single parent, one child, working full time earning £21k. With UC top ups and child maintenance from my ex husband my income is around £2200 a month, after tax/pension. My rent is £470pm (housing association 2 bedroom flat). No childcare costs as DC is a teen. So after rent I have £1730 left for bills and everything else. We live fine, not luxury but I don't struggle honestly. However in 4 years time when DC is 18 the benefits and maintenance will stop so I'm trying to work my way up and get promoted.

My partner earns about 40k, I’m only 22 hours a week, about 10k pa. fits around childcare . Don’t get any benefits except child benefit. Mortgage around 300 pm, council tax 280 pm. Gas/electricity and car. 2 kids. We are in Scotland so rents/ house prices are lower. I just can’t get over the amount of top ups from benefits people need to survive on? So basically the government are funding greedy landlords who put rent up? Company’s keep wages at minimum wage, like my employer. Knowing the government will top them up? Disgrace

They used to.
In 2008, MSD cleared out the UK workforce, never replaced it. Alot moved to Dublin for tax reasons

Yep, my HA is £470 a month, 2 bedroom private rentals for the same type of property here are £700-£800. Disgusting.

For a good ten years I was earning between 20-23k with three kids (youngest born before the two child limit) and the top up from tax credits was a decent amount with a not insignificant chunk of childcare costs. That massively helped and was the reason I could stay in work. My monthly tax credit payment was £1.3k at one point which was like another full time wage and that was with no housing costs claimed as I have a mortgage. Obviously things have changed and I have no idea if UC is as generous but worth checking things like Entitled to so plug in different scenarios.

Between my partner and I, we have a take home of just over £40,000 a year. We cut our cloth but we do alright actually. We're not entitled to any benefits.

We live in a cheap area (which helps a lot!), in a tiny house which is safe and dry (and will be warm once we sort out drafts) but many MNs would frown on. We don't run a car, mainly for medical reasons but also because we are unwilling to take the hit on our finances for it.

It's just a case of prioritising and sometimes compromising. We don't have anything fancy but we can get what we need.

This month we had a few unexpected bills and we covered them with no issues but we'll be careful over the next few months to replenish our savings.

If you’re a project manager already, would you consider doing the same in the public sector? You’d be helping people still but the pay would be higher.

I work in public sector comms and used to work in the NHS. The project managers I worked with were on somewhere between £40-£50k (band 7/8A). Retraining and starting at the bottom will come at a cost but you could use your existing skills and see less of a salary drop.

Yanbu.
I work for Nhs. Admin. 37hrs week.
Just under 19k. I'm in the North. It's a crap wage but I'm a carer too and they are flexible and understanding about my commitments

Just to add actually thinking back my entitlement was a bit higher as one of my children is disabled and so there was a premium added but still worth checking for your circumstances

A lot of people can't afford to live on these incomes unless they have a wealthy partner or family help. It's depressing.

Beezknees
I know it’s disgusting, what a greedy world we live in. It’s the fact the government actually let this happen. I work for a large fashion retail company, min wage. During lockdown they must have made millions of profit. We never saw any of it. Lots of folk I work with her top ups just to afford basics.

There are ages and stages for a start plus how many kids people have, benefits, area of country and assistance from family. I remember my friend getting free FT childcare for her two children because both sets of grandparents had retired early and had them both for two days a week each.

Its also depends on what standard of living you want if you have the choice. Child Poverty Action group publishes a list that shows what each child should have so they are not living in poverty. I remember reading it decades ago when I was an undergraduate, it’s still going. It’s pretty basic and obvious but then has some money for things like being able to attend small social events like a birthday tea.

I grew up poor so for me when it came to choices well I would never have followed my heart over money. I have however done a lot of voluntary work with charities to feel like I’m doing something of worth to me. My brothers moved to America and embraced the dream wholeheartedly one worked in big pharma and the other for an oil company, they are both incredibly wealthy now. One has just retired and is working as a volunteer. Though he sold his soul to the corporate world it gave him an amazing life. When I stay in his guest annexe which Is the size of a four bed new build house in the UK I wonder how I would be living if I had taken up his offer of sponsorship 30 years ago.

Approach it systematically OP.

Saying you just want to help people is a bit of a red flag - jobs helping people are still jobs, and they have boring bits and stressy bits like any other.

It doesn’t sound like you can comfortably take much of a pay cut, and neither would it be fair on your children to do so. So you need to identify what you can do to get up to at least 45-50k pretty swiftly.

Look at careershifters or similar organisations who can help you work it through