To think £800p/m is pretty generous?

[Cuppasoupmonster]

Off the back of the ‘trapped women’ thread, out of curiosity I used ‘Entitled To’ to find out what I could claim if I was a single mum of 2 primary aged kids with no savings and an ex who paid the minimum in maintenance. The hypothetical single mum earns 1,300 p/m and rents a property costing £900 p/m.

The calculator said the minimum she would be entitled to would be £800p/m, which in my view is about right. Yet I hear a lot that benefits are a pittance and had assumed that to be the case, but I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

Am I overlooking something? Not trying to be goady, I’m genuinely curious.

YABU = £800 isn’t enough in these circumstances
YANBU = £800 is about right or even generous

This has actually been trialled in Iceland and Belgium and in certain companies in the UK where they promoted a 4 day working week instead of a 5 day working week. They recognised that for some jobs it wouldn't be suitable such as those working in hospitals etc. But on the whole they find productivity per head went up and it was generally seen as being successful as far as I'm aware with no changes to wages paid by the employers. Not everyone would want to work part time - I'm quite happy working full time and love my job and have no reason to work part time. So I think you're basing a lot here on very general assumptions. Plus if someone is earning a high enough wage in the first instance why would they be "topped up" I'm not sure where you've got that from. Although surely it would create more better paid jobs which would boost the job market therefore helping people find employment in the first place...

@ConsuelaHammock Those are incredible skills of telepathy you have there that you are able to know the ins and outs of the posters circumstances just from one paragraph you read on the Internet and are therefore able to pass judgement. Very impressive indeed.

It’s a joke, I know a guy (we were actually quite close workmates once) who left his wife for OW and when I asked him what sort of CM agreement he was making for his 2 kids cheerfully told me it was all fine as she could just get tax credits and she was happy with that arrangement.

I agree. This is why I don’t agree with benefits. Basically the state is paying you to have kids. From this thread I’ve learnt that if you live rural it’s perfectly reasonable not to work and for the state to pay you to stay at home and secondly just have babies.

Did you read the post lol? How do you know her oh hasn't walked out on her pregnant and left her unable to afford anything and unable to work because he's refused to contribute to anything that he should be contributing to... how tf does that make her the villain? Surely her oh is for not paying towards his children in the first place? What else is she supposed to do? What is any woman leaving a dv relationship with kids in tow supposed to do? Your thinking is so black and white it's like you already just have your mind made up and just take from things what you want to rather than really listening.

It’s not enough do you know how much 2 kids cost in food, clothes, hobbies, school trips and materials (always wanting a quid here, two there, tenner for this), toys, clubs etc. You would have no money for anything nice for yourself or family holiday or anything. You’d have to hope ex would pay more than the absolute minimum that is asked for by CMS

Lovely to see we are still re enforcing the belief that the poor are money steeling scum. Maybe they will all die and your taxes can go down? Except taxes won't go down because the tories will give it to the rich. Why be angry at the needy and struggling? Be angry at the tax avoiders, the petrol companies, the utility companies. Be angry at our government for putting us in this position of suffering. The people running our country are well educated people who have had every opportunity in life and yet they lie and cheat at every opportunity. And still the people on this thread resent the poor.

Thing is, OP, your situation is massively improved compared with the single mum on benefits. You invest in your house and with a partner, there are two of you to take on additional work whilst the other cares for the children. I am fortunate in that my job lends itself to a small additional income working from home so with that, my full time income and three children (one with a disability), I am still entitled to some tax credits. Weathering this current storm is very, very difficult and for the first time in 15 years, I am going under.

Stealth poor bashing.
Seen it all now.
Must be lovely to be able to feel so superior to all those nasty poor people.

Just remember folks, the vast majority of benefit money gets put back into the economy when it is spent by the recipient.

There is no need for snipey & judgemental posts - it’s so tedious 😑

You say you wouldn’t be able to survive if were paid any less, however, you’ve had a holiday, pay for extra curriculum activities and have enough each month for savings for your child?!

None of these are essentials?!

I know they aren’t essentials and I only afford them because I work as well, soon I won’t be able to work and won’t be able to afford those extra things and even food & fuel will be a stretch so I will have to do a revaluation of everything I am paying at the moment.
What I meant was for those that can’t work they couldn’t give them less than they do, it’s not stingy & I’m very grateful for it but it’s not “generous” :)

Agreed.

If you’re buying ballet classes, going on holiday and doing swimming classes while thinking “I’ll never pay off my credit card” you’re doing yourself a disservice in “completely prioritising” your dd. You’re not only pretending to be better off than you are, you’ll create a dynamic where you always come lasts if you don’t put yourself on the top of your list sometimes, nobody will ever consider you important enough to prioritise

drop the pretence, drop the superfluous classes and get the credit debt gone.

I don’t get how people live the life of Riley on benefits. When I was on them I REALLY STRUGGLED

and then they told me they had made a mistake and I owed them. claiming benefits very nearly ruined my life.

I am certainly not trying to appear better off than I am…I do pay off my credit card. Ballet classes are £20 a month, savings £20 a month and our holiday was a 950 sun holiday to France that cost in total about £500. I want my child to have experiences and to have money aside for her to have driving lessons/money towards a car in the future - is that so terrible!!

Imagine thinking you know so much about me from one comment I’ve made on here.
Why try and make me feel bad or stupid.

End of the day people have different priorities.

To be honest, if you’re only working 6 hours a week and can afford holidays and ballet classes etc., I think it’s fairly reasonable. I’m a single mum and have been on benefits- I think the rate is reasonable and people have a responsibility to also look after themselves.

Yeah, I don't believe half the stuff people post on here .