I am better off on benefits

[yousilvertongueddevilyou]

I make £1100/month self-employed. I now get £620/month in Universal Credit and £80/week in child benefit.

I'm on a £26K/year salary which goes a long way where I live.

If I got a job that paid £28K/year I'd have to work more, for £100/month more, which I'd lose in prescriptions, free school meals, and council tax support.

I'd have to make at least £30K/year to make working worth my while and then I'd have to lose even more on childcare to work full-time.

So I really need to make at least £35K/year and even then the slog wouldn't be worth it.

I'm grateful. It does trap you into a static income though. Unless my self-employed work becomes more lucrative.

I do work as much as I can, but only in school hours and before school, as it benefits my child to have me pick them up every day.

I'm certainly not incentivised to go back to work, but I am still seeking employment because I enjoy working.

Universal Credit was bashed but it actually works really well and rewards people to work.

You wouldn't lose money on childcare. UC pay up to 85% of childcare fees if you work. If you don't work you lose out on a pension and career progression, and you said yourself you'd be £100 a month better off. Personally DH and I both work and claim UC (the majority of the money we get pays for childcare). Unfortunately wages are quite low here. We are definitely better off with us both working.

There are a few benefit threads today, which include the same old tropes about people being better off on benefits and people scamming the system. Wonder why so many in a clump?

@Dinkleberg I'm not sure about career progression. I'm early 40s now and always disliked the jobs I did. I really enjoy the self-employed work and the work I'm looking to go into is teaching assistance as I only enjoy hands on stuff working with people.

I'd happily do a people-facing job and I do look but nothing pays over £25K.

Then you factor in seeing your child less, and they're only young.

I look at options all the time. I really like the idea of TA though and want to do that part-time alongside self-employment.

It's a constant toss up between happiness and income. I always choose happiness, as in not doing a job I dislike. I did that for so long.

@LetThemEatTurnips Probably inspired by the big one yesterday.

Scamming the system is wrong. But you can be much better off on benefits than working. I work, always have, but being a single parent this is what it's come to.

If you are self employed, then presumably you don't get holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions from your employer etc.

Most children would benefit from being dropped off and picked up every day by their parents... The reality for most is that parents work normal working hours and they are in childcare. Imo if someone can work, they should.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz Very true, so I will rely on the state pension which is on track to be full, which is only £185/week. In theory though that should be enough to live on.

I could put away for a private one or try to save as my child gets older.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz I can work if I'm sick as it's from home and not taxing work. Don't get sick often but as I get older that could change. This is partly why I want to go into employment again so I can always go back to that if need be.

@Scottishgirl85 I agree it's a benefit and one which I prioritise.

I grew up on benefits because the simple truth was that my Mum couldn’t afford to take the jobs on offer because they were too low paid. As soon as she took a min wage job we would lose our housing and council tax benefits, free prescriptions and dental care, and free school meals. Add in the travel costs to work and the cost of wrap-around childcare, and we would be worse off if Mum worked. So we were basically trapped in poverty. It was awful.

I'm not understanding:

I make £1100/month self-employed. I now get £620/month in Universal Credit and £80/week in child benefit.

I'm on a £26K/year salary which goes a long way where I live.

You're on a £26k salary, or you're making £1100 a month self employed? And £80 per week child benefit, I didn't think anyone could get that much per week.

@Plenanna So you felt very poor? I don't think we feel that way but it's because we live in a very cheap part of the country and so we are able to do many things, she does activities, has new clothes etc. I think back a few decades poverty was much more palpable.

@EllieU Sorry it's a month, this is why I can't do admin

I'll be going back to work soon, dropping to min wage, 3 days a week, more than half my wage will go on childcare, if I use the tax free childcare scheme we won't get universal credit, it just sucks really but I need to keep my job really so in a few years I can go back full time

You do whatever works best for you right now,as being a single parent is extremely difficult. If that means being on benefits so be it. One day your child will be older and things will be easier for you and then you can make different choices.

@Natfrances thank you. I only just became a single mum so I am doing exactly that. I am employable, but wages are pretty low. I'm hoping to get skilled in something that could pay well while I have this free time but unsure what as yet.

I love the idea of TA though and if I can do that part-time for a bit maybe in years to come I will be skilled enough in that to get a decent job that I enjoy, which would make it worthwhile enough to take the pay cut.

I thought income had to be below about £7.5k for free school meals so are you sure you've calculated correctly for that?

You may be getting FSM as a run on because you wouldn't be entitled on that wage, also you're not entitled to free prescriptions with those figures either.

I’m in a similar situation OP . I work part time because going full time whilst my dd is school age would see me worse off. Lone parent and this is what works best for me at the moment. I know that I could work more but if it makes me worse of why would I ? Blame the system not the individual.

We had no choice but to rely on benefits when my son was born, he was born with lots of problems and we both gave up good jobs to be his 24/7. As things eased my DH went back to work and we felt a huge change. Then not long after I was able to return to work. Since then we've built our empire (in around 10 years). Both earn very well, got the qualifications needed for a much better job, have the nice lifestyle, setting ourselves up great for the future/pensions and so on.

It all depends what you want in life, what type of lifestyle you're after, how you want the future to look. I personally wouldn't be happy knowing I only have state pension to look forward to but I know a couple of people who are ok with that and happy in the jobs they are in.

It's all about choices. But I understand why you feel it doesn't pay to work.

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime I haven't calculated at all actually. No idea.

@RosaBaby2 What is FSM?

@Ilovemycatalot I don't have an issue with UC being good. I do with salaries and wages seeming low enough to make it better though. I would see those upped, not UC go down.

@EllieU I do work

Can you let me in on what you got skilled in please?

I definitely want to elevate if possible.

Huh?

You said "If I got a job that paid £28K/year I'd have to work more, for £100/month more, which I'd lose in prescriptions, free school meals, and council tax support. "

It seems that you wouldn't get FSMs so where have you pulled the £100 a month more number from?

It looks like it's entirely possible you might not be better off on benefits which would make the whole premise of your post rubbish.