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.

Sorry I definitely wasn't suggesting you don't work. I mean I understand your way of thinking at the moment.

I put myself through AAT (accounting) and then further studies after this.

£80pw is £4,160pa
£1100pcm is £13,200pa
£640pcm is £7,680pa

That's an annual income of £25,040. Not £26,000.

Oops
£620pcm js £7,440.

So that's an annual income of £24,800.

I think what OP means is that her annual money is £21.6k, which is the equivalent of a £26k salary when you factor in tax, NI, pension etc.

The CB is weekly though, and not monthly.

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime I assumed about the free school meals

Could be. I've only been in this situation a few months. Thanks.

I'll recalculate and see what's best because I do want employment again as I enjoy being out of the house.

I mean monthly and not weekly 🤣

Yes it puts me in the same position as if I were earning that salary in a full-time job @EllieU

@EllieU thank you, glad it's not just me. I get 21 a week so monthly about 80

How many kids do you have that you receive £80/week in child benefit?? I’ve got 3 and it’s nowhere near that

I think if you're happy doing what you do and it works for you while you have kids in school, then go for it! If you were struggling, and going without things that you really wanted then that's different. In the meantime, maybe look at doing an online college course so that you're getting some quals ready for when you do want to get back into that type of work.

Sorry just seen you meant £80/month not week, ignore me!

Your thinking is unreasonable and your behaviour is complacent. Surely you’d rather keep on trying progressing career wise than happily claim benefits for the rest of your working life?

Yes we were very poor. Often didn’t have enough food. And if my Mum took a min wage job we’d have been even worse off. At the time min wage was very low and only young single people could survive on it. If you had kids you were stranded on benefits.

Ah I see. So £21,840.

Also think about the problems you might come in to if you're still in this position when the kids are older and move out etc, you won't be funded in the same way by benefits. So you'll need something in place to fall back on so that you are earning your own money, and enough of it.

I think your figures are slightly wrong there though. I've just gone back to a 'proper' job after a divorce and some health issues, but even on my £15k p.a. salary up until last month, I wasn't entitled to free school meals, prescriptions or any help with Council Tax, just some UC and it's bloody hard going. You might find life is a bit easier if you upped your hours otherwise you may be in for a nasty shock!

The benefits trap is a false economy though. No pension payments, no chance of furthering your career/increasing your income. You'll find yourself with grown up kids and living in poverty once all the benefits stop.
You think your kid benefits from only being collected from school by you but actually when they're little they don't really care. Ime you're needed more when they're teens, primary age is the perfect age to concentrate on improving your income.

@EllieU This is it, I really want to get a job I like but can only think of TA. I wanted to do CIPD but too expensive.

I'm definitely seeking part-time employment alongside what I already do for this reason, I hope over the next year I can work my way up in a job but I'm drawn to things like domestic abuse worker and TA which are paid awfully and would put me in a worse position if I did them full-time instead of carrying on earning £1,100 and getting my UC top up.

@EllieU It's true but I've such a long work history I can always walk into a job so it's not like I am ever under threat of being unemployed if necessary. Also the work I do from home I can just do that too when child is older. And of course when child is older they will be working or moved out which either comes with more household income or reduced household costs.

Can I also just add, that while I'm sure it's not impossible to get a TA job, when I was looking for the aforementioned low paid part time job to work round the kids, I applied for a TA job at their primary school with a degree, PGCE, and 15 years worth of Secondary teaching experience plus experience of being a Brownie leader under my belt, and didn't even get an interview. They're highly competitive!

@TheSnootiestFox I've been offered a few jobs already via agency but I don't drive.
I just need one close by and one's come up and an agency are putting me in for it but I only want one day a week.

@TheSnootiestFox I wonder if being overqualified would go against you since they would expect you to leave and they want someone who will stay.

I wondered that too

@Plenanna I'm assuming you didn't grow up within the last 40 years in the UK then, because you wouldn't lose dental care or pay for prescriptions if you are a child

No but my Mum would have lost hers if she worked.