Anyone else on an incredibly low wage? How do you manage?

[Fruitandbarley1]

Luckily I have 2 jobs, one which pays better but my first job in a care home pays £11 an hour, so 58p above minimum wage. I am applying for one better paid full time job rather than having 2 separate ones.
I know it's poorly paid because it's seen as unskilled and as a 'women's job'.

For that wage I deal with daily sexual, verbal and physical abuse, people who are doubly incontinent, medical emergencies, people who are having psychotic episodes and so on. Often don't get the full (unpaid) break.
I know it'll never change so I'm leaving sadly as much as I find it rewarding and love the residents.

Luckily my other work pays better so I'm trying to do that full time.
I flat share with my partner but if I were to live alone I'd be spending around 65% of my income on a small one bed flat. It's wrong in this day and age. Partner isn't well paid either but is also going for better work.
I have £80 per week for food, toiletries, all socialising, any extras. I know it's more than a lot of people have though, and we don't have children. Just interested to see how others cope on a low wage.
I usually find with colleagues that they're married to a higher earner or also receiving universal credit.

I think that, increasingly, people who are single or live on their own can't afford to rent a flat by themselves and have to have a room in a shared house instead. The wages for carers are shocking. It's a much more skilled job than people think and we trust carers to look after our most vulnerable.

It's not though, not in social care, there's people waiting weeks in hospital because care packages aren't available for them to be discharged, companies are handing back council contracts and families are having to try and supply care, people are going without care.
It's working to some degree in other sectors, I moved to hospitality because it pays more, for the same level as social care - for exactly that reason, it pays more.

I certainly don't look down on people who do low paid jobs. I have done some in my past myself.

My points are, if you want a better paid job, then you will need to make changes & look at alternatives

Some cleaning jobs pay more

Some night or anti social hours jobs pay more

Have you looked at live in carer jobs ?

Isnt this exactly what is happening in nurseries. Staff are leaving by the droves because of high responsibility and low pay. Their employers are having to pay more, and they are passing the costs onto parents, many who can’t afford it.

I get what you are saying OP. I am a mental health support worker. I have to cope and put up with things that a fair amount of people would find hard to deal with for a reaction over the minimum wage. I can't stand that we are classed as unskilled. I have many skills and am well qualified. I am good at my job . Social care has a massive recruitment and retention crisis. What happens is lots more of us leave to go to another job to try to get a higher wage? I feel for you OP as in a similar position.

I think the problem is the rate that the council is willing to pay for care isn’t enough. I live in Scotland where there is technically free care. If you live rurally though it’s impossible to recruit carers to do 15 minutes here and there and drive for miles. You are paying for companies like home instead and the carers are getting £12-13ph plus mileage and stay for a minimum hour. Cost to the client is £25- £30 an hour. A home local to me is advertising for carers £13.50 an hour which is a realistic wage imo.

National minimum wage is now £10.42 an hour so on full time hours you would have a gross salary of £20,319 p/a. Either you're part time or you're being paid under NMW.

Perhaps the 16k is take home salary? By the time you knock off tax/ni/ pension contributions it’s in the ballpark. Also a lot of people won’t have seen the increase in minimum wage in their pay packets yet.

You aren't paid enough for what you do but most people on UC are in work so Im confused why you're not entitled if you are on an incredibly low wage.

Unless you have a good amount in savings I would check again.

If you're single with no DC then likely not entitled
I earn min wage and have a mortgage, no children so not entitled

Single childless people sadly get no help whatsoever. :( It isn't fair.

I work in childcare, as a nanny. £35k for a 4 day job, up to £45k with as hoc work on days off. Sometimes I work up to 7 days a week.

I agree that we shouldn't have to 'see our souls' to working just for a measly existence, but there are options. I also noticed you haven't answered the question on how many hours you're working...

I do between 40 and 60.

That should have read 'sell' our souls 🙄

I work 40hrs, can't do any more due to chronic health conditions and 40 is a struggle some weeks

This ignores the fact that the jobs paying minimum wage are actually required. Pay the workforce adequately at the bottom so that UC and foodbanks aren't required. Stop zero hour contracts and actually value people.

OP I applaud you in both the valuable work you do in an undervalued sector and in taking action to make changes.

I know plenty of people in a similar position and they only manage because the spouse earns more or they are extremely good at budgeting and have managed to never get into debt.

I do agree that nmw is ridiculously low and that these roles should be better paid, but is anyone willing to pay the increase in taxes to fund nurses and TAs or pay extra on their shopping for delivery drivers and shop workers? Generally no, they're not.

The only way to drive up wages at the bottom is for there to be a scarcity of workers, we've seen it with lorry drivers nationally and around here with bar/restaurant/petrol station staff. So suggesting nmw staff retrain for better jobs might help wages overall.

There's also a job satisfaction issue. Support work is rewarding, you might get a better wage in an office job but if you like the immediate feedback you get from helping a person you're unlikely to get the same job satisfaction.

The government WANTS to do that. They don't want to force businesses to actually pay people a decent wage because they don't want to upset their mates at the top. Otherwise there would have been a reform long ago.

Are you saying that NMW should only allow for covering the basic essentials, but no fun money whatsoever? If so shame on you. How dare someone work hard for a low wage and actually expect to experience any pleasure in life?

Have you been assessed for UC? Or any other sort of help? It might be worth seeing your local CAB and having your finances looked over.

I can't believe (although this is MN after all) some of the comments about how your should not be in a NMW job if you are childless.
Life is for living, not working. Not everyone wants a career and the stress that comes with it. There was a thread in AIBU recently about how OP was fed up with just being told "to retrain". Not everyone can do that. I tried so many times.... all I can do is NMW jobs, if I was fit to work to start with. No kids though, so according to MN, I am an utter failure. A childless woman my age (early 40s) should be in a high flying career and on £60k+ by now.

NMW should cover the basics and also a bit for fun.. otherwise what is the point?

Even though this is months old, what an ill-informed comment. You really don't have a clue, no top ups of any kind for low paid workers and before any other half wits say retrain, who's going to staff supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and all the other services you take for granted that are done by mw workers.

With no children I should have put in my op.

No. Unless you have a child you get nothing.

This isn't true. It depends on how low your wage is (and what rental costs are in your area, if you're renting).

Until recently, I worked just 24 hours a week, on a little over minimum wage, and so received a universal credit top-up. As a single, childless adult. They took rent costs into account (although my low rent was still £5 a week higher than their allowed housing costs so there's clearly issues with the way it's worked out).
It wasn't loads of money and I had to budget, but it was doable, with a bit of money for fun things. Full time at the same wage would have been too much to qualify for UC, but then it would have been a reasonable amount to live on without needing benefits.

Housing costs are where it gets complicated. Full time min wage round here is a reasonable amount, but where housing is more expensive it could be much harder to make the money stretch.

@StAnthonysPA why didn't you work full time? When I lost my job and was ranting £1k a month I got nothing.

who's going to staff supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and all the other services you take for granted that are done by mw workers.

The answer is usually "someone" to this question, but, in a time where there are shortages in some of these areas and the outcry against the 'poor customer service' this inevitably causes because there aren't enough people to provide the level of service demanded, clearly there aren't enough "someone's" to do the jobs are there? Or at least enough "someone's" to do the job effectively.
But then people also don't want to pay more for a level of service they feel they're entitled to, nor have these wages topped up by 'the tax payer' because people shouldn't be in low paid jobs, so what then? Essentially I think it's more a case of the attitude we should put up and shut up whining about our low wages and the fact we can't live on them, those using the services they provide don't want to be bothered by the likes of that.